mmm-yoso!!!

Mexico City - Mora Mora (La Condesa) and a Journey thru La Merced

After spending a busy day exploring and eating in Centro Historico we spent some time exploring La Condesa. This is the area in which we've stayed in since our very first trip back in 2019. And this was our fifth time visiting since then! We've noticed quite a few changes since that first visit. The one biggest thing, which I noted during our previous visit was the large number of ex-pats. And there seemed to be even more this time around.

On Avenida Amsterdam we passed this interesting shop.

It looked like a natural foods/vegan/vegetarian shop, with a coffee bar and restaurant. It seemed quite popular.

The Missus was particularly interested in the Mushroom Coffee, something which She buys on occasion back home.

They even have funky "swings" to eat and drink on in the dining area.

Mora Mora
Ámsterdam 171
Colonia Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, 06100 Ciudad de México, Mexico

The next day, we had a nice, light breakfast at Red Tree House, we both knew that we'd be eating a bit during the day because I'd booked a small group tour of Mercado la Merced. I had read that the market, the largest in CDMX is large, vast, and confusing, thus I booked a small group tour. Our "small group" consisted of one other couple, who both claimed Mexican ancestry and were from El Paso. Our guide was Yimnah, who is a former chef. 

After introductions we were off. First thing we noticed was how crowded things were.

Traffic here was crazy and to be frank, kinda scary. Yimnah actually used the assistance of one of the guys who help folks cross the street, for a tip of course.

We passed the flower market on the way in.

Once in the sprawling and confusing market, Yimnah directed us past all of the booths to this one.

Hmmm.....that logo seems familiar? This is Tacos McTeo. You gotta love it.

And the specialty tacos have....well, you guessed it, papas fritas on them. We got a very delici-yoso taco with cesina. Them "golden arches" ain't got nothin' on this place.

Though I'm wondering if a "cease and desist" might be around the corner.....

During our next pause Yimnah expounded on the glories of what she described as a specialty of CDMX; the fried tamal. We got a nopales-queso version. We weren't sure what to expect, but this was super good.

The earthy, maizey-lishceousness of the masa, along with slightly mucilaginous, sweet-green beanish flavor of the nopales, the milky queso, all wrapped in a crisp, slightly crunchy exterior was masterful. I gotta see if there's a version here in SD.

This was washed down with some atole.

From this stand.

There were just so many stands here, it would have been crazy to attempt to explore ourselves.

Next up were tacos, from this busy stand.

We got the suardero and tripas.

Which were fine, if not as god as what we'd had the previous day.

The couple that was with us were surprised that we had tripas....according to them, non-Hispanic folks where they hail from won't touch the stuff. I explained that most Asians will try anything and that statement would prove to be especially true later on.

Our next stop was to be for some quesadillas, but the place was packed and busy. 

So Yimnah placed our orders and took us through a tour of various fruits.

Where we got to sample several varieties of avocado and other fruits.

We then headed back to the quesadilla stand. Yimnah explained that in Mexico City, most of the traditional stands will use blue corn quesadillas, the use of blue corn dates back to prehispanic times.

Cooked on the comal, it seemed like blue corn was a bit softer and more tender than other versions.

Man, we had eaten quite a bit at this point, so it was time to do a bit more exploring. We were guided thru the chili stands, with Yimnah pointing out various species, many of which, like the habanero I'm quite familiar with; though there were some, like the mirasol, that I wasn't too familiar with, until Yimnah explained that these are the chilies that are dried to make guajillo chilies, which I usually have stocked at home.

We next moved on to a stand that even I had heard of. The famous Moles Dona Balbi which stocks what seems like a hundred different moles.

We ended up getting some mole pinole.

And then after touring a few more stands we came across this one.

And an amazing tasting of everything from Chapulines, gusanos, cocopaches, to acocil. That wrapped thingy on the right in the photo above is a fermented fish, which was full of umami flavor.

This was the protein source for many in prehispanic times. There was one thing that caught my eye, it's on the left of the gentleman in this photo.

Looking like a pile of tubular pasta, we could actually smell it from where we were standing. We asked Yimnah what it was and were told "fermented chicken intestines". These have been cooked. We asked if we could taste some. Yimnah said most folks are kinda scared of it....we wanted to try it. So Yimnah had them get us a sample; that couple from Texas, who had been so proud of their heritage backed off. Actually, it was chewy, very strong poultry flavor, quite savory, and we're glad we tried it.

We were glad to have taken this tour. There's no way we'd have been exposed to, nor have tried so many dishes and had learned so much about the cuisine, which is a big part of history and culture. There was so much we learned on this tour.

We had a coffee before Yimnah led us to the best area to catch our Uber and we headed back to La Condesa and the Red Tree House where Romeo was "waiting".

