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Mexico City

SimonBolivar

By SimonBolivar
in Food and Travel

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  • 2 weeks later...
gmr548

gmr548 16557

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Just returned from our first visit from April 6-10. Vibrant and full of life in a way few US cities can even touch, and dear god, the food. Cancino, Havre 77, Cafe Nin (all three all literally on the same block, which was where our AirBNB was), Entremar, Teoixtla, Taqueria Orinoco, Panadiera Rosetta, and Septimo (7) Osteria all slapped. Lardo was pretty good but kind of a clusterfuck on a Sunday morning. If there was  disappointing restaurant, that was it, but it's all relative.

Will definitely be returning with better Spanish. The air quality was pretty yikes though, gave me an appreciation for the Clean Air Act.

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mycox

mycox 582

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^^^^
That is how you do CDMX. I'll be there for a 4 night trip next next week. They are getting into the craft beer scene and will be hitting up some of the breweries. I haven't been to the Coyoacán borough yet looking forward to it.

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gmr548

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1 hour ago, Matuka said:

@SimonBolivar

Thanks for the pics.  So what’s going on at the zócalo?  Video from webcamsdemexico.com shows the zócalo closed with a temporary building and tent erected across from the cathedral.  Is it some sort of Easter thing?

 

Could be. They were setting that up when we were there last week, the the Zocolo was open. There was also an election this past Sunday, could be related to that but I would think it'd be gone by now if that was the case.

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10949

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2 hours ago, Matuka said:

@SimonBolivar

Thanks for the pics.  So what’s going on at the zócalo?  Video from webcamsdemexico.com shows the zócalo closed with a temporary building and tent erected across from the cathedral.  Is it some sort of Easter thing?

 

Some big Easter thing is today or tomorrow.20220415_091638.thumb.jpg.f0394b9d4b0528f41841c8b9da45532e.jpg20220415_094623.thumb.jpg.a8196625b7da401e13178f9c0a8759c7.jpg

 

Chilaquilles every morning.

 

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rage-a-holic

rage-a-holic 4312

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3 hours ago, Matuka said:

@SimonBolivar

Thanks for the pics.  So what’s going on at the zócalo?  Video from webcamsdemexico.com shows the zócalo closed with a temporary building and tent erected across from the cathedral.  Is it some sort of Easter thing?

 

It's Semana Santa this week. Every tourist destination in Mexico is full of Mexican vacationers right now. La Paz has a bunch of streets and the malecon shut down right now, it's a fucking circus. I'm sure it's the same at all the cool areas in CDMX.

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10949

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11 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

It's Semana Santa this week. Every tourist destination in Mexico is full of Mexican vacationers right now. La Paz has a bunch of streets and the malecon shut down right now, it's a fucking circus. I'm sure it's the same at all the cool areas in CDMX.

Its been hit and miss in CDMX. Chapultepec was insane and the Zocalo was pretty busy at times, but overall it seems a lot of locals are out of town 

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10949

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20220416_201427.thumb.jpg.6c9c583cfac57f88b9c51b5ca92f9f68.jpg

Took the Metro to the game tonight from the Zocolo. I was surprised how nice it was compared to the stories I've always heard about how tourists should avoid the Metro. Felt a lot safer than on the L in Chicago.

 

Front row seats for the game tonight were like $3020220416_222754.thumb.jpg.bde6abbe6cd3514a1632ecca82304701.jpg

 

20220416_231318.thumb.jpg.b6f6e323615aff2508e92aed661c5064.jpg

Dude getting arrested after the game for fighting.

 

20220416_231801.thumb.jpg.16abd3f52c76008e43eb270af2ce00be.jpg

 

Some boisterous locals. It was sad how many more fans Chivas had at the game over Cruz Azul. They did have a good time after the game agreeing that Club America is shit.

20220416_101243.thumb.jpg.af83bd2b6fc59faaf30e5d2aa455afea.jpg

 

Chile Rellano from a lady on a boat in Xochimilco this morning. Xochimilco is hell, but it was surprisingly a damn good Chile Rellano.

20220416_202637.thumb.jpg.cf517d7f62a3d47dc33459422d007422.jpg

Everyone in this city is selling something.

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RDCanecutter

RDCanecutter 26348

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22 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

 

20220416_202637.thumb.jpg.cf517d7f62a3d47dc33459422d007422.jpg

Everyone in this city is selling something.

Those look like Chinese-made doodads, but who knows. Just about every beach trinket there is Chinese-- My buddy Bob the Canadian Pirate would see them taking big bags of them out of the trunks of cars and divvying them up among the urchins, with advice to "look hungry."

OTOH I could kick myself for every time little 4' tall indigenous ladies would come up to me in a cafe offering homemade blouses for 5 bucks, and I'd politely shoo them away because I was deep in contemplative gringo assholery. Years later, back in the US, I realized I could have sold those for 7 times that price.

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10949

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Just now, texasdago said:

"Xochimilco is hell"

 

Much calmer during the week

It wasn't busy when we went at all on one of the first boats of the day. More like this is "touristy hell", but we did stop at an Oxxo on the way and load up on drinks at 9AM which is always nice. We had a 15 or 16 year old dude pushing our boat who kept on getting cussed out by the other drivers as he wasn't as strong or skilled yet. He got really down near the end when his boss had to come aboard and navigate around all the boats leaving as we were coming in and really let him have it.

