La Paz check out day – not much here to talk about, just an early alarm and a quick DiDi ride, with another super nice driver. I did see a familiar face at the airport – a couple nights before at the Sushi place I noticed a guy enjoying a rice bowl alone at the table next to us. We instantly recognized one another and started talking – in German no less, turns out Florian was on a month-long vacation from grad school back in Frankfurt! Today was the beginning of his return trip.
The Mexican City airport is a mess, construction everywhere but it’s obvious this is some sort of mad dash to make it look pretty for this summer’s World Cup Tournament. Our driver was waiting for us and even had a bottle of water for each of us. Perhaps he also knew that extra water could stave off the altitude sickness that comes from 7,000 feet of elevation!
Upon arrival to our Air BnB we immediately notice a couple of things. The Roma Norte neighborhood is quaint, full of trees and loads of character. We notice across the street was a Marriott Courtyard and another fancy hotel at the corner. And next to our steel entry door was a hole-in-the-wall Cervasaria. Another box we’ll need to check while we’re here. So far, feeling very good about Mexico City.
The keys for our apartment were in a typical lockbox and that led us through the steel door at the street. Once inside it was like an open air courtyard with someone’s car parked neatly in the corner. Another flight of stairs and our door was clearly marked (unit 102) and another lockbox. This set of keys was a bit more unusual. In addition to the deadbolt key, there was this elongated key that looked more like a Bic pen. When the door didn’t at first open, but was instead stuck at the bottom we tried the keyhole down there! Sure enough, there was a slide that drops into the floor to keep the door fully locked. Not sure if we feel safer with all the locks or less safe needing all those locks.
Quick luggage dump and we were back on the street heading towards the National Museum and Castle (one and the same). But first — a bite to eat and lo and behold, like right out of a Foodie television show, we find a line of 3 carts on the sidewalk steps away from our front door. There were mostly men standing everywhere holding plastic melamine plates and shoveling tacos into the mouths with one hand!
The speed at which the cook threw down the double-stack of corn tortillas was astonishing. With one hand holding the tortillas he could pinch a glob of rice, toss it right-side up, throw in the meat of your choice, sprinkle it with onions and cilantro and then immediately make 2 more just like it before slinging the plate towards the street eaters! We were hooked and ready to jump in for our first Mexico City street food-gastro-experience! But how do you start?? We jumped in and asked for “dos tacos con pollo”, to which he pointed to our selected meat and said, “no pollo, dis pork!” Okay, it looked delicious. I ordered 2 for me, 2 for Owen and 1 for Kaia. Sauced up and plates in hand we took our spot along the adjacent building’s wall and asked ourselves, do we just pick it up and go for it?” Answer: yes!
Actually a friendly line street eater was happy to demonstrate his English and answered a few of our questions. Most importantly, how and when to you pay? Basically when you’re done. On the honor system. I mean you can’t possibly pay at the first plate…..certainly you may feel the urge for more!!! Besides, I can’t imagine what might happen to you if you did try to dine and dash!
7 tacos and 1 soft drink – $165 pesos….ten bucks!
Bellies now refilled and mouths still tingling from the green sauce, it was time to make our way to the castle.
The surroundings were beautiful, trees everywhere, amazingly tall trees with lilac colors flowers, reminiscent of a poinciana back home. Tall, spindly branches of another finished with cactus like poofs. Gnarly twisted tree trunks rise from smooth forest floors in the surrounding park and pedestrians stroll in every which direction! As we approached the Castle, officially sanctioned carts are everywhere like a downtown ArtFest, but these carts are selling everything from stuffed monkeys (worn on the head as if a real monkey perched itself), Dorito chips in more flavors and colors imaginable, temporary tattoos, and wooden toys that make a click-clack sound when spun around. The constant sound of salesman hollering out their wares for all the passerby’s.
The Chapultepec Castle itself was gorgeous. It’s a grand 18th-century palace atop a hill in Mexico City — so we had to hike up to it, which was no small feat after just arriving at 7k+ feet of altitude! The palace houses the National Museum of History, which showcased impressive murals and stunning stained glass galleries along with multiple rooms all decorated in the original furnishings. We were also able to stroll through the castle’s manicured gardens and enjoy the panoramic views of downtown from our vantage point on top of the hill. It was a really cool way to start our time in Mexico City and get a feel for the history of this amazing place.
After the Castle we walked down the hill and past the Altar a la Patria. This striking semicircular structure is made of white Carrara marble. It features six tall pillars that stand in a half-circle, each topped with a bronze torch. The six columns represent the Niños Héroes (Boy Heroes)—six young teenage military cadets who died defending Chapultepec Castle from U.S. troops during the Battle of Chapultepec in 1847. Inside each column’s base is an urn holding the remains of one of the cadets.
After walking, we grabbed some more street food (our best yet!!) and eventually crashed back at our Airbnb. Mexico City was off to a great start!