Lest you think Romeo didn't know what was going on. Everytime we'd see this wonderful pooch we'd give him a nice rub and scratch and his tail would go a wagging'. On the next morning as we checked out, Romeo was lying near the front door. We gave him an enthusiastic last rub, whereupon he lifted his head and then with one paw closed the door so we couldn't leave! "Oh Romeo!"

Such is what CDMX is to us! We can't wait to return.

But Guadalajara was waiting.....

Thanks for stopping by!

Mexico City - Exploring Centro Historico, Xaachila Comida Oaxaquena, Taquería El Torito (Calle de Mesones 48 location), and Quesadillas Bolivar

**** So, this one is kinda long. I've condensed things a bit to make it more readable. Please let me know if you have any questions!

We had two full days in CDMX before heading to Jalisco. Even though we'd been to CDMX four times previously, we knew there was so much we hadn't seen yet. And yes, we'd been to Centro Historico several times (remember the colors of Frida?), but there just seemed to be so much. I thought we'd enjoy a private tour of Centro Historico. We had enjoyed our private tour of Museo Nacional de Antropologia on a previous trip, so I contacted Mexico a Pie tours, inquiring about downtown tour options. Ana quickly returned my email and after mentioning we enjoyed the cuisine as well, she proposed the private Tortilla and History tour.

Which is how we ended up "Ubering" to the Zocalo to meet up with our guide, the wonderful and enthusiastic Daniela.

After introductions, we swung on over to Templo Mayor, where we were treated to the history of Tenochtitlan, thought to be founded in the 14th century, home of the Mexica people, and the center of the Aztec Empire. Tenochtitlan was built on the shores of Lake Texcoco, which was eventually mostly drained. It is in this basin that Mexico City now exists.

This temple was dedicated to Huītzilōpōchtli (God of the sun) and Tlaloc which Andres had gone over with us during our tour of the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. Daniela seemed quite pleased that knew a bit about Tlaloc....she got a kick when we remembered the identifying features of Tlaloc; the round eyes and fangs.

We noticed many serpents and was told that these are symbols of fertility and rebirth.

One of the most famous items excavated here is the Coyolxauhqui Stone.

The next stop was just around the corner.

This is the Colegio de San Ildefonso, formerly a college established by the Jesuits, it is now a museum and performance venue.

Though it has some impressive murals and such, we found the elegant little touches to be impressive.

We were taken to the former Colegio de San Gregorio, now known as Universidad Obrera “Vicente Lombardo Toledano” - the "Worker's University", which bears the name of one of the most famous labor leaders in  Mexico.

It was here when we discovered how flexible Daniela was. We noticed this dome from the courtyard of the University.

Daniela smiled and said, "let's go". And we were guided to and entered Nuestra Señora de Loreto Church - Church of Our Lady of Loreto.

The interior is quite stunning, though it does look a bit worn.

We notice all the bracing in the interior and was told because of the different types of stone used in the construction, the entire church is starting to tilt to one side.

And then it was time for our first "food stop". At a shop named Xaachila Comida Oaxaquena.

Having been to Oaxaca the year before, the Missus was interested in trying a tamal.

The Missus was interested in trying the Tamal Chepil.

Which She enjoyed with a nice refreshing cup of Horchata! Good smoky flavors, nice maize tones. Would it make us forget Oaxaca? Heck no, but this was a nice little brunchy start to things.

And the Missus chugged that Horchata like there was no tomorrow!

Xaachila Comida Oaxaquena
De La Santísima 17-22
Cuauhtémoc, 06060 Ciudad de México, Mexico

We then headed back to the Cathedral. But because of services going on, Daniela would not be able to guide us thru the cathedral. She did provide us with some interesting things to see though.

We were told to look for the arm of what was supposed to be the wax figure of Saint Felicitas. Yes, there are human bones there!

Which had become quite a story.

The next stop was a place we didn't know about, the Gran Hotel Ciudad de México.

According to what I've read, this structure dates back to 1526!!!! It then became a shopping center in 1895 and then an hotel.

The Tiffany glass ceiling dates back to 1899.

Personally, I loved the elevator.

The grandness of the hotel looks like it came out of a book from another time.

Our next stop was a favorite of mine.

This interesting, well adorned building is the site of one of the oldest pharmacies in the Americas.

Originally a Augustine Monastery, in 1944 this became Farmacias Paris.

And it is still an operating pharmacy, with different areas to this day.

We were told that the most popular area deals with Homeopathy.

And it's still very busy......

This was quite interesting.

We were then told that it was "taco time" and led to this unassuming shop around the corner on Calle de Mesones.

We had told Daniela that we "eat everything" and she took us here. I was told that there are three "El Toritos" on the street, apparently there's an interesting story about a family taqueria and a falling out between them.

I will say, these were our favorite tacos of the trip. We started with the Suadero, a mix of cuts and the Tripa.

My goodness, the crisp intestine was amazing! We got a second Tacos de Tripa!

It's hard to explain; there's some nice deep, offaly goodness, with a wonderful crispness. I'll just leave it at that.

