Ten days ago, we returned from a quick two-night stay in Mexico City (CDMX). The main reason for that trip from our Tepotzotlan RV home base was to apply for Noe’s passport renewal. But we also managed to pack in a few sights as well.
It’s always been our intention to do a longer stay in CDMX. It’s the capital of Mexico and there is a ton to see and do, so why not? But Mexico City isn’t exactly cheap, and since we needed to also extend our temporary resident cards at the end of the month, we knew we’d have to split up our time there.
So now we’re heading back into the big city. The rig is disconnected and stowed for a week or more at Pepe’s and we’ve got what looks like a pretty nice place to stay next to Chapultepec Park.
This guy’s ready to roll.
Last time, we went to the great effort of piecing together the two-hour journey from Tepotzotlan to Central CDMX via various modes of transport—Uber/ Tren Suburbano/ bus/ 15-minute walk to the hotel.
This time, we thought we’d make it a bit easier on ourselves. For roughly twice the price, an Uber covers the same distance in about an hour. We also had a bit more luggage this time around, so it made sense to do it this way.
Through trial and error over many months, we’ve found that Lori upfront to help direct the driver if needed and me in the back keeping the boys in line gives us the best chances of a harmonious Uber trip.
Thar she blows—the largest city in North America.
Our condo for the week is situated on a leafy avenue with reasonable access to nearby attractions and public transportation.
It’s a very spacious two-bedroom, and by far the best Airbnb we’ve stayed at in four years in Mexico. Over ten days (we ended up extending) we had zero issues with noise or anything else for that matter. Overall, we were very pleased with it.
Around the corner is an excellent tacos al pastor joint. Muy rico.
From street tacos to international food we can’t usually get elsewhere in Mexico (and everything in between) we ate very well during our stay.
Noe’s interest in gardening continues. So, he was very excited to happen upon this summer plant and herb festival.
Not far from our place is the start of Paseo de la Reforma and iconic Angel de la Independencia war monument.
We skipped the Zócalo—Mexico City’s HUGE central plaza—on our last visit. So it wasn’t long until we hopped on the metro and headed there.
Aspects of CDMX have brought back memories of living in Washington, DC. For the boys, the crowds have been an adjustment. We sometimes forget they have little if no recollection of our life in bustling Phnom Penh.
Right in the middle of the Zócalo metro station, there are multiple scale models showcasing the various lives of the Zócalo throughout the ages, beginning with the Aztecs, touching on different points of Spanish colonization, and ending with post-independence.
We were excited to head up to the surface to check out one of the largest public plazas in the world ourselves.
But just our luck, there was a huge indigenous culture festival going on and big white tents covered the entire public section of the plaza, making it impossible to see anything, including the massive cathedral. It was also pouring rain.
And when the rain let up, the people crowded into the plaza by the hundreds. We knew we might have to take a rain check on our Zócalo explorations…literally.
After leaving the Zócalo, we turned down the Madero Promenade and were met by even larger crowds.
It’s a Sunday night, which generally tends to be one of the busier nights of the week anywhere you go in Mexico. We caught a taxi to a quieter area of town for dinner and resolved to return later in the week.
Monday—our first full day in town—was completely taken up by Lori waiting in various lines (for 8 hours) at the immigration office to renew our temporary residency permits.
During that time, I watched the boys.
I felt bad that Lori—by virtue of her fluent Spanish—drew the short end of the stick, being the one to have to stand in line and deal with the myriad hoops and red tape they throw at you (for a simple renewal!).
But we both agreed that it was preferable to the hell that could have been if we had been forced to put the boys through the same.
For all the tedium, we were thankful that immigration doesn’t require the whole family be there for the entire process (which can take multiple days).
I wasn’t sure how I’d entertain the boys during the day (largely due to the fact that Lori and I didn’t know how long this all would take).
Polanco—the neighborhood that the immigration office is in—isn’t the most exciting for kids, but we needed to stay close in case Lori needed us for any reason.
As luck would have it, the biggest (and oldest—264 years old) toy store in Mexico was right across the street!
We could’ve stayed at Hamley’s for several hours, but were summoned to the immigration office after just 30 minutes.
After hours of waiting in line under the hot sun, Lori had managed to secure an appointment with an official later that day. However, we would need to redo a couple of our tramites (forms) and make even more copies than we came with.
No matter how many phone calls you make to government offices in Mexico to double and triple check the requirements (which are also spelled out online), they always seem to pull some arbitrary new requirement out of thin air.
We ended up making several trips to the copy shop around the corner (which, as you might imagine, does pretty good business) and just barely made Lori’s afternoon appointment.
Not knowing how long that part would take, the boys and I hung out just outside the gates.
Minutes turned into hours, the guards closed up the gates and turned away new arrivals. But just after 4pm—more than eight hours after Lori left the condo this morning—she emerged successful.
Later in the week, we’ll return for our new cards, good for another year of residency in Mexico.
The next day, passing the U.S. Embassy, we felt a new level of empathy for the hundreds of people in line waiting for their own visa appointments.
With our annual immigration formalities squared away, we’re looking forward to playing tourist and doing things that don’t involve a lot of waiting.
We took advantage of the first sunny morning we had to do a hop-on, hop-off bus. I’ve always wanted to do one and this seemed like a good time. CDMX is a very good city for it too. It’s huge and there’s lots to see.
Early on, the buses were largely empty. Choice seats on top towards the front were easy to come by. By noon, they’d be mostly packed top to bottom.
In not too long, we found ourselves back at the Zócalo. This time it’s a brilliant, sunny day, and most importantly, it’s a midweek morning.
We hop off to explore the enormous Metropolitan Cathedral at the heart of the Plaza de la Constitucion.
It’s impossible to convey in pictures how big this building is. It took 250 years to complete and incorporates a variety of architectural styles. At the center of the structure is a giant, two-sided pipe organ—some of the largest in the Western Hemisphere—that are an attraction in themselves.
The altar, as you might expect from the Spanish Conquistadors, comprises massive amounts of gold.
Also in true Conquistador fashion, the cathedral and most of the plaza is built on the site of the holiest temple of the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan, which they made sure to lay to waste.
Soon after Mexico gained its independence from Spain, renewed public interest in the former ruined city started to develop. Scholars and archeologists had long suspected that the Spanish had constructed the Zócalo over the Templo Mayor, but after 300 years, there was little evidence to support this.
In the early 20th century, an archeologist was given the go-ahead to excavate a portion of the plaza, discovering a corner of an ancient temple. Given the area was packed with expensive row houses owned by wealthy aristocrats, there was little interest to continue.
In the late 1970’s things finally changed when the electric company struck something unusual, making an important discovery. By 1982, most of the area we now see today had been uncovered for excavation.
It’s taken nearly 50 years of excavation to get to this point, but they’ve managed to unearth a good portion of what is left of ancient Tenochtitlan, right in the center of the city.
And the best part is you can walk around the entire site and watch them work on excavation efforts.
There’s even a large museum in the middle of it all that is worthy of much more time than we were able to allot today. In hindsight, we would chosen to visit on a day with more flexibility. From here, we still have much of the hop-on, hop-off loop to complete.
After a quick lunch near the Revolution Monument, it was back on the bus!
The striking and futuristic Soumaya Art Museum in Polanco.
One unavoidable aspect of hop-on, hop-off bus tours in CDMX that we hadn’t factored in was the commuter traffic.
Wanting to maximize our time on the bus, we opted to stay on into the late afternoon, which meant sitting in a lot of traffic for a very long time. We wanted the full Mexico City experience and that’s exactly what we got.
Luckily, we were able to hop-off right in front of our condo, saving us a taxi ride or a very long walk from the final stop.
The next few days rolled right along as we explored more of the city. We’ve found CDMX very agreeable and would opt to live here for a while in a heartbeat if we could figure out a good housing situation (which is getting harder and harder, we hear).
For all the horror stories we’ve heard about Mexico City being inundated with gringos who are raising the price of everything, we have rarely encountered other gringos during our 10 days in the city.
And prices on the whole seem on par with Guadalajara (and quite a bit cheaper than La Paz).
In general, most folks we’ve had interactions with have been exceptionally friendly and welcoming. Perhaps that’s due to speaking Spanish or our boys, or maybe that’s just how most people here actually are. It’s impossible to say from a week or two.
The boys were excited to get back to Chapultepec Park. We certainly had no complaints either. It’s an amazing park with an endless number of fun to be had.
Paddleboating in Chapultepec Park was something we wanted to do on our last visit but ran out of time. We made it happen this time around. It was the most fun I think I’ve ever had on a paddleboat. The kids agreed.
That’s Noe at the tippy top. In many ways, he’s our surprise daredevil. He’s not one to do something dumb and careless. But if he sees something challenging that another kid is doing, he doesn’t for a moment doubt himself that he can do the same. Not sure if that’s simply his nature or a product of his upbringing, but it’s how his mind works.
The biggest zipline Noe’s been on to date was at a public playground in Chapultepec park. Now he wants to tackle a “real” zip line in the jungle.
Juan Pablo is a local celebrity of the Condesa neighborhood, apparently. You can pet him and follow him on Instagram.
When it rains in CDMX in August, it pours. Luckily, we’re never too far from a quality watering hole to duck into. This one (Drunkendog) has become one of our favorites. Great low-key vibe, good food, and an outstanding craft beer selection from across the country (with dozens on tap).
Korean food! We haven’t had Korean food since Laos (five years?), so this was a real treat. And pretty legit too. Overhead exhaust, wide selection of meats, kimchi and all. So good.
One very high high-rise. Looks like we’re not in Tepotzotlan anymore.
Evening rush hour. It pays to walk, bike, or take the metro in CDMX, if you can swing it.
On Thursday, we returned to Hamleys so that Riley could spend some of the grandparents’ early birthday money.
Being the schemers they are, Noe and Riley made a plan to go in on a larger toy together. They selected a remote control car, something Riley’s been talking about for about a year.
It was the first time either boy has ever walked into a toy store and walked out with something, so that in itself was quite an experience.
Tomorrow, we’re doing a little day trip down to the Barrio Magico of Coyoacan for a Frida Kahlo education and to poke around the popular suburban neighborhood.
