Finally the Mexico blog! I’m afraid it won’t be exciting since I’m just back from the spa, had two heaping forkfuls of chocolate cake after a wonderful sushi dinner, and now my brain is mush. I did declare however, that the Mexico blog would be up and running tonight though so here we are!
Of course, the first thing we did as soon as we got off the plane and checked into our hotel was … STREET TACOS!! The best tacos I’ve had in my entire life and only 40 pesos a taco! We certainly tucked in. Nothing beats fresh tacos smothered in onions with a squeeze of lime and an ice cold coke.
The next morning, after taking in the views of the city from our swanky hotel room we set off into the city. The first stop was breakfast at the blue tile house. This house is absolutely amazing and absolutely covered in blue tiles. Once someone’s home, it’s now been converted into a restaurant and store. We feasted on fresh orange juice, papaya, and of course some more great Mexican fare.
We walked off our breakfast through the streets of downtown Mexico City, stepping into cathedrals and churches, making our way to the square. We visited the cathedral which had an amazing organ and walked Aztec dancers perform and blessed on-lookers.
We also walked through the Temple of Tialoc and visited the museum. There were lots of high school kids there who were annoying, but it was fun seeing all of the sea shell jewelry and the wall of skulls. Yup! A whole wall of skulls.
After getting all cultured up, we decided to have a lunch/pre-meal at the Cordon Blue. It’s the reason why we went to Mexico in the first place! For R’s birthday, she wanted to celebrate with a bang in Mexico City and have her birthday lunch at the Cordon Blue at the French Embassy. R’s brother used to work there so we got the hook up!
After a 3 hour lunch, we strolled down the Pink District and along the Pasa de Forma where we visited the Angel and Fountain of Diana. There were also some great buildings on the Champs Elysse of Mexico City (or at least that’s why I like to call it). We ended the night going to a Salsa club and gazed at the dancers since we were too pooped to dance ourselves.
Sunday was our big adventure day when we drove to the pyramids and attempted the insane climb. We were super excited when we got there and pumped to take on the Sun Pyramid. Little did we go, before we even got to the foot of the pyramid there were stepped ridges you had to go up and down to get there, definitely a warm up to what was to come next.
The pyramid was HUGE and incredibly hard to climb. Definitely not ADA by any standards. The steps were probably over a foot tall and maybe less than 6 inches deep. The steepness was almost unbearable and after the second tier my legs officially fell off. After a near-barf incident, a broken bag fixed with super glue, and plenty of words of encouragement later, R, K, and I made it to the top. I’m quite proud of us. The views were amazing and the rush of “I climbed an F’ing pyramid” was the icing on the cake.
At the very top there was a bit of commotion and after some poking around, we discovered that there is a small dimple at the very cent of the pyramid and if you place your finger in it, then you will be enriched with the energy of the universe. Of course, it required some energy of your own as you had to push your way through the people and be a bit dog eat dog as you reached for the center of the pyramid. I was determined to touch the center of the pyramid, but after standing around it for 10 minutes, I knew we’d have to take some action to actually get the opportunity so I got on my hands and knees, crawled into the circle as far as I could, got my pointy finger ready and reached with all my might. I managed to stick my finger into the pyramid dimple and stayed there for a couple of minutes before coming out to let R crawl into the space I created. It was tough, but we did it!,
The adventure didn’t stop after the pyramid, although trekking down was quite the experience in and of itself. Our great driver, Mr. Juarez, took us to a restaurant that was in a cave! It was beautiful and quite colorful. We had “real barbacoa” and even enjoyed a show of dances ranging from Aztec to Mexican hat dancing!
I could also get used to coming back to a freshly made bed. That’s why I wouldn’t mind making it big and living in a swanky hotel. How great would it be to come home every day to a clean room and chocolate on your pillow?
Needless to say, the rest of the day was full of us nappy, eating, laying around the hotel room watching movies, and taking turns having bubble baths. Ah the life of the leisurely vacationer. I could get used to it!
Monday morning, R and I headed off to the spa in the morning to take advantage of the steam room and lounging around. We got dressed up and headed off to take our last minute tourist photos down the street of the official ballet house, a beautiful building with an amazing art deco interior and a mural by Diego Rivera (which we couldn’t see because the second floor was unfortunately closed off).
We made our way to the Cordon Blue for R’s official birthday lunch and our meal ended with a beautiful cake made especially for her. Not only was it yummy to look at, every one scarfed that cake down like there was no tomorrow! We ended our trip being stuck in Mexico City traffic (which is some of the most insane traffic I’ve ever seen… apparently there are no traffic rules in Mexico City). A short trip homeward and we were back in Houston and pooped.
All in all it was a great trip and we’re already planning our trip back. K and I are excited about a tour of street tacos and all the shopping! Before we left, we visited the mall and I found a gorgeous set of tea cups from Zara Home. Zara in Mexico is so awesome, none of the shoddy workmanship you find at the Zaras in Houston. I’ll definitely post photos of the amazing tea cups I got once I find a place in town. Right now there’s safely wrapped up and living in my closet along with all my other tea cups and beautiful house stuffs I’ve picked up along the way, but enough about that.
MEXICO CITY IS GREAT!! And everyone should go! You can find more of my photos here.