Taquería El Torito
Calle de Mesones 48
Cuauhtémoc, 06080 Centro, Mexico

From here, we made a couple of more stops like the Biblioteca Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, which had some interesting murals.

We were then headed down Republica de el Salvador.

And then to 16 de Septiembre for our last food stop. This place had me fooled as the sign looked like it was some kind of cell phone shop. But the customers were all having eats and drinks.

In spite of the sign, this is Quesadillas Bolivar.

We enjoyed the Quesadillas de Nopales and Flor de Calabazas.

The blue corn tortillas was so full of maize goodness.

Quesadillas Bolivar
16 de Septiembre,
Pasaje Savoy 6-Local #3
Cuauhtémoc, 06000 Centro, Mexico

As we walked to our final destination, the Palacio Postal, the Central Post Office, we asked Daniela how she finds all these places to eat. She told us that she's out trying places every week, to see if it is worth taking folks on the tour to and which customers would fit with what place. 

We ended at the beautiful "Postal Palace", the Central Post Office, which was built in 1907.

We had visited before, but it's no less amazing.......

And as we ended our day, Daniela took us to the best spot for an Uber pick-up.

It was indeed another fun, educational, and delicious day in CDMX.

And of course we had Romeo (kinda) greet us when we returned to the Red Tree House.

Mexico City - Staying at the Red Tree House and Revisiting Pasillo de Humo (yet again)

Yes, I'm way behind on my travel posts and need to catch up. We visited both CDMX and Jalisco last summer.

As for CDMX, well, this was our fifth visit to this lovely destination. We have fallen into a routine of sorts, we stay in La Condesa, our first meal is usually at Pasillo de Humo, we enjoy grabbing a coffee at Cafe Toscano, and the Missus shops for chocolate at Tout Chocolat.

Tout Chocolat
Amsterdam 154
6100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

The one big change for us this time around was that I was able to get us a suite at the Red Tree House. I'd heard and read about the rooms and service, but was never able to get us a room, until this visit. We loved our beautiful suite. And we especially loved the official "greeter", named Romeo.

Of course, we never saw him actually moving around, he was always napping it seems. Though we knew he was ambulatory since he would be in a different locale everytime.

We had the Jacaranda Suite on the first level.

Which had a colorful sitting area.

Which came in handy since there was breakfast served every morning and a "Happy Hour" with free wine during the early evening.

The one big issue being that there is no A/C and it was unusually hot in CDMX during our visit. And while on our previous visits there would be a downpour in the evening which bring some cooler temps, it was strangely absent during our stay. In fact, the folks at RTH mentioned how different the weather was during the current year.

 It was a wonderful stay, if a bit on the "atsui"  side of things.

The Red Tree House
Culiacan 6
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

For dinner, we headed to the familiar confines of a place we'd been to several times over our visits to CDMX; Pasillo de Humo. Over the years, we've determined that, at least for us, ordering small dishes (and some good Mezcal) was the way to go here.

This was an interesting visit. Because of all the detailed posts I've done, over the years, I'm not going into great detail, except to say we ordered our favorite dishes.

What I will say is that other than tripas tacos, things just didn't seem the same. Prices have gone up, but the herbs and veggies were on the "brown" side of things, the memelitas were dry, as was the pork. The hoya santa was turning brown and lacked flavor.......it was just not a good meal. Quite sad as this was place we'd been to so many times.

And the place was completely empty during our entire meal. I don't know what's going on here.

 

Not sure we'll be back during our future trips to CDMX.

Pasillo de Humo
Av Nuevo León 107
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Where in the World Were We?

Yes, we were on yet another trip. This time for nine days. I realize that I'm waaaay behind on my travel posts, like 5 trips behind! Heck, I haven't even started posting on our last road trip yet. I also realize that I'm kinda mixing and matching travel posts and have gotten two emails from folks saying how confusing it is for them. For this, I apologize. I am trying not to mix trips on consecutive days, so hopefully that helps!

As for this last trip, well, we started in a familiar locale, one of our favorite cities. And wanting to start things off on the "right foot", went to an old standby of ours.

We did stay at different accommodations this time. We loved our "suite", though it was quite hot, and the place had no A/C.

The staff was wonderful, and there was even an official snorer "greeter" on site at all times!

We did two amazing tours here. One was a private historical tour combined with eats. We have been to the historical center of the city several times; but we did learn a lot and visited some places we would never had found on our own.

We also had our favorite tacos of the trip on this tour.

The second was a small group (4 people) tour of the largest market in the city. Our guide was a former chef/caterer who was simply amazing! And we got to try some interesting eats as well!

Our next stop was the city with the third largest metropolitan area in the country. It's also home to some iconic dishes, which of course, we got to try.

We also did a private food tour one day and a fantastic walking tour of the city the next.

We also had our two favorite dinners of the trip here as well.

Our next stop is famous for its namesake agave spirit.

We loved the friendly, laid-back vibe here. Folks were warm and kind....and yes, it was indeed warm with temps in the triple digits when we visited. It was nice to be ensconced in a wonderful five-star hotel in the town.

We did two distillery tours, the first took us to a demonstration garden so we could watch the Jimador in action.

We had booked a VIP tour, so the second half consisted of a wonderful private tasting, followed by a nice three course meal.

The second distillery tour was one with a familiar brand name.

This tour exceeded my expectations and really helped to "fill in the blanks". We also did a private combined distilled beverage and chocolate tasting. 

This was such a beautiful and charming town.

We really took to this "Pueblo Magico". I even found my favorite "breakfast" spot in the "Callejon del Taco".

And the Missus could polish off a liter of Crema de Coco or Coconut water from this cart in a minute.

Yes, we loved our time in this state. The sights, the sounds, the food, the agave spirits! But it was the warm and friendly people that really made an impression on us!

They work so hard, but always seemed to have time for a smile!

We can't wait to return!

Thanks for stopping by, I'll have something for San Diego tomorrow!

Mexico City (2022) - Taco Crawl - El Pescadito, Tacos Hola, La Guerrerense, and El Califa. And a Return to Panadería Almuerzos

Before our trip to CDMX, I had read a really nice cookbook named Made in Mexico by Chef Danny Mena. The cookbook featured based on the Chef's (who is from CDMX) favorite dishes from various restaurants and stands in Mexico City. I loved that there was a separate restaurant index in the back of the cookbook with all the locations. There were a couple that were rather close to where we were staying (Colonia Condesa) and I thought it would be nice to do a sort of taco crawl like we had done in the days before Covid.

We were a bit hungry after visiting the Museo Nacional de Antropologia. And El Pescadito was on the way back to the hotel, so we decided to stop there. I'd seen El Pescadito before as it is right across the street from Tacos Don Juan which we visited before.

Man, this place was quite busy; but they had a pretty awesome system. Order, get a number, find a table, pick up your food when called, and pay before leaving. It seemed like half the customers were non-locals here.

According to what I had read; this place specializes in Tacos de Marlin - smoked fish tacos, here it is smoked tuna. Something I really love. I ordered (left to right), a Tacochango (MarlinTun/Shrimp), MarlinTun, and the item in the book, the Chile Relleno Taco (MalinTun stuff in a Chile).

    So, first the good; man were things fried here good! The batter on the shrimp was crisp and light; the shrimp plump, moist, and tasty. The poblano chile likewise. Sadly, the MarlinTun was dry, fishy, and not very smoky in terms of flavor. The tortillas were decent and up to the task at hand.

    Sadly, I'd have to say I've had better tacos de marlyn here in San Diego!

And while the tacos may have been borderline disappointing; that "dude" to the right was not!

Remember that I've mentioned the amazing dog walkers of Mexico City before? Well this guy was "going for the gold". He had 9 pooches in tow...nine! He saw us jaw agape and even stopped for a photo. Take a look and count 'em.....9. And they were all pretty well behaved. 

El Pescadito
Calle Atlixco 38
06140 Ciudad de México

We headed back to our hotel and relaxed for a bit; then headed back out. We got to Avenida Amsterdam and found what we thought was the correct address, but nope....we asked at a nearby shop and the nice gentleman pointed us in the right direction; to Tacos Hola; a tiny shop which was doing good business.

The Missus got the little table with the two kiddie stools, shades of Hanoi! I went inside to order and found that a bunch of items were sold out!

Luckily, the recommended item; the Tacos de Bistec en Pasilla was still available. And I thought the Missus would enjoy the Tacos Acelgas (Chard).

  Tacos Hola specializes in Tacos Guisados, braised and stewed ingredients for tacos. So, even though it says bistec; it's actually braised beef; really tasty braised beef, with a very bright pasilla chile-tomato based sauce. The Missus really loved the beans here...She still mentions those beans, as in "why can't you make beans like those." The chard was quite tender, but quite mild in flavor....man, I could imagine this with collards! The tortillas were excellent.

I really want to return here.

Tacos Hola El Güero
Amsterdam 135
06100 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

Our next stop was in a familiar locale; the Parian Condesa Food Hall. Pasillo de Humo is located on the second floor. We've walked past La Guerrerense before.

Here it's the Tacos de Pescado and the Tacos de Camaron that are recommended, so that's what we ordered.

We didn't care for these very much. The fish in the Taco de Pescado was the width of my pinky and not even as long. It's the batter that is supposed to be special; it's made with vodka which is supposed make a delicate, crisp crust. We couldn't make out much.

The shrimp was the better of the two, more flavor, better texture. The tortillas broke apart while eating our tacos.

It was strange; we were the only customers in the place.

La Guerrerense
Avenida Nuevo León 107
06100 Cuauhtemoc, CDMX, Mexico

For our last stop, we decided to go with a favorite from our previous taco crawl, El Califa. 

We enjoyed the Al Pastor here on our previous visit, so we had two each. It did not disappoint.

The Al Pastor had that nice balance of sweet and salty; nice savory tones, the meat had a crispness to it as well. The onions added pungency and that pineapple was icing on the cake! 

Still a favorite of ours.

Taquería El Califa
Altata 22
06170 Ciudad de México

We were tempted to do an Al Pastor comparison and head on over to El Farolito across the street, but we were full and that comparison will have to wait for another day. We were pooped; it was time to hit the hay.

The next morning we hit up our favorite croissant stop, Panadería Almuerzos. Man, there was a line! We'd never seen this before. Word must have gotten out!

It was interesting; the two guys in front of us just spoke English and didn't even try to speak Spanish, as did the woman behind us. Like I mentioned in my previous post; we saw many more ex-pat/tourists than we had seen before. Panadería Almuerzos had also spiffed things up. It used to just look like a garage before, now they had a bakery case and everything.

And then I got my croissant and was crestfallen.

It wasn't crisp and flakey enough, lacked butter, was too doughy. 

Here's what it used to look like.

Man, this used to be my favorite croissant outside of France. What happened here? Have they lowered their standards? 

I'm not sure, but I sure was disappointed.

Panadería Almuerzos
Av. Vicente Suárez 64A
Colonia Condesa, CDMX, Mexico

I truly hope this was just a bad day.....but I'm thinking it wasn't. 

Well, I didn't have too much time to dwell on this, we had an Uber on the way and had to get to the airport.

Next stop, Oaxaca!

Mexico City (2022) - It's Tout Chocolate and Pasillo de Humo Yet Again, Fonda Garufa, and a Private Tour of Museo Nacional de Antropologia

**** I though I'd give you all a break from those really long Islay posts and do a couple on our recent trip to CDMX. I've posted on two of the places several times; so perhaps skipping down to our tour of the Museo Nacional de Antropologia might be worthwhile?

Yes, I know we'd already been to Mexico and CDMX earlier in the year. But the Missus had enjoyed that trip so much, San Miguel de Allende and especially Guanajuato was so much fun, that the Missus wanted to do another trip. This time to Oaxaca. However while Volaris, has 2 direct flights from TIJ, well, we really don't like flying Volaris. So, we decided that a layover would be fine one way and we'd go ahead and spend two nights in Mexico City. As a plus, I knew the Missus loved our visit to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, though it was quite overwhelming, so I booked us a private tour. She was excited about that!

Getting in was the same 'ol routine. We stayed at the same place as on the last three trips. It was quite simple and easy. Like I said, we now had kind of a routine if you will. After checking in, we headed to Tout Chocolate so the Missus could get Her chocolates and some gifts.

Choosing Her chocolates was one of Her most difficult decisions of the trip.

Tout Chocolat
Amsterdam 154
6100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

In keeping with the routine, we had dinner at a place I've posted on three times already, Pasillo de Humo. So, I'll spare you all the gory details. I will say, that unlike our last visit we weren't misted by vinegar to prevent Covid this time around.

We have an approach that works for us at Pasillo de Humo. We've learned to stay away from the entrees and go for smaller plates.

And we enjoy the cocktails as well.

Two of our favorite dishes, the Memelitas de Cerdo and the Hoya Santa Relleno, were good as always.

But this time we found something we enjoyed even more; the Tripas Tacos!

The pork intestines were fried perfectly; crisp and light......the texture was amazing!

One other reason that I purposely chose to revisit Pasillo de Humo was that we were headed to Oaxaca and I was interested in seeing how the food at our favorite restaurant in CDMX lined up.

Pasillo de Humo
Av Nuevo León 107
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

It was a nice and relaxing start to things. Though I did notice many more "tourists/ex-pats" here then I recalled. And then I started reading articles like this one.

The next morning, before heading to the Museum, we decided to get a croissant from our favorite bakery in the area, but changed our mind when we noticed this place sold croissants and thought we'd try it out.

We then headed on over to Cafe Toscano, our usual morning coffee stop.

Unfortunately, the croissant was overly doughy and lacked the butteriness we like in our croissants.

Fonda Garufa
Avenida Michoacán 93
06140 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Creatures of habit that we are; we had our typical morning coffee at Cafe Toscano.

Nothing amazing mind you, but a nice way to start the day.

Cafe Toscano
Calle Michoacan sn Mercado Condesa
Hipódromo Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

After our caffeine fix we headed out to the Museum. As always, it was a fine walk.

We had really enjoyed our previous visit to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, so I went ahead and booked a private tour with Mexico a Pie Walking Tours.

Our guide was Andres and he was amazing. The tour was so full of info!

We met Andres at the Tlaloc Statue that sits outside the museum on the corner of Reforma.

Andres met us and after introductions and an overview of what was going to be covered in the tour today, he went over Tlaloc, the Aztec god of water and rain. He noted the key features, the round eyes, the fangs and said that we'd be seeing several different status of Tlaloc during our visit and that many folks think it's of a different go, but keep in mind the key features and it's easy to identify.

Andres covered exactly what we were interested in; the Archaic to the Contact Period. It was so much info; I'm just going to go over a couple of things that really stuck with us.

 

Andres quizzed us as we moved along the museum.

  And yep, if you're thinking that's Tlaloc above, you'd be right. Check out the eyes and the fangs! 

Another interesting story was that of King Pakal of Palenque (K'inich Janaab' Pakal). It is claimed that Pakal ruled for nearly 70 years and in 1952 a tomb was opened in the Temple of Inscriptions in Palenque. In it was found a skeleton with an intricate jade mask and clothed as you see to the right. The actual jade mask can be found close by in a replica of the tomb.

We got to another interesting topic was when I asked Andres if Jade was actually found in Mexico and he told us that items like Jade, Turquoise, and Cacao which are not endemic to Mexico. We were then brought to this map which detailed how trade occurred between different peoples!

Turquoise actually came from what is now the American Southwest! Cacao and Jade from what is now Guatemala.

Andres went over the amazing Aztec Codex with us.

And even dispelled a couple of things we thought were true; like this famous object; the Aztec Sun Stone, which many people believe is a just a calendar.

It is now believed that the stone is actually a sacrificial altar! Here's something I read after returning from our trip.

It was an amazing nearly four hour experience, with so much information that I've forgotten more than I remember; but those few items stick with me. And we just covered half the museum! I guess we'll have to get the other half done the next time we're in CDMX!

Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Avenida Paseo de la Reforma y Calzada Gandhi s/n
Chapultepec, Mexico City 11560, Mexico

After the tour we took a short break and then we were off. It was time for a taco crawl!

Stay Tuned!

Mexico City (2022) - Entremar, Revisits to Temporal and Panaderia Almuerzos

We took a nice nap after a pretty busy morning, after which it was time to head off to an early (430pm) dinner. I had tried getting reservations at the very popular Contramar, but was unable to. I then switched to Contramar's sister restaurant Entremar and could only get an early dinner reservation.  Even though I thought we'd done enough walking for the day, the Missus disagreed, so we decided to walk the 2 1/2 miles to the restaurant. To be honest, the weather was very pleasant making this a nice walk.

We arrived at the restaurant, located in the ritzy Polanco district and couldn't believe how busy it was!

There was a bit of a queue to get in. As I stood in line, aggressive "Abuela's" pushed their way past me! This was such a change from the usual polite and well mannered folks I was used to in CDMX. I guess the potential of seafood will drive some folks to this!

Anyway, it wasn't a big deal and we had reservations. We were escorted upstairs and I gotta say the clientele upstairs were pretty tony.......

The staff worked so hard and were very gracious. We placed our order and just chilled out.

The first item to arrive was the Ceviche Contramar.

The fish was very tender, the marinating liquid had a perfect balance of sour with just enough salt to make it enjoyable. Very nice!

We didn't enjoy the Aguachile Verde Contramar as much.

The shrimp was quite tough and fishy and the "sauce" didn't have enough citrus tones for our taste.

The one dish we were looking forward to was the Pescado a la Talla, red snapper that is butterflied, sauced, and grilled. We chose the "Contramr" version, which had half of the fish rubbed with a red adobo sauce and the other half with parsley (De la Barrita) based rub.

 This came with some really tasty black beans. Surprisingly, at least for us, we really enjoyed the parsley rub more! It had nice garlic tones; some cumin, and you could really taste the mild, almost sweet flavor of the snapper, which was grilled perfectly! Don't get me wrong; that adobo rub had some nice smokiness and spice; but you really couldn't enjoy the great quality of the fish as much.

Overall; the Pescado a la Talla made the meal a memorable one and we'll gladly return.

Entremar
Hegel 307
Polanco V Secc, 11560 Ciudad de México, Mexico

I enjoyed that fish so much that when the Missus suggested walking back to our room I readily agreed!

Not having to be anywhere allows you to enjoy and notice things more.

Like this restaurant with a familiar name.

And this bar where I guess you might be able to "Break on through to the other side"?

It was still quite early, so we decided to stop for a cocktail and a snack.....we chose another place we'd been to a couple of times; Temporal. Where we sat downstairs at the bar area.

I got my favorite cocktail here; the Suerte de Dragon ("Lucky Dragon").

Sadly, this Mezcal and beer based cocktail tasted watered down and the usual spiciness of it was really muted.

As a snack we got our favorite menu item at Temporal; the Gulf Crab Sopes.

Which were smaller then on previous visits; the sopes were really gummy, and there was too much filler and not as much crab as on our previous visits.

Bummer.......

Restaurante Temporal
Saltillo 1, Hipódromo, Cuauhtémoc
06140 CDMX, Mexico

We slept well and got up early the next morning.

Our next stop was going to be San Miguel de Allende and we had hired the amazing Aaron Cruz to drive us there.

Since it was going to be quite the drive; we headed to another familiar stop close by; Panadería Almuerzos for a Croissant and then got some coffee from Mercado Condesa.

I've often said that the croissants at Panadería Almuerzos are our favorite outside of France....and this delivered.

And the coffee wasn't bad either.

Panadería Almuerzos
Av. Vicente Suárez 64A
Colonia Condesa, CDMX, Mexico

Cafe Toscano
Calle Michoacan sn Mercado Condesa
Hipódromo Condesa, Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Breakfast completed, we headed back to our room to finish packing and check out. Aaron would be arriving soon to take us to our next stop; San Miguel de Allende.

Thanks for stopping by!

Mexico City (2022) - Museo Frida Kahlo and Lunch at Tostadas Coyoacan

After a thoroughly enjoyable caffeine stop, we headed to Museo Frida Kahlo.

It was a nice stroll ad a line soon formed outside "La Casa Azul", the house where Frida Kahlo was born and where she lived with her husband Diego Rivera. We had gotten tickets online which was a good move as folks who came without tickets were out of luck for the day.

I've read that Frida Kahlo produced only about 200 paintings during her lifetime. But it is both her work, some of which are dark, emotional, surreal, and project the constant pain she was in after first contracting polio when she was 6, which caused her right leg to be shorter than her left and then the bus accident when she was 18 when the bus she was riding in hit a trolley causing a metal handrail to impale her. And her somewhat tumultuous marriages to Diego Rivera (they were married twice and Diego had an affair with Frida's younger sister!).

Of her paintings 55 were self portraits.

One of Frida Kahlo's most well known quotes:

"My painting carries with it the message of pain.”

The upstairs portion are fascinating to many as it has her bedroom and studio....where you can see her wheelchair stationed at the easel she used.

And the bedroom and bed where she spent so much time recovering from the accident and then her last years when she was in declining health.

For us, it was the medical portion and the corsets that Frida had to wear that really made an impact.

It really brought home the pain and suffering of Frida.

Walking in the garden area, I was struck by the displays of the tumultuous life of the artist, with the wonderful peaceful tranquility of the garden.

Which I guess just hits home the complexity of the duality of life......

Museo Frida Kahlo is well worth the time.

Frida Kahlo Museum
Londres 247
Coyoacán, 04100 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico

For lunch we headed back down Ignacio Allende to Mercado Coyoacan.

Where it seems that you could get every kind of trinket you could possibly want!

The interior though, was a hustling and bustling market.

I had recommendations and read quite a bit about Tostadas Coyoacan which is located in the Market, so we found the bustling stand.

We ordered three Tostadas which arrived in minutes. Man, they've got quite the system going.

The amount of protein piled on the tostadas is quite admirable for the price.

The best of the bunch was the Camarones which had a nice balance of sour to salt and the shrimp were tender. The chicken in the Pollo Mole was quite tough and dry; the mole really weak in flavor. The pork in the Cochinita was tender, but was quite weak in terms of flavor from the typical aromatics (i.e. oregano/cinnamon/cumin).

Still, the most expensive tostada was the camarones which is about $2.50/US, the other two are about a buck-fifty; so I wasn't going to whine too much about this meal.

Tostadas Coyoacán (In Mercado de Coyoacán)
Ignacio Allende No.49
Coyoacán, 04100 CDMX, Mexico

After lunch we crossed the street to Jardín Allende where there was an arts and crafts market.

We strolled around a bit before calling our Uber and heading back to our hotel.

Where a nice afternoon nap was awaiting us!

Thanks for stopping by!

Mexico City (2022) - Pasillo de Humo and Tout Chocolat Revisited and Coffee from La Catrina (Coyoacan)

As we headed into fall of 2021, things were looking pretty good. The Missus and I, fully vaccinated were looking to take care of the vacancy that not being able to travel internationally had created. So, we decided to "dip our toes" into the pool so to speak and not go too crazy......and go to one of our favorite destinations; Mexico City. The Missus also had another destination in mind and I worked out the logistics. Of course, along came Omicron, but by that time we both had gotten our boosters and when it was time for our trip, we decided to go ahead with it.

In some ways, it was good to start things off with CDMX as we had felt welcome and comfortable there from the first time we set foot in the city. We'd be staying at the same accommodations as our previous trips and was familiar with the area. It would also be interesting to see if things had changed over time.

We did the CBX thing and flew out of TJ.....

 We had a morning flight and were served breakfast. I quickly noticed the new "required accessory" that came along with breakfast.

We landed and found our transport to Condesa and checked into our hotel.

Things initially felt a bit strange, but once in the comfortable and familiar confines of the area, things started feeling normal....just like in the "old days".

Having arrived late in the afternoon, I had made reservations at a place I've posted on twice, so I'm mainly just putting up photos. We had decided to have dinner at Pasillo de Humo because we've always enjoyed the food, atmosphere, and service.

