Mexico City Weekend

We are so thankful that we got another opportunity to visit Mexico City before moving back to the States. Our first visit to this enormous city was about a month after we had moved to Mexico, and while it was an exciting and interesting trip, it was also very difficult and overwhelming, especially because of the language barrier.

Now we returned two and a half years later to Mexico City, much more confident in Spanish, in the food, and with Mexico in general. Our first stop (and this indicates how much more comfortable we are with the country), was to a famous taco street close to the airport. Since moving to Monterrey, we have become a bit of "tacos de trompo" fanatics and are always on the search for the best restaurants that serve this particular style of meat. Recently we watched a show on Netflix called "Taco Chronicles" that has an entire episode dedicated to this type of taco. Naturally, we had to try some of the tacos from the show. However, in true gringo style, when we showed up at 12:30 the restaurants were just starting to open (tacos de trompo are "night" tacos). Thanks to the great hospitality of the restaurant owners, they let us hang around until the meat was ready. The bonus of this was that we got to watch many of the preparations and the boys even got a picture with the special meat spit. 

The guy was pretty proud that he was featured on the Taco Chronicles Show

Notice the pineapple underneath the meat...this means its going to be really good 

Sam

Seth

Josh

 The tacos on the left are a new to us kind that we had never tried before, but that our Uber driver recommended; the ones on the right are tacos de trompo al pastor.

 We stayed in an airbnb in the Polanco neighborhood. It was very central...this was a view from our bedroom window. However, it was honestly TOO central, meaning we got very little sleep because it was above restaurants and bars. By day 3, Ben and I were operating in a bit of a fog from lack of sleep. 

 Our first evening we visited the Museo Nacional de Antropologia

"El Paraguas" in the courtyard is pretty amazing

 Notice how the sculpture holds up the entire cement platform; overall, this courtyard was pretty amazing

 The Mayan history at the museum was very neat

The famous Aztec "Piedra del Sol" was spectacular

 We're not very good at this family selfie thing

 The boys poising like the statue

That evening we found a Thai food place to eat dinner at; rare moments of non-Mexican food are real victories here. The next morning we went to the most amazing breakfast at a place called Saks (thankfully some of our friends here are experts on traveling to Mexico City and gave us a huge restaurant list; we barely had to make any eating decisions which was very pleasant!). The boys LOVED their experience at Saks and it was amazing food. Next we head down to the Reforma to see the Palacio de Bellas Artes. 

 It is a beautiful building; we saw the outside of it last time we visited CDMX, but this time wanted to explore inside a bit because it's also an art museum. Unfortunately the inside was a bit of a bomb (you can't win them all in traveling) and we felt like we wasted time and energy walking around the museum. (The murals by Diego Rivera that we wanted to see ended up being quite graphic and not exactly kid friendly). 

The boys didn't stand out at all with their blonde hair and red USA jerseys. 

The kids did a good job in the museum, except for that one time that Josh didn't have enough self control not to touch the frame of a painting. Oops. Constant vigilance is needed with that kid. 

From the Palacio we walked down the pedestrian street to the government palace. There were SO many people! The old buildings throughout the street are very beautiful. 

 We made it to the zocalo and as we sat to eat our ice cream, these students came up to see if they could practice their English and record the presentation they were making. The weird thing was, this happened to us last time that we were in Mexico City! 

The government palace and the zocalo. 

We visited the cathedral at the square. It is the oldest and largest Cathedral in all of Latin America. It was quite impressive!  

Early in the weekend Ben discovered that there was a Americana soccer game on Saturday night at 9 pm. Ben really wanted to show the boys Stadium Azteca, which housed the 1968 Olympics. So, while it was a bit of push for my comfort zone (it being so far out of the city and so late at night), we went as a family and had a really great time. 

We didn't have great seats, but who can complain for $5/ticket? The stadium was absolutely enormous! 

Me and my Joshy boy

The next day we went to another special brunch (there was no getting up early between the late night game and noise from the car across the street until all hours of the night), this time at a restaurant called Eno. I own a Mexican cookbook by the chef, Enrique Olvera, so I was super excited to visit his restaurant. Again the food was SO good and it was a fun experience to take the boys to. Afterwards we took a nap, because we were exhausted from the late night. Then, once again thanks to the recommendation of our friends, we headed to Lincoln Park to play with electric boats on the pond. This park was just half a block from our house at the kids literally played at the wonderful playground all four days that we were in Mexico City! 

 Each boat had a special animal and flag to identify it. 

 Seth and Sam

All the boys getting ready to race

I loved all the green trees in Mexico City and the variety of textures! 

 We have learned that the boys do so much better on trips if we give them a say in what we do. While they don't set much of the agenda, giving them a voice can look like something as simple as having them set the order that we do things. "Which one first? Ice cream or museum?" Their attitudes are always so much better when we do this! So, after they decided ice cream first, then museum, we headed to Museo Soumaya. The building alone is worth a visit. And as a bonus, Museums in Mexico are free on Sundays. 

 It seriously is the coolest building

Chips on the steps for a reward after an hour of looking at art. 

I think that this is my favorite picture of the trip

It was fun to have the boys look at art from different eras and formulate their preferences on styles. 

Doesn't he look like an art critic? 

That evening we watched the Super Bowl from our airbnb house. I walked in the neighborhood and got a kilo of cochinita pibil for tacos and some Tom Kai soup for Ben and I from the same Thai food place as before. It was a much needed restful night in. 

Our final day in the city was Monday. The kids and I didn't fly out until the evening (Ben was staying behind for a workshop), so we spent the morning at the Papalote Children's Museum, This was a super impressive children's museum and a great way to end our trip. 

Buying stuff for a carne aside

Josh trying out the rat wheel

There is such a cool lego room

Seth and Sam could have stayed there all day

Josh on the other hand wanted to explore more. He and I found the firetruck outside

 He was thrilled to be the driver

But, my favorite part BY FAR of the children's museum was the bubble room. It was amazing. 

Full body bubbles (Josh)

Josh

Sam

 Sam

 Seth

 Seth

 They also had an entire floor dedicated to kids making things and testing them

 First the boys made kites

Sam 

And then they made rockets. I think rocket launching (over and over and over again) was probably the boys' favorite part

 And that's a wrap.

It's funny, but in my mind I keep referring to this as a "trip" and not a "vacation," because honestly, there was very little rest for us. We're learning that with travel, it's often not restful, especially when you're in a huge city. This trip in particular we stayed at an airbnb that didn't have any previous reviews, so we had no idea that it was going to be so noisy. Also, upon returning, while we had planned to arrive back at our house in Monterrey around 6 pm to get ready for school the next day, our flight was delayed 2 and a half hours, so we arrived home late, hungry, and exhausted. All that to say, traveling is not always easy, and some getaways may be more of a "trip than a "vacation." However, in our opinion, it's always worth it.