Mexico City: A city after my heart
2018 has been a pretty hectic year for us. With my mom moving to Houston to be closer to us, we finally had the opportunity to take some mini weekend sabbaticals to visit old friends and explore cool cities. We started the year with a trip to Miami and a quick stop in the Bahamas. We made our way up to Chicago to catch a Cubs game. And we had a great family reunion in Waco. Nothing ever quite compares with spending time with family and friends. But we were craving some culture shock. So, when are dear friend asked us to join him on a weekend trip to Mexico City for his 30th birthday, we didn’t think twice.
It was a city I’ve always wanted to explore. But I never knew it was so easy to get to. It’s only a short 2 hour flight from Houston. With amazing restaurants, museums, and nightlife, a weekend doesn’t really do it justice. But in typical Hills Family fashion, we packed in as much as we could using Memorial weekend to give us the extra day.
We were meeting up with a group of 10 people all ready to party for the birthday celebration. And here we show up: Jason looking like a pack mule in his tropical dad shirt with a massive baby carrier on his back and me in my floppy hat and big camera on my neck. And of course Ethan who was more excited about playing with the red velvet ropes in the valet line at the hotel then meeting new people. I worried about how this group would react and if they would be okay hanging out with a 2 year old toddler wild card. Thankfully Ethan was a champ, and we didn’t have any bad public breakdowns. The group seemed to love having him around, and he never got in the way of everyone having a good time.
We started our trip off wandering the city center and having some traditional Mexican food for lunch, a much welcomed change from our standard Tex-Mex that we are used to. The Museo Mural Diego Rivera was a good break from the heat and worth a stop. We took some time really digging into the famous mural continuously spotting something different and obscure. We stopped in a tequila and mescal museum and had a solid round of samples. Our trip was officially kicked off!
We had a great dinner that night. Mexico City really does have some amazing restaurants. Here’s the horrible part of travelling with a toddler, though. After dinner, one of us had to go back to the hotel, and I drew the short straw this time. So while I spent my night trying to convince a very sleepy 2 year old that he was in fact tired, Jason spent his night enjoying a crazy Lucha Libre wrestling match. And because I wasn’t there, there are no good photos of that to share.
On Saturday, we hired a van to take us to Teotihuacan, an archaeological site packed full of memorizing pyramids. The drive out gave us our first good view of the real Mexico City. We could see just how massive and packed it truly is.
When we arrived at the pyramids, we unfortunately got sucked in to a tourist trap from the driver. He sold us on stopping at a shop for use of clean bathrooms citing that the bathrooms in the complex were horrible. Once we got to the shop, the owners immediately dragged us into an uninteresting tour of the agave plant and obsidian carvings. Then, they tried to convince us to spend hundreds of dollars on the carvings. Needless to say, I was pretty unhappy about this. It wasted a good hour of our time. But once we finally got to the pyramids, I let all my anxiety go.
We walked through the Isle of the Dead, climbed the Temple of the Moon and the Temple and Sun, and felt our wanderlust be fulfilled immediately. It’s also important to note, that the bathrooms inside the complex were pristine. My anger towards our driver continued to bubble up with this fact. I really don’t like people taking advantage of me!
I was so impressed with Jason as he carried our 35 lb son up the Temple of the Sun with no complaints. He is such a good dad. He constantly amazes me. But I have my moments as a mom too. Specifically on this trip, I got the honor of changing a blow out poopy diaper at the very top of the Temple of the Sun and carrying the diaper in my purse all the way down. Awwww, the joys of parenthood.
After an exhausting few hours climbing pyramids and dodging aggressive sells-men with cheap trinkets, we were ready for a margarita! I had heard about a cool restaurant nestled inside a nearby cave, but our driver insisted that you needed a reservation. When I told him that I had already checked and we indeed did not need a reservation, he insisted that it would be too crowded and that we should try this much better restaurant (undoubtedly owned by a dear friend of his). I had about had it with this driver and his tricks and wasn’t going to budge from what I wanted. Therefore, we insisted on seeing the cave. Ultimately, our driver agreed to take us there.
And I’m so glad he did. The food was amazing and the atmosphere even better. We did have to wait for a table for about a half an hour. But they had a great outdoor waiting area equipped with a much needed bar. The wait was no issue at all! And for an added highlight to our trip, we added a new exotic food to our list of strange things we have tasted, worm larvae. They tasted similar to lentils, and although I didn’t find anything particularly special about them, the experience was worth having.
On Sunday, we had a full day packed of exploring the city. We started early with a bus ride to a beautiful castle, Castillo de Chapultepec. The bus ride there was interesting enough. The city closed down the main street for the morning to let bikers take over. I wish all cities did this! You could feel the energy within the community as so many citizens came out to enjoy the day together. It really added to the beauty of the city. We passed through many markets where we did a little bit of shopping before climbing to the top of the hill where the castle perched to looked over the beautiful city.
After we toured the castle, we found a great lunch spot with amazing fish tacos. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the famous landmark, Angel of Independence, before we caught Uber rides to our big event of the day, Xochimilico.
Xochimilico lies about 30 minutes outside of the city. It is referred to as the Venice of Mexico due to its tangled canals full of colorful boats. It’s a very touristy destination, but I’m pretty good at being a bit touristy. So, I didn’t mind. We loaded up on beer and micheladas before boarding our 4 hour boat ride fully equipped with load speakers and a mariachi band.
And the party started! Ok, Mommy and Daddy friends, if you are ever worried that travelling with your kids means you can’t have fun, let this inspire you otherwise! You just have to find the right type of activities that will let you let lose while the kid is still occupied enough to not be bored. I wont pretend it wasn’t a challenge, but we were mostly successful, even after Ethan threw his tablet into the water. It still worked later that night, Amazon Fires are amazing y’all!. With music blaring and the micheladas continuously being fed our way, we were the life of the party on the water. Other boats thought we were crazy. And we might be featured in a few Youtube videos as passerbys found us hilarious jumping at the opportunity to catch crazy tourists on their phones. But we didn’t care.
Mid-trip, we made a pit stop at the Island of the Dolls. Which is even more creepy then it sounds.
Even after our solemn stop to the Island of Dolls, we still felt the need to make the boat into our personal disco. The dolls just fueled our craziness to a new level.
This trip truly brought out the best in us, a group of grown-ups just wanting to let loose and have fun.
When we returned to the city, most wanted to rest before hitting the nightclubs for one more night. We relaxed in a beautiful courtyard right behind our hotel. It marked then end of my journey through Mexico City, while the others still had a night of crazy adventure ahead of them (which ultimately ended in a hospital visit, but that is another person’s story for another time).
Mexico City won my heart. I had no idea this amazing city was so close to us. And now I can’t wait until I return. Perhaps next time for an extended stay?
Until next time,
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