We were up relatively early and caught an Uber to the airport. We walked in and saw the biggest line we had ever seen. As fait would have it, that was the line that we needed to join. But first we thought we would use the check in screens to check in, it turns out that everyone who was in the that massive line had also gone through this step first. We spent a good period of time standing in our line chatting with some of it’s other inhabitants until we were sped through the line just as our flight was closing. We got through security and boarded the flight a few minutes before it was set to depart, and this was after the flight had been delayed by 20 mins. 

The flight to Mexico was smooth, I read my Anthony Robbins, Money Master the Game book, had a siesta and ate some of the food that we had picked up at the supermarket yesterday afternoon after our walk along Manhattan Beach. The flight took around 3 hours and with a 3 hour time difference we arrived in the afternoon. 

Getting in to Mexico was straight forward, we scanned our passports at a computer terminal that was fully automated and then walked straight in, maybe one day the United States will be as advanced as Mexico, those guys even have a young progressive female as their president, who is doing a great job and has been fantastic for the country. We picked up some cash at the airport, it wasn’t the best value but it was better than messing around.

Casa de Tono

We caught an Uber to our accomodation, the Uber driver was awesome he collected coins and had a big stack of coins from around the world in his centre console, alas we had not brought any Australian coins with us to give him. We chatted in Spanish and he suggested a bunch of places to go and visit. We checked in to our accomodation and asked the reception lady who was also the night guard where we could get some food. She suggested a place called La Casa de Tono this is a famous restaurant chain with multiple locations around the city. The restaurant was a five minute walk away and had a stack of great reviews. When we got there we found a large group of people all waiting outside to get in, all great signs. We missed a couple of places until we worked out that we would need a number. We got our number and waited with the crowed in the street taking in the sights and sounds of Mexico City. The line moved rapidly and before long we were seated and being talked at in rapid Spanish by our waiter. We asked for suggestions and he was happy to give us some. Our waiter brought out a stack of meals and they were all delicious. In the total came to around 600 Mexican pesos, which is around $60 Australian dollars, so a lot more reasonable than the US and this is the capital city. 

Mercado de Roma

It was early evening and starting to cool down by the time we left the restaurant. We returned to the accomodation got changed into some warmer clothes and went out exploring. We were on the hunt for a market where we could purchase fruits and vegetables. We navigated our way to a place called Mercado de Roma, it was not in fact full of fruits and vegetables, but it was full of small restaurants and bars all housed in the one building. We would come back this way to enjoy a beer a bit later. We continued on our journey and came across a small taco stand with a stack of delicious types of tacos for sale and equally large group of customers all waiting for them. We picked up three plates full of tacos, each plate cost 75 Mexican Pesos, or around $7.50 Australian dollars, cheap and delicious. 

On our journey we passed a park that was full of outdoor training equipment, it was actually really cool and I could definitely see us doing a training session there if we had more time in Mexico City. After our tacos we wandered back to the Mercado de Roma to have a beer and a sangria while we chatted with a French family who were over visiting their daughter. The daughter was in Mexico studying business at a university in Guadalajara. We didn’t find our fruit market this night and instead collected some supplies from a supermarket on the way back to the accomodation. 

Mexico Day 3

I got up at around 8am, it was still dark outside as it is the middle of winter here in Mexico at this time of year. I did some yoga in the living room while I watched the sun rise over Mexico. It was at this point that I realised how exciting it was to finally be in Mexico City watching the sun rise and taking in the sights and sounds of Mexico City at that time of the morning. I have wanted to travel to Mexico since I was a teenager, and here 30 years later, 15 of which had been spent learning Spanish, I had finally achieved that goal. I then smashed out some Duolingo while I waited for Christine to get up. When Christine got up we went looking for one of the bakeries that we had seen when we were out exploring last night. Alas we did not find the one I was looking for, we did find a cafe that sold over priced bagels, we picked up three bagels, a coffee and a hot chocolate. The whole lot cost around $35 Australian, outrageous for Mexico. We returned to the accomodation and cooked up eggs with avocado and bagels for breakfast, we also made up cereal with banana. Once we were done with breakfast we cleaned up the gourmet kitchen, had showers and ordered an Uber to take us over to Zocalo Square. 

Zocalo Square

Zocalo Square was absolutely pumping when we arrived, there were bands playing and people everywhere. We took some awesome shots in front of the square with the Cathedral de Mexico and flag in the background. We then tracked down the excavations of Tenochtitlan. This turned out to be a massive site with stacks of amazing buildings, artworks and historical artefacts to look at. Each of the different empires had built over the top of the site preserving the original buildings beneath the temples and structures. The Spanish had arrived and built over the top of everything, they even took apart some of the buildings to use the materials to build other buildings. We wandered through the whole site and took some great photos and videos of the various artefacts and displays. Once we were hungry and thirsty enough we decided to make our way back to the Mercado de Roma for some lunch. We ate quesadillas that consisted of bread, meat and cheese, they were supposed to have vegetables but these didn’t arrive. Unfortunately the little restaurant that we wanted to eat at wasn’t open as the woman there was still preparing the food. 

Mercado de Medellin

After lunch we wandered over to the Mercado de Medellin were we finally discovered a treasure trove of vegetables and meats. We picked up a stack of stuff to cook up for dinner. On the way to the market we stopped at the Parque Roma, a huge park in the middle of Mexico City where many of the Spanish Easy Languages videos are filmed. The park was huge and relaxing in stark contrast to the chaos that is Mexico City. There were people dancing Bachata in the park, so Christine and I danced as well.  

We collected our treasure trove of meats and vegetables and then made our way back to the accomodation. Christine and I had a siesta while Luke headed off to the gym. I was hoping to have a quick siesta and then catch up with him for a workout. By the time I woke up and started preparing dinner Luke was already on his way back.