 

I tipped him way over normal when the boss wasn't looking and he seemed to get it put away fast enough where he was going to get to keep it, but you never know.

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10949

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8 hours ago, RDCanecutter said:

Those look like Chinese-made doodads, but who knows. Just about every beach trinket there is Chinese-- My buddy Bob the Canadian Pirate would see them taking big bags of them out of the trunks of cars and divvying them up among the urchins, with advice to "look hungry."

OTOH I could kick myself for every time little 4' tall indigenous ladies would come up to me in a cafe offering homemade blouses for 5 bucks, and I'd politely shoo them away because I was deep in contemplative gringo assholery. Years later, back in the US, I realized I could have sold those for 7 times that price.

Oh yeah it was all fake as shit. I should've bought something.

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BurdineBandit

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Will be going for the 2nd time after a few years hiatus. Long weekend in May. Can't wait. This will be a bit more debaucherous than the last trip though, probably doing xochimilco with 4 dudes, all of whom love to drink. I do too, but anything more than 2 travel mates makes me uncomfortable. 

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Mo Horn

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1 hour ago, zman13 said:

So is going to Xochimilco worth it? Have heard lots of reviews and lots of different opinions. 

Seems like it could be a lot of fun. 

Also seems like a big detour, crowded, lots of people selling things, etc. 

 

Nothing but a tourist trap, imo

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texasdago

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1 hour ago, zman13 said:

So is going to Xochimilco worth it? Have heard lots of reviews and lots of different opinions. 

Seems like it could be a lot of fun. 

Also seems like a big detour, crowded, lots of people selling things, etc. 

 

We went during the week and it was pretty chill... we enjoyed it.  During the weekend its not just full of tourists, its full of locals, too.  Packed.

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Iowa Horn

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3 hours ago, zman13 said:

So is going to Xochimilco worth it? Have heard lots of reviews and lots of different opinions. 

Seems like it could be a lot of fun. 

Also seems like a big detour, crowded, lots of people selling things, etc. 

 

Absolutely yes, it is worth it.  We were there last month on a Saturday afternoon and it was almost entirely locals.  Yes, it was crowded, but on the water it didn't seem overly so, because after going through a bottleneck of party boats, you'd hit a more peaceful stretch to chill out for a bit.  None of the sellers tried a hard sell - just wave them off, and they get it.  Or, beckon them over and check out what they've got.  The whole experience was fascinating, and while kitschy, it seemed like a glimpse into authentic Mexican family fun; and at least the day we were there, felt like it was off the beaten path of the US tourist circuit.

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zman13

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14 hours ago, Mo Horn said:

Thinking about heading there this October and checked some flights. Wow, it's expensive. I can fly to Central America or even Colombia for less. Might have to rethink where I want to go. 

Not sure where you are located, but if you are in the Austin area, check flying out of San Antonio. It's a lot cheaper.

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Mo Horn

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19 minutes ago, zman13 said:

Not sure where you are located, but if you are in the Austin area, check flying out of San Antonio. It's a lot cheaper.

I'm not in Texas. You are correct, and there are several different options in your scenario. Unfortunately, I don't have any close options. 

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Nueces River Rat

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3 hours ago, zman13 said:

Not sure where you are located, but if you are in the Austin area, check flying out of San Antonio. It's a lot cheaper.

Yep...   ABIA only has one direct flight to Mexico City  via Aeromexico

            SAT has three via Aeromexico, VivaAerobus, and Volarias  with the later two being Mexico's "discount" airlines. 

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10949

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16 hours ago, Orale said:

Did those who recently went have to do a covid test within a day of returning? Any other covid related issues coming/going and in country? I'd like go for a long weekend leaving Wednesday from SA. 

Took the test outside the terminal for too much money ($35ish, iirc). Cheaper to do it in the million places around town that offer it and you know in advance so no surprises. As far as other restrictions, CDMX is mostly still mask required.

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Matuka

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16 hours ago, Orale said:

Did those who recently went have to do a covid test within a day of returning? Any other covid related issues coming/going and in country? I'd like go for a long weekend leaving Wednesday from SA. 

 

10 hours ago, williemackgarza said:

End of march. Had to,have a covid test within 24 hours of return flight. The hotel had a test center and there was 1 across the street. Took 30 minutes to do it and get results.
The swab up the nose was old school up to my brain, damn.

Wow, glad this was brought up.  I leave for CDMX in a couple of weeks and I was thinking you had to test within 72 hours (like we did in Oaxaca last November).  As we are coming back to US on a Monday, there are less labs open on Sunday, so I thought that complicated things.  

Turns out you can buy a test before you leave the US and do the test through one of the partners associated with the airline the day before departure.

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gmr548

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23 hours ago, Orale said:

Did those who recently went have to do a covid test within a day of returning? Any other covid related issues coming/going and in country? I'd like go for a long weekend leaving Wednesday from SA. 

You have to have a negative test result dated day before or day of your flight. Rapid antigen tests work and are easy to come by. We were walk ins at an Olab (https://www.olab.com.mx/) on a Saturday morning and were in/out in < 30 minutes. Cost little enough that I don't remember the exact amount - I want to say it was $20-$30 - and had the test results within an hour.

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