Capitols of countries are often a special place to visit. Location of the government, often historical importance and most of the time the biggest city in the country. Especially the last one fits Mexico city perfectly as the metropolitan region with its >22 million inhabitants is the most populated in Mexico and the 3rd biggest one in America behind NYC and Sao Paulo. But also the historical value of earlier Tenochtitlán as a place where once the Aztecs settled based on a sign of their gods, which was an eagle eating a snail - now used on the Mexican flag.
Unfortunately, Mexico City itself does not hold any ancient buildings anymore, apart from a couple of ruins around the central square which were covered in 1519 by the Teocalli when most of the buildings were destroyed by the Spaniards. But Teotihuacán which is located some kilometers to the east makes up for that with its huge pyramids.
Arrived in CDMX (Ciudad de México) we checked in into our hostel Casa Pepe, which was highly recommended by many people and I started my first morning with cornflakes and milk or at least tried because unfortunately, the whole hostel with probably 100+ people had only one small bowl in their bad equipped kitchen - typical hostel struggles. Apart from that, the hostel offered a big social space around the reception, a gaming area with TV where you were able to lay in a 6 square meter net 2 meters above the floor, a huge rooftop including a bar and a daily power hour with unlimited drinks and many activities. Their dorms were equipped with huge lockers and beds with curtains and small safety lockers and a tiny shelf in the cabin itself.
After getting Sam some breakfast from one of the huge typical pastries around (Pastelería Ideal) I went with the hostel on their daily free Walking tour with around 20 others.
We passed the main Plaza de la Constitución and the ruins to go to Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso. This place holds beyond many Maya relicts, paintings from Orozco and Diego Riviera.
Afterwards, we were taken as well to a pastry, where I bought myself a Gelatina which is similar to a pudding, based on milk and water. At the next stop after passing Palacio de Bellas Artes and Chinatown the Mercado de San Juan we went to an insect stand and I tried a Scorpion and a Cucaracha which were both again not really having an own, special taste but were very crispy and especially the Cucaracha surprised me with its consistency which I really liked and I would recommend you to try that if you're brave. So this was an amazing experience to finally try more insects, apart from the fact that the guide asked us while leaving the market if we ate the sting of the scorpion. Me and Peter an Australian (living in Hamburg with his German girlfriend Jule) were just looking at each other and felt a bit bad for the rest of the day, since we just ate the whole thing, feeling really confident while locals usually don't - hups. As far as I can say, we're still fine.
What is a capital without a skyscraper with a view deck? This was our next step at Torre Latino where we went up to the 37th floor to have a view over the city. Since in the city center there are neither other huge buildings, expressive landmarks or great parks or nature, the view was kinda monotonous, but still worth the free entry. Last stop we went to Taco Los Especiales which was recommended from our guide and turned out to be our place to got for every meal the next days and probably the best tacos regarding value and taste for money since they cost only 7$ a piece (Reminder: 7 pesos are like 33cts).
As after most of the walking tours, afterwards groups formed to continue the day. Tito from California with Mexican roots, Pauline from France with excellent English skills after living in the US for a long term, Mary from lovely Munich and me decided to go to the Frida Kahlo Museum together. To go there we had to go to Coyoacán which is a district in the south of the center and cause of the size of the city we decided to give the metro a try even though the metro there is not known as safe. Pickpocketing during the night and a broad variety of other crimes especially during the night are reported via different channels. We also experienced a kinda weird guy, who was touching Mary inappropriately and following us during our search for the connection metro But we still felt pretty safe in the group especially because it was not rush hour but early afternoon.
Frida Kahlo Museum was interesting to see, and a chill 45min walk-through in a very nice location, the Casa Azul, which is offering finished and unfinished paintings of her as well as photographs of her and Diego Riviera and her family.
Frida Kahlo, who has German roots in Pforzheim and is most likely the most famous female artist of Latinoamericana got famous because of her paintings about her life, especially around her chronicle disease as well as her marriage with Diego Riviera, who is as Orozco part of the Los Tres Grandes - the three most well-known painters of modern art in Mexico who often painted also propagandistic communist art.
Before we were heading back to the hostel, we got diner in a small restaurant, where I tried Tamales, a typical Mayan dish of a corn-based dough that is filled and wrapped into plant leaves. It was interesting to try, but I felt like it was a bit dry.
Back in the hostel we got some drinks and gathered to go in the evening for Luncha Libre. Luncha Libre is the free wrestling style that is typical for México and also made its way into famous wrestling leagues like WWE or RAW, consisting of many flying elements alias attacks. The Luncha Libre fights itself can be seen multiple times a week in Arenas of big cities like Guadalajara, México, and Puebla.
We went with 10 people to the fight, beyond others Peter and Jule, as well as Tito, Pauline, and Mary, as well as some Munich guys we met earlier on the walking tour as well. Because we were many people we didn't take any organized tour for 650$ but we just went there individually for some pesos and bought the tickets at the arena for 150$. In total there were 5 fights including one female fight. The Arena was only filled like one-third, but still, the whole event and the show was a blast and a really Mexican experience to see, so don't forget to try that once.
The evening ended with some more people at the hostel rooftop.
The next day was a more chilled one, waking up and writing my blog before Mary decided to go to Roma, where we went and explored. Roma Norte is a central neighborhood with many restaurants, cafés, and bars and also holds one of the well-known Churros stores called Churrería El Moro, where I ate my first churros in Mexico on Day 19 - surprising.
After a drink at a rooftop and a stop at the hostel, we went to a very traditional Salsa bar Club San Luis, that we got recommended by my Mexican friend Ali whom I met on the airplane and Ricardo (from Sayulita) who later joined us, told me that he was there many times when he lived close by. The place was chic, with a red carpet at the entrance, security guards in suits, and a very classical atmosphere including the huge live band of like 15 people playing in front of the central stage of the bar. The Mexican guys were also wearing suits, which was probably the reason, why I had to leave my cap at the entrance - you can tell, our outfits were not perfectly fitting in. The overall vibe was really open-minded, people dancing looked always so energized and happy and Mexicans asked us even for dances. So overall a really different and valuable experience that one should check out, but bring some more money than the usual 10€.
Afterwards, we went to Plaza Garibaldi which is well known because many Mariachi bands gather there during the evening and night hours. In the bar, they had a stage in the middle as well where constantly traditional dances or salsa were performed. We had only one beer there which was fine, but as the Google reviews say, which I only checked afterwards, they scam like nearly every guest with weird additional costs.
As the last challenge of the day I had to convince Lea (who joined again after we met in Guadalajara) that she should not walk too much around CDMX as a single blonde girl by night because it's dangerous. Since she did not believe me, Ricardo had to step in and tell her that he totally agrees even as local.
This is how Day 2 ended in Mexico City and since there is so much more to happen I'll split this up.
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