Saturday, August 24, 2024 Fly, Salt Lake City to Mexico City (CDMX)
This morning Hugh and I awoke very early even though our flight was not until later. Travel excitement I suppose. After breakfast we sat on the porch awaiting our Lyfte driver. He arrived on time it was off to the airport. We arrived and were through security before we should have left home. We had some coffee and sat reading at the gate waiting for Ron and Lori who arrived at the correct time.. The flight to Denver was quick and soon we were at our Aero Mexico gate. We were able to board priority because of our Delta status and the flight was non-eventful.
We landed in CDMX and we were out of the airport quickly and our Uber driver had us on our way to our Airbnb in no time. The city is huge and it took us awhile to get there but once we arrived we were met by our host and quickly settled in. We had crispy cheese taco at a local recommended restaurant and then headed back to the apartment to settle in. We all went to bed with great expectation for tomorrow.
Sunday, August 25, 2024, Mexico City
This morning we awoke with great expectations. We had a great breakfast at a nearby café and then walked to the fountain where we were to meet our Hop On Hop Off bus. When we arrived we were told that the buses were not running as there was a marathon going on. Silly us, we decided to take an UBER to the main square and spend our time there thus avoiding the buses. The UBER driver arrived and it took us almost an hour in horrible traffic to get to Zocala and there we were met with the 60,000 spectators that came to watch the 30,000 runners. This wasn’t a small marathon but a qualifier for the Boston Marathon. You could hardly move there were so many people. We walked around the main square, and I do mean around as it was fenced off and held the finish line of the race. We decided to go up the Sears building elevator to their coffee shop and get a birds eye view... so did a great number of others. We then decided to just walk out of the city and see what we could. We made our way to the Revolution Monument and we enjoyed a lovely visit to the museum and then a glass elevator to the observation deck. The view was 360 and we were very glad we stopped. We then navigated to El Molena Pujol for a late lunch. The food was unique and delish. The tamales were my favorite but the churros were a close second. We made our way back to the apartment and sat by the pool and played cards and rested our feet. Much later we made our way to Hugo Wine Bar and enjoyed snacks and wine and played more cards. The air was cool and it was a lovely evening. We headed back to the apartment and bed. We have a very early appointment with some balloons tomorrow.
Today's pictures
Monday, August 26, 2024, Mexico City & Teotihuacan,
This morning we were up at 4 am and off to our balloon ride over the pyramids of Teotihuacan. We were a bit bleary eyed when we arrived at the site but they had coffee and snacks waiting for us. Fortified we headed out to watch as the ballons were inflated. It was a beautiful sight as the sun came up and so did the balloons of all different patterns and colors. Soon we were called to our group and off to board our balloon. It was hard to get in the basket but soon we were all sorted out and after a brief, "please stay in the basket", from our pilot, we started our assent. It was magical. The best part was seeing the other balloons fill the sky. The morning was perfect and we had a fabulous view of the pyramids and all the surrounding ruins. We had about an hour up and enjoyed every minute. When it was time to land our pilot put our balloon down on the trailer, what a pro. We waited while they secured the balloon and then it was out of the basket and into the van. We arrived back at the company compound and had a lovely Mexican buffet breakfast complete with Mariachi band. We then boarded our buses, and they dropped us at the Teotihuacan entrance, and we had several hours to explore the sight. It was an amazing number of ruins, and the precision of the building was amazing. We explored as much as we could but by the end the heat was getting to us. We walked back and arrived at the pickup point with enough time to grab something cold to drink.
Our bus left on time and we had a an uneventful trip back. We were let off at the hotel and got an UBER back to the apartment. It was nap time for all. We showered when we awoke and headed to BAO BAO for dinner. It was delicious, but we had to move inside about halfway through our dinner as the afternoon rains came. By the time we finished it was dry and we had a nice walk back. We played a few hands of cards but everyone was ready to turn in very early.
Hot Air Balloon Ride pictures
· Teotihuacan pictures
Tuesday, August 27, 2024, Mexico City
Today we were up and out early. After delicious pastries for breakfast we caught the Hop On Hop Off bus and decided to do the Red line. We started with the Centro Line and visited the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Plaza of Independence, The Angel of Independence, and the National Palace. When we arrived back at he plaza we took the line out to the Basilica of Our Lady of Gudalupe. This was an amazing complex and we had fun exploring. The ride back to our starting point was long and we were getting cool and tired. When we finally made it back we stopped for some Shake Shack snacks before heading to the apartment. We played cards on the rooftop and Lori and Hugh even got into the pool although they did not stay very ong. Our evening was planned. We went to an experience unlike anything we had done before. We met our group at a cute bar where we sampled Modelo, Mezcal, and fried cricket with garlic. Then we went to a street taco stand and had the most delicious street taco. Then the big finale. We went to Lucha Libre... Mexican wrestling. It was so much fun. Our guide had given us our masks to wear and we were the El Tigre group. The streets were filled with stands selling masks and people heading to the arena. We got our seats and the action began immediately. We yelled and jumped up and down and stomped our feet through the matches and had a wonderful evening. We hated for the evening to end but we said our goodbyes to our group. We were all excited as we made our way back to the apartment.
