Technically I'm in Mexico City for a tattoo appointment but I had been thinking of coming here this year anyway, because a friend from Tokyo used to live here and said I'd love it. Since then, many people have come and gone through CDMX and all of them are infatuated with it. "You'll love the culture," they said. "There's so much to do," everyone raved. So far, they aren't wrong.
The only downside is that I do have to write while I’m here. I found out that the next — and final — deadline is end of January and since I’d planned on being here for three to four weeks, that would definitely require me to do some writing. But that’s okay, I deserve it and what is testing out a new city without a looming deadline over your head?
Getting to CDMX was easy, once I took San Diegan’s advice that the move was not to fly direct. In fact, there is no direct flight from San Diego to Mexico City and instead I was advised to take the Cross Border Xpress to Tijuana and then fly for there. For about twenty-five dollars, you walk across the literal bridge between borders and then you board your flight in TJ.
That costs an Uber ride ($60, the CBX ($25), and if you’re staying longer than seven days in Mexico, a six month visa ($50) is required. The savings is on the flights back, which would be pricey and longer routing through other US cities. In this case, flying from Los Angeles or something would have cost $500, whereas my one way from TJ to CDMX was $170 — and then about $200 back. Is that savings? Yes?
In preparation for this trip, I had signed up for eight weeks of Spanish adult class. I only ended up going for five weeks — but would have missed two anyway due to a Taiwan trip — and learned some basic grammar and the phrase I imagined I’d use a lot: Disculpa tengo una pregunta. “Excuse me, I have a question.”
As it turns out, the only words in Spanish I’ve had to use within the first few days here has been “gracias.” Everything else you can just body language. Also, I’ve been mainly in Roma, one of the two pre-approved neighborhoods by 99% of people I canvassed. The other one is La Condesa, and the two form the expat and tourist friendly places to stay because there is a lot of restaurants, foods, coffee shops, and the like.
To begin, I got an AirBnb in Roma but am planning to hop around to different neighborhoods, like I did in Tokyo. The number one concern of many travelers to Mexico City is “is it safe?” To be honest, I have no idea. La Condesa is certainly lovely, with tree lined streets and lots of parks, but even where I am a few blocks away on the edge of Roma, it can be dark and pretty empty. In that way, the first night reminded me of San Franciso. But you know, way better because SF sucks.
After moving into the apartment, I went to the closest sit down taqueria I could find and then prepared to retire for the night. After all, I had gotten up at seven for an eleven o’clock flight, having left my house at eight in the morning.
A few short hours later, I was back awake at dawn and was dead hungry so went out to get a a breakfast torta and a large vat of pineapple juice. Delightful! The many carts with food vendors were just beginning to set up. Street food here is cheap, like three-fourths of Taiwan I’d say, but not quite as cheap as Vietnam.
Buoyed by new city enthusiasm, I went straight back to bed after breakfast and then woke up at noon, and decided I should get out since I was finally in Mexico City! Once again, everyone’s first piece of advice was to go visit the Museo Nacional de Antropología, located in Chapultepec Park.
Indeed, it is a wonderful building and worth many a photo, but racks and racks of ancient things are not my cup of museum tea. I cruised through in a short two hours while reading only some of the historical signs. There are arguably more museum in Mexico City than any city I’ve been in, at least from a Google Maps look. There are all the requisite ones, plus stuff like a Trotsky house, because apparently he died here.
My research heading into this trip has been nil, can you tell? I was intrigued by the arty sounding Museo de Cera until I realized “cera” meant wax. A few days later, I found myself right outside it — located next to Ripley y Viaje Fantástico — while grocery shopping. The Xmas display outside was very, well, bright.
With so many museums to see, I decided to just do two a day and save them for my daytime activities. I walked across the park to the contemporary museum, the Tamayo, and spent only a brief amount of time there as only two exhibits were open. One of them was by a Brazilian artist named Adriana Varejão and she had these tile based works that were stunning.
The basic idea was that she recreated tile pieces and then had them breaking apart or cracked. In some instances, she had sculpted human flesh coming out of the cracks. It was both beautiful and disturbing.
I popped out at Polanco, which is the fanciest part of Mexico City apparently. As I was walking around, my phone data dropped out and I was left stranded, helpless in a city with no friends and no language skills. Luckily I turned the corner and saw the flagship ATT store which was celebrating twenty-five years of Friends, and I went right inside to switch out my SIM and get data. Verizon gives you free Mexico data but I don’t realize it caps you out at 0.5 gigs per day, throttling you afterward. That would not do. Fifty dollars and fifteen gigs later, I was good to go. Also, the temporary Friends cafe upstairs was inhabited by a guitar player, who was strumming "Maybe It's Time” from A Star is Born.