There was one interesting Covid precaution when entering the restaurant which is on the second floor of a food hall. You went thru a device that misted vinegar on you! You smelled pickled before you even had your first cocktail! 

And that Memelitas de Cerdo, the pork cheek memelitas were so good, we had a second order!

   Then the Missus had Her dessert....while I had, ahem, mine.

This was of course, the place where I first had Ojo de Tigre....from the modified hand truck with like 30 bottles of Mezcal on it. These days everything is based on QR codes. I spoke to our wonderful Server about Ojo de Tigre and was told they don't serve that here anymore. The reason? 

"Too many Ojo de Tigre!"

I'm guessing that Ojo de Tigre production is hitting mainstream and is now easily available. So I had him pick something "mui fumar" (smoky) for me, which he did.

It was really good!

Pasillo de Humo
Av Nuevo León 107
06100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

After dinner we took a short walk to another regular stop, Tout Chocolate. We've been here on every visit to CDMX; but strangely, I couldn't find a post on the place. This place has been a stop for us since our good friend "Alle" recommended it to us several years back.

Part cafe, part chocolate/confection shop....you know what the Missus was after, right?

She acquired a nice variety of chocolates.

Tout Chocolat
Amsterdam 154
6100 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexico

Then we decided to call it a night. It had been a wonderful evening for us....it just seemed so comforting.

The next morning we had tickets and reservations for Museo Frida Kahlo and decided to get there before our 10 am entrance time and grab some coffee. Uber is amazing in Mexico, very affordable and very safe since all cars are tracked. We got to Coyoacan an hour before our designated time. So we headed off to get our caffeine fix. I had initially planned on getting some coffee from Café El Jarocho a pioneer in the CDMX coffee scene, established back in 1953 eventually  spawning 8 other locations in CDMX.

But the lines were long and even though everyone (just like elsewhere in Mexico during our visit) wore masks, it was just too crowded with little seating.

We decided on the shop across the street named La Catrina.

The young lady working was very sweet. And they had al fresco tables and seating.....

And here we came across one of those "memorable" moments. A sweet young lady came up to the window. She seemed a regular customer as the folks working knew her. Her companion and "bodyguard" was a tiny, three legged Chihuahua. I say bodyguard because this little one had some personality and was quite protective of the young lady! The pooch would ignore the smaller poodles and such that walked by.....but oh, when the larger dogs passed by, be it a Rottweiler or Pit Bull, the little fellow would start growling! Which is probably how he ended up with three legs! We started calling him "Tripod".....and no one messes with Tripod, no one! I regret not taking a photo of this Bada$$! 

As often happens when enjoying oneself, time flew by. Soon it was time to head on over to Museo Frida Kahlo. I went and took our cups back to the counter which brought a smile and a "gracias" from the young lady working. Meanwhile, Tripod let me pet him and scratch his ears and his owner smiled and told us "have a fun vacation!" I guess it was obvious that we were tourists.

Such nice folks.......though you don't mess with Tripod!

La Catrina
Ignacio Allende 45
04000 Coyoacán, CDMX, Mexico

Up next Museo Frida Kahlo

Where in the World Were We?

Man, when was the last time I typed that out? Well, it had been quite a long time since we "really" travelled, I mean the domestic road trips were fun, but we missed travelling internationally. So, back in November, when it looked like Delta was waning, we started making plans....nothing too far mind you; in fact we planned to visit the last place we visited outside the US, back in February of 2020.....man, it seems like a decade ago.

And then Omicron came along.......sigh. So, we had a decision to make......

In the end, with both the Missus and I fully vaccinated and boosted, having no pre-existing conditions, we decided to go ahead. I had also heard from our good friend "Alle" that folks in Mexico were really compliant with regards to wearing masks....and she wasn't kidding....almost everyone wore KN95s too! They even wore the masks outdoors.......the only folks not wearing masks were....well.....you know from where. We had temperature checks before entering most shops; were asked to sanitize....there were a few exceptions and I'll note my observations in future posts. In fact, when entering one of the restaurants were were misted with........vinegar!?!?! 

Anyway, we really enjoyed our trip. 

We got to revisit some favorites of ours.....

And are slowly working our way thru the "list" of places we want to check out.....

We hired a private driver for take us to our next destination......where checking out at least one rooftop restaurant/bar is a must. And you can clearly see why.

And such colorful streets.....

We were the only folks staying at our 6 room B&B, which we really enjoyed.

And had some pretty darn good food as well.

Our third and final stop was our favorite......

We actually took a private walking tour which was the highlight of our trip. 

Where we learned some history about this fine city.......

And our favorite restaurant of this trip was here as well......we loved it so much that we returned on our last evening.......

The overall travelling experience felt somewhat surreal at times; though we appreciated the warm and friendly people and the Covid precautions as well. We felt safe during our stay.

Yes, "Viva la Vida"....but also care about your fellow man, have compassion, respect........

Hope everyone is doing well! Take care!