Adventures in Mexico City
We recently took a quick trip to Mexico City, its a great, crazy place that we have visited before. This time I wanted to get a little more off the beaten track to explore some places not many get to visit. If you are passing through the city feel free to ask us about adventures you can do there.
Since moving to Mexico I have visited the City a few times and have learnt to appreciate the hustle and bustle (only for a while though!) but it means that I have also visited a few of the more well known sites already. This time I wanted to ensure that we still got to explore some new things so I did a little research and discovered a few gems. If you are planning an adventure in Mexico City on then feel free to ask me for some advice! We like to adventure all over.
So as always our first stop in for tacos al pastor - La Paz has great food but you can't beat Mexico City for tacos al pastor - best served with pineapple sliced off the stand too! The food in Mexico City varies from cheap and tasty tacos (we had 7 tacos de canasta for 10 pesos, about US$0.60 right now!), heartwarming pozole, chicharron de queso to traditional family get togethers to world class restaurants - there really is something for everyone. Many people worry about getting sick from the food and drink here in Mexico but I have personally never had a problem eating out or drinking all the different flavoured water on offer. My mouth sometimes regrets trying some of the chilli salsas but I just try to pacify it with an extra glass of horchata! This time round as part of our culinary tour we went for churros and hot chocolates in the beautiful district of Coyoacan. It was a nice respite from the heat of La Paz and somewhat of a novelty to be wearing trousers, shoes and a jumper and drinking a hot drink whist wandering around this very picturesque plaza! I tried a selection of churros just to make sure they were all of good quality.
One of the places on our list was Castillo de Chapultepec, a beautiful building in the heart of the city. Looking out from the balconies here give a great overview of the city and its amazing to me that the first thing you see is a sea of green - Bosque de Chapultepec offers some much needed green space within the heart of the city and on a clear day you can look beyond this to the extensive metropolis and eventually the mountains beyond. I like to try an imagine what the view must have been like 100 years ago, seeing the different neighbourhood of the city as separate towns and the vastness of the valley. It definitely provides a great vantage point. besides the stunning views and architecture of the building itself there is a lot of history within and this time I was lucky enough to have Norms aunt as our guide otherwise I would definitely recommend taking a guided tour to help explain some of Mexico's complex history.
One of the highlights of the trip was heading our to Palacio de los Deportes to go see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in concert. Anyone that knows us or has ever been on a trip with us can probably attest to the fact the Norms favourite band is the RHCP! It was a great destination to see them play because the atmosphere was amazing and the band didn't disappoint.
I think my favourite place on this trip though was our visit to Desierto de los Leones. It is a huge National Park that lies in the mountains to the SouthWest of the city. It is a great area for hiking and biking and just taking some time out. We arrived late in the day and were hoping to see the monastery before it shut for the day - unfortunately when we got there we discovered that it is permanently closed to the public right now due to damage suffered during the earthquake in September. However luck was with us as we met Maricela - a very warm and knowledgable guide at the ex conviento - she told us that she had a group of university students coming for a special tour and if we were willing to wait she would happily let us join them. She was passionate about the area having spent her whole life in the town nearby and using the forest and ex-conviento as her refuge during her teenage years. She gave us a lot of information and opened up secrets about the buildings and construction that we would never have known otherwise. A great guide can really make a huge difference in the experience that you receive and Maricela was so genuine in her desire to educate people about the area that you couldn't help but be interested in the history of the place. The area had a tranquil and mystical air and I felt like I had been transported back into a fairytale forest of ancient legends. It was great to be able to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and experience the calm that being in nature can bring. It is something that I try not to take too much for granted in my daily life here in La Paz.
All in all it was a great break seeing family, friends and sites and has recharged our batteries for the upcoming high season. We love taking adventures both overseas and in our own country and backyard. I love exploring and meeting new people and we are happy to help everyone make the most of any trip. For this reason feel free to ask us for advice about planning any part of your trip to Mexico - including Mexico City!
So as always our first stop in for tacos al pastor - La Paz has great food but you can't beat Mexico City for tacos al pastor - best served with pineapple sliced off the stand too! The food in Mexico City varies from cheap and tasty tacos (we had 7 tacos de canasta for 10 pesos, about US$0.60 right now!), heartwarming pozole, chicharron de queso to traditional family get togethers to world class restaurants - there really is something for everyone. Many people worry about getting sick from the food and drink here in Mexico but I have personally never had a problem eating out or drinking all the different flavoured water on offer. My mouth sometimes regrets trying some of the chilli salsas but I just try to pacify it with an extra glass of horchata! This time round as part of our culinary tour we went for churros and hot chocolates in the beautiful district of Coyoacan. It was a nice respite from the heat of La Paz and somewhat of a novelty to be wearing trousers, shoes and a jumper and drinking a hot drink whist wandering around this very picturesque plaza! I tried a selection of churros just to make sure they were all of good quality.
One of the places on our list was Castillo de Chapultepec, a beautiful building in the heart of the city. Looking out from the balconies here give a great overview of the city and its amazing to me that the first thing you see is a sea of green - Bosque de Chapultepec offers some much needed green space within the heart of the city and on a clear day you can look beyond this to the extensive metropolis and eventually the mountains beyond. I like to try an imagine what the view must have been like 100 years ago, seeing the different neighbourhood of the city as separate towns and the vastness of the valley. It definitely provides a great vantage point. besides the stunning views and architecture of the building itself there is a lot of history within and this time I was lucky enough to have Norms aunt as our guide otherwise I would definitely recommend taking a guided tour to help explain some of Mexico's complex history.
One of the highlights of the trip was heading our to Palacio de los Deportes to go see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers in concert. Anyone that knows us or has ever been on a trip with us can probably attest to the fact the Norms favourite band is the RHCP! It was a great destination to see them play because the atmosphere was amazing and the band didn't disappoint.
I think my favourite place on this trip though was our visit to Desierto de los Leones. It is a huge National Park that lies in the mountains to the SouthWest of the city. It is a great area for hiking and biking and just taking some time out. We arrived late in the day and were hoping to see the monastery before it shut for the day - unfortunately when we got there we discovered that it is permanently closed to the public right now due to damage suffered during the earthquake in September. However luck was with us as we met Maricela - a very warm and knowledgable guide at the ex conviento - she told us that she had a group of university students coming for a special tour and if we were willing to wait she would happily let us join them. She was passionate about the area having spent her whole life in the town nearby and using the forest and ex-conviento as her refuge during her teenage years. She gave us a lot of information and opened up secrets about the buildings and construction that we would never have known otherwise. A great guide can really make a huge difference in the experience that you receive and Maricela was so genuine in her desire to educate people about the area that you couldn't help but be interested in the history of the place. The area had a tranquil and mystical air and I felt like I had been transported back into a fairytale forest of ancient legends. It was great to be able to escape the hustle and bustle of the city and experience the calm that being in nature can bring. It is something that I try not to take too much for granted in my daily life here in La Paz.
All in all it was a great break seeing family, friends and sites and has recharged our batteries for the upcoming high season. We love taking adventures both overseas and in our own country and backyard. I love exploring and meeting new people and we are happy to help everyone make the most of any trip. For this reason feel free to ask us for advice about planning any part of your trip to Mexico - including Mexico City!
Add a comment
Really interesting things to do, inspired for a future visit!
October 29, 2017