Let it never be said that traveling doesn’t expand your horizons. This is getting long so I better do a part two, which will begin with a stunning find, one that could change the entire tenor of my trip here... [ Part 2 ]
The only downside is that I do have to write while I’m here. I found out that the next — and final — deadline is end of January and since I’d planned on being here for three to four weeks, that would definitely require me to do some writing. But that’s okay, I deserve it and what is testing out a new city without a looming deadline over your head?
That costs an Uber ride ($60, the CBX ($25), and if you’re staying longer than seven days in Mexico, a six month visa ($50) is required. The savings is on the flights back, which would be pricey and longer routing through other US cities. In this case, flying from Los Angeles or something would have cost $500, whereas my one way from TJ to CDMX was $170 — and then about $200 back. Is that savings? Yes?
In preparation for this trip, I had signed up for eight weeks of Spanish adult class. I only ended up going for five weeks — but would have missed two anyway due to a Taiwan trip — and learned some basic grammar and the phrase I imagined I’d use a lot: Disculpa tengo una pregunta. “Excuse me, I have a question.”
As it turns out, the only words in Spanish I’ve had to use within the first few days here has been “gracias.” Everything else you can just body language. Also, I’ve been mainly in Roma, one of the two pre-approved neighborhoods by 99% of people I canvassed. The other one is La Condesa, and the two form the expat and tourist friendly places to stay because there is a lot of restaurants, foods, coffee shops, and the like.
To begin, I got an AirBnb in Roma but am planning to hop around to different neighborhoods, like I did in Tokyo. The number one concern of many travelers to Mexico City is “is it safe?” To be honest, I have no idea. La Condesa is certainly lovely, with tree lined streets and lots of parks, but even where I am a few blocks away on the edge of Roma, it can be dark and pretty empty. In that way, the first night reminded me of San Franciso. But you know, way better because SF sucks.
After moving into the apartment, I went to the closest sit down taqueria I could find and then prepared to retire for the night. After all, I had gotten up at seven for an eleven o’clock flight, having left my house at eight in the morning.A few short hours later, I was back awake at dawn and was dead hungry so went out to get a a breakfast torta and a large vat of pineapple juice. Delightful! The many carts with food vendors were just beginning to set up. Street food here is cheap, like three-fourths of Taiwan I’d say, but not quite as cheap as Vietnam.
Buoyed by new city enthusiasm, I went straight back to bed after breakfast and then woke up at noon, and decided I should get out since I was finally in Mexico City! Once again, everyone’s first piece of advice was to go visit the Museo Nacional de Antropología, located in Chapultepec Park.
Indeed, it is a wonderful building and worth many a photo, but racks and racks of ancient things are not my cup of museum tea. I cruised through in a short two hours while reading only some of the historical signs. There are arguably more museum in Mexico City than any city I’ve been in, at least from a Google Maps look. There are all the requisite ones, plus stuff like a Trotsky house, because apparently he died here.
My research heading into this trip has been nil, can you tell? I was intrigued by the arty sounding Museo de Cera until I realized “cera” meant wax. A few days later, I found myself right outside it — located next to Ripley y Viaje Fantástico — while grocery shopping. The Xmas display outside was very, well, bright.With so many museums to see, I decided to just do two a day and save them for my daytime activities. I walked across the park to the contemporary museum, the Tamayo, and spent only a brief amount of time there as only two exhibits were open. One of them was by a Brazilian artist named Adriana Varejão and she had these tile based works that were stunning.
The basic idea was that she recreated tile pieces and then had them breaking apart or cracked. In some instances, she had sculpted human flesh coming out of the cracks. It was both beautiful and disturbing.
- Adriana Varejão | Artsy | “An important reference for the artist is the Chinese pottery of the Song Dynasty, in which fissures are a widely appreciated aesthetic element.”
I popped out at Polanco, which is the fanciest part of Mexico City apparently. As I was walking around, my phone data dropped out and I was left stranded, helpless in a city with no friends and no language skills. Luckily I turned the corner and saw the flagship ATT store which was celebrating twenty-five years of Friends, and I went right inside to switch out my SIM and get data. Verizon gives you free Mexico data but I don’t realize it caps you out at 0.5 gigs per day, throttling you afterward. That would not do. Fifty dollars and fifteen gigs later, I was good to go. Also, the temporary Friends cafe upstairs was inhabited by a guitar player, who was strumming "Maybe It's Time” from A Star is Born.
Let it never be said that traveling doesn’t expand your horizons. This is getting long so I better do a part two, which will begin with a stunning find, one that could change the entire tenor of my trip here... [ Part 2 ]
