Mexico City in a Weekendfeatured

I was about to faint.

At least, I thought I was about to faint.

The ground started rolling gently beneath my feet, barely noticeable but just enough to make me question my equilibrium. The rolling got more intense and suddenly, I was unstable. Did I forget to eat lunch? Did the cabin pressure mess with my ears? I think I feel fine but I’m definitely about to hit the ground. My body felt like I’d drank every mini bottle of alcohol on the plane but my mind was completely lucid.

We had just cleared customs and immigration after landing in Mexico City, and as soon as I looked over at Stephanie, I realized my blood sugar wasn’t plummeting and I wasn’t passing out – we were experiencing our first earthquake. We had just met up with a woman holding a sign with our names on it – a representative of the car service we’d hired to chauffeur us to our downtown hotel. She barely had a chance to greet us before she was ushering us outside, calmly but firmly telling us to mantengan la calma y siguen afuera – stay calm and follow her outside. A large crowd formed in the widest open space there was outside of Arrivals. I couldn’t help but notice just how much concrete was around us – road ramps, pillars. My mind vacillated between two thoughts: if this is a bad earthquake all of this concrete will kill me and if this earthquake doesn’t kill me, my mother certainly might because when Stephanie and I booked this trip, she warned us about earthquakes and told us not to go. In typical fashion, I didn’t heed the warning because stuff like this? It never happens…until it does.

Stephanie and I were in Mexico City for four days. We experienced three significant earthquakes that weekend. One at the airport. Another when we were checking in at the hotel an hour or two later. A third in the middle of the night our last night there. Did you know that when there’s an earthquake, you need to evacuate your hotel? Fun fact that we learned at 2:00 AM when the sirens went off and we were ushered down a number of staircases to Paseo de la Reforma, the main street running through the business district downtown.

Our trip to Mexico City started (and ended) on an incredibly dramatic note, but over the course of those four days, Stephanie and I absolutely fell in love. It had the scope of a big city with the culture and soul that makes Latin America such a special region of the world. I didn’t write about that trip, not because I didn’t have anything to share, but because the trip almost felt like a failure. I only go for a few days on most of my trips (if even that – when we cruise, we’re only in any given country for a matter of hours) and I almost always walk away feeling satisfied, like I’ve seen the best of what the city had to offer. When I left Mexico City that first time, I was completely unsatisfied. Despite a full long weekend in the city, I felt like I hadn’t even scratched the surface yet.

So exactly a year later, I headed off on another plane, back again to Mexico City. This time, it was Mom traveling with me and I was determined to not only experience more of the city, but bring it back to all of you. Why? Because most people don’t think about Mexico City when they’re looking for a vacation or a quick getaway. Most people traveling to Mexico are looking at Cancun and Cabo and the coastal cities with beautiful beaches and Mexico City is inland, so you won’t find long stretches of sandy terrain or a single Carlos and Charlies. What you will find, though, is an urban oasis brimming with parks, museums and some of the best street food in North America, totally worth the trip (even if it’s a quick one).

Getting to Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital of Mexico, so it’s unsurprisingly easy to get there – all major US-based carriers fly into Benito Juárez International Airport (MEX). Flying from my home airport of O’Hare, there are non-stop options on InterJet, Volaris, United and Aeromexico. None of those are in the oneworld alliance, which is where I hold status, so we flew American and laid over in Dallas on both trips.

On the minus, adding stops is never the best option when you have the flight luck I have (read: my flights on American are horrifically delayed and cancelled more than they’re on time. I’m not even being hyperbolic – I’ve had terrible plane luck the past two years). On the plus, connecting through Dallas like we have on these trips is the best possible connecting option. Dallas is American’s main hub, so there are always reroutes and other options available. Beyond that, despite its large size, DFW is surprisingly easy to navigate on connections (even tight ones) because of the Skylink, an airside inner-airport train that runs frequently and can get you to even the furthest terminal in a matter of minutes.

And an added plus of laying over in Dallas is that they have a super nice Centurion Lounge, which I can access with my American Express Platinum Card. The lounge has plenty of space to relax in, an open bar with some innovative signature cocktails (each Centurion Lounge has a different cocktail menu designed by a local mixologist) and even a small spa offering complimentary massages and manicures. Our layover left us with just enough time to have a quick brunch, a couple of drinks and a refresh on my manicure!

Dallas is about halfway between Chicago and Mexico City, so it’s just over two hours on the way in, and another two hours or so to Mexico City. It’s always fun to have a window seat for the Mexico City leg because you can see the landscape shift outside your window. The approach into the airport takes you past the tall, sweeping skyscrapers of the Centro Histórico and dense greenery of Chapultepec Park. It’s up there with Seattle and LaGuardia on the list of my fave airport approaches.

Because Mexico is another country, we needed to pass through Immigration after we landed. With Mexico City serving as the country’s main hub, going through Immigration can take awhile and long lines and waits are more the rule than the exception. You have to fill out a landing card before you can get your passport stamped. Some airlines will hand these out on the plane, others won’t. American doesn’t, so we had to grab them and fill them out quickly when we got to the front of the line. The agent will ask you the purpose of your visit (for us, it’s been vacation, which is a perfectly acceptable answer) and they’ll stamp your passport and the card, tear off half and hand the other half back to you. Do not lose this card. This card is necessary to exit Mexico, and if you lose your landing card (which the gate agent will collect when you board your flight back to the United States), you’ll need to pay for a new one.

