Mexico City!

Originally I was unsure about spending a few days in Mexico City. Some friends did not have many positive things to say while others raved about it. I figured ‘it’s Mexico! Great food, wonderful people, it’s only for a few days….how bad could it be?!’.

So glad I went! I wanted a place to decompress after Ecuador and reset before the next adventure. I’ve been to a few of the tourist places in Mexico over the years, know enough Spanish to find a bathroom,  get around and I was grateful to go somewhere in Mexico that was really authentically Mexican and did not seem like it could be a suburb of LA.

With the help of a friend who lived here, she gave me a list of few neighbourhoods to stay in. The Condesa neighbourhood is more trendy/upscale, with not many hotels but a lot of B&B’s. This area is full of charm, character, parks and restaurants. Wide streets with park like sidewalks down the middle just added to the charm.

I took a long walk around the neighbourhood, I didn’t really have many things planned for Mexico City, maybe a few galleries and some great food, then lots of laundry and find some anti itch cream for my legs.  The funny thing is, I found a pile of great coffee places, lots of bakeries, Italian places but it took me a bit to find a great authentic Mexican place! Lots of small taco places but I wanted more then a taco. After not eating much in Ecuador (the altitude will take away your appetite) I wanted some great Mexican eats.

There’s some great parks in the neighbourhood, every park has workout equipment and weights! Lots of people running and most people seems to have multiple dogs. One park has an off leash dog park and I noticed quite a few dog walkers. After coming across multiple dogs at the park laying down, lined up with leashes, other dogs tied up to trees, and yet others separate from the group with muzzles on, I had to ask….apparently these dogs are up for adoption and they are brought to the park for training! Some dogs nip, others do not do so great with others and others are pretty well mannered but need some more guidance.

I had a whole day planned to see a couple of museums and some cultural stuff but then…..thought ‘nope, not feeling it’. That’s what I LOVE about travelling solo, no guilt or feeling like I ‘have’ to do something that I really am just not feeling in that moment. I went back to the dog park, made some more 4 legged friends and walked all over exploring.

A few years ago I went to NY with a girlfriend who REALLY wanted to go on those hop on/off busses. I thought it was a wee bit cheesy and touristy but they really do give you a good lay of the land and idea of the neighbourhoods. Since then, I try and and do a quick tour. The tour I took in Mexico City really showed how condense all the museums are and galleries. Most seem to be within a couple of miles of each other and the area is SATURATED with tourists and locals. The locals have set up shop along the streets and it’s pretty much an open air Costco. You can find anything there. I apologize for not taking better mental notes, I have no memory what some of these building are. Most of the buildings have been around for 100+ years, most are art galleries, some are government buildings. I jumped off a couple times to walk around and check out the neighbourhoods. I tended to stay away from areas with mass amounts of people.

And then my laundry was done, I found some anti itch cream for the bug bites on my legs, mailed some items back home and FINALLY found a great Mexican restaurant! It was time to go to Bangkok and start a new adventure!