Lucha Libre pictures
· City tour pictures
Wednesday, August 28, 2024, Mexico City
This morning we got a later start and it was nice. We had a delicious breakfast at Café Ninn. After breakfast we said goodbye to Ron who had to work and Lori, Hugh, and I walked the length of the Palanco area main street. This is the ritzy area with all the fancy shops and hotels. We had fun window shopping, looking at cars that are not in the US, and people watching. You know you are out of your league when your next turn is at Cartier. We met Ron at the Anthropology Museum and spent the afternoon exploring this massive place. It was very interesting, and we were glad we had put it in our itinerary. We UBERed to Dooriban for dinner. It was small and rather empty, and we were a little concerned. Once we looked at the menu and tasted our first dish we were sold. We had a fantastic dinner topped off with the best chocolate mouse I have ever had. Back at the apartment we played cards, did some computer work, and enjoyed the rain, thunder and lightening show that started about bedtime.
Anthropological Museum pictures
· Today's city pictures
Thursday, August 29, 2024, Mexico City
After a delicious breakfast we again said goodbye to Ron. Lori, Hugh and I headed to the Botanical Gardens in Chapultepec Park. This is one of the oldest gardens in Mexico and hosts 1600 plant species of which 300 are considered threatened. We loved our time here and especially liked the greenhouse. It was free to the public which was a nice surprise. Our next stop was the Museo of Modern Art. The building was amazing to see but we all agreed we are just not big fans of the modern art or the modern sculpture we saw on the grounds. We met Ron at Elenas Quesadilla stand and after we watched her cooking them we walked back to the apartment to eat. We headed to the Chapultepac Castle. The first thing we learned was that the word Chapultepac means on the hill of the grasshopper. This castle has been around since 1788. It has been used as a fortress, amilitary academy and the home of Emperor Maximillion, who was married to Carlotta of France. We enjoyed our time here but as we were enjoying the furnished rooms from Maximillion time, it was closing time and these people take it seriously. We were ushered out with guards at our back making sure we did not linger. It was too early for dinner so we headed to Hugos for wine and cards. We enjoyed our leisure time here and even ordered some appetizers. From there we went to Temporal for dinner. Again, we were met with a very sparsely-populated restaurant. The menu had appealing dinners and the reviews were great so we ordered and hoped for the best, and that is what we got. The food was amazing although it was not traditional Mexican. We lingered for a bit but then headed back. We sat and watched some travel shows before bedtime.
Botanical Gardens pictures
· Museum of Modern Art pictures
· Chapultepec Castle pictures
· Today's city pictures
Friday, August 30, 2024, Mexico City
We had breakfast at Café Ninn again and enjoyed it very much. Today we headed out of the city to the Frida Kahlo Museum. We arrived before our timed ticket would allow us to enter so we explored the town of Coyoacan. We enjoyed the town but especially the central market where we all made purchases. We also visited the Leon Trotsky home and museum. We arrived back at the museum at our appointed time and spent the next several hours learning about Frida Kahlo, her life, loves, painting, and health issues. It was an interesting museum but we did not get to see as many of her paintings as we expected. Most of them are in large museums throughout the world including the MOMA. From the museum we took and UBER to Xochimilco, the canal area with the colorful boats called Embarcadero Nuevo Nativitas. It was a much longer journey than we expected and we were afraid it would rain before we could get our boat ride in. Once we arrived we were put on a boat and the fun began.. We were served beer or margaritas, serenaded by Mariachis, and laughed and talked to the people on the other boats. It was a very fun time. After the boat ride we tried to get an UBBER but there were none in the area. We waited and tried again and got one at last. It was a long ride back and we were tired. We tried the restaurant we wanted to eat at but the wait was over an hour. By consensus we headed back to Dooriban and enjoyed another fabulous meal. They remembered us and comped us our dessert. What a great day. Back at the apartment we packed and went to bed early as we have an early flight home.
Frida Khalo's Casa Azul pictures
· Xochimilco, Embarcadero Nuevo Nativitas pictures
· Coyoacan pictures
Saturday, August 31, 2024, Mexico City to Salt Lake City
Off to the airport early. We cleared security and had time to kill. We had a nice breakfast in a restaurant and then headed to the gate. We boarded in the first group and had an uneventful flight to Denver. It was easy to get back into the country as everything is now electronic. We had time to kill so Lori and I checked out the lounge that her credit card gets her into. Soon we were on the short flight to SLC. We each ordered a LYFT and we parted ways after a fantastic week.