Once you pass through Immigration, you’ll collect your luggage and exit through customs. This is where you’ll meet up with any pre-arranged taxi’s, friends and family or rental car agents. There is also a currency exchange and an even better option, a bank ATM where you can take out the local currency, which in Mexico, is the Mexican Peso. The current conversion rate for the Peso is around five US cents, so the easiest rule of thumb to figure out conversion is to divide anything priced in Pesos by 20 to get the dollar equivalent.

The first time Stephanie and I went to Mexico City, we hired a transfer through Viator. We were placed in a car with another American couple who were staying at another hotel nearby. Earthquake aside, it was fine – we got from Point A to Point B safely. When I came back with Mom, on a tip from one of my coworkers, we just took an Uber. It was super easy to find our driver outside and despite the long drive (the airport isn’t far from the city, but traffic in Mexico City is horrendous on a good day and it can take upwards of 45 minutes to an hour to get between the two), a ride to our hotel in the Centro Histórico only cost us MX$113 – just under $6.

Accommodations

Both times I’ve been to Mexico City, we’ve booked a stay at the same hotel – Le Méridien Mexico City, a hotel in the Marriott/SPG portfolio located smack dab on the Paseo de la Reforma.

The Paseo de la Reforma is the home of Mexico City’s Financial District, and those areas aren’t my favorite to stay at in just about any city – they often lack the charm and personality you’ll find in other neighborhoods, there are more chains and less local cafes and shops and everything opens and closes based on the office hours of the businesses located within the district. On the plus, though, they often feel more safe and secure because of the security of the businesses around them and are more centrally located to transit. The area around Le Méridien wasn’t quite as sterile as it is in other business-heavy areas (I don’t think anything in a city as vibrant as Mexico City could ever be!) and the location on Paseo de la Reforma gave us easy access to the Hop On Hop Off bus and the rest of the Centro Histórico. There were chain restaurants nearby (Panda Express was literally next door), but also local chains (like Cielito Querido, a local coffee chain that has primo Horchata Fría) and so many local bars and taquerias. It won’t be perfect for everyone, but it was perfect for us.

Le Méridien was, too. An all-suite hotel, our rooms have been large, spacious and well-appointed, with separate sitting rooms and bedrooms, Malin and Goetz bath products (my faves!) and a mini fridge perfect for keeping beverages cold (a godsend for when you come back from a long day of touring in the hot Mexican sun!).

Another plus was the full-service Starbucks, located on the lobby level, which was open through the late evening hours and offered a full selection of drinks, sandwiches and pastries. This was super convenient when we were coming back in the evening and needed some hydration (very large iced teas are basically their own food group on my food pyramid!) or in the mornings, when we wanted a quick jolt of caffeine before hitting the streets (…or the buses).

It’s not all Starbucks, though – there are two full-service bars, as well, offering lengthy menus full of specialty cocktails that are artfully prepared.

And I have to give a special mention to the staff, too, as on our first visit, they got us through not one but two earthquakes. On both of our visits, they’ve gone above and beyond to make sure we were safe and had any tips and recommendations we could need. On our last visit, there was a doorman who would check the license plate of every Uber that came to pick us up to make sure we were getting in the right car.

Getting Around

If you’re on your first visit to Mexico City (…or any city), the best way to acquaint yourself is by riding around, open-air style, on a hop on hop off bus (or the HOHO, as we like to call ‘em!). Besides learning the lay of the land, the narration track can really help you learn about the city, its history and the monuments. In Mexico City, they have an extraordinarily extensive group of routes that will take you all over, from the Centro Histórico and Chapultepec all the way out to Coyoacán and Roma Norte, and all of the neighborhoods in between. The only downside is the traffic, which means it can take hours to complete one route.

If there’s a site that the HOHO doesn’t reach directly (or that’s further down the map that it would take too long to get to), Uber is the next best option. Uber is highly regulated in Mexico City, making it one of the safest modes of transportation. The same Uber app, with the same safety features (like share your ride and emergency dial), are at your disposal in Mexico City. You can visually track your route via the map to give that extra boost of confidence that you’re heading in the right direction and share your route with a friend if you feel unsafe. And above any of that, Uber is crazy cheap in Mexico City. And I mean c-r-a-z-y cheap. As in an entire long weekend of rides, including to and from the airport in traffic, all over the city, during surges, mornings, evenings, basically anytime we weren’t on the HOHO going anywhere – an entire weekend of rides (including tips and fees) cost us around $35. I can’t even get from my apartment downtown to O’Hare for $35 in an Uber Pool during non-surge periods with a frequent rider promo. And because all of the ride details and payment are handled through the app, you don’t need to worry about a language barrier if you don’t speak any Spanish.

As with any big city, Mexico City also has a comprehensive (and inexpensive) public transit system. I can’t speak to it because I’ve never tried it — Ubers are so cheap that there’s never been any reason to – but I’ve read enough to understand that it’s probably best to avoid during rush hour just because of the sheer number of people using it to get home after work.

I do want to note, though, that we’ve never taken a taxi in Mexico City and that’s been intentional. I’ve never felt particularly unsafe in Mexico City, but it is a big city and I’d be remiss to pretend that crime doesn’t happen there. A number of friends who had visited before me, as well as one of my old managers (who traveled there frequently for work) all had the same feedback before I left and that was to avoid taxi’s because tourists have been kidnapped or robbed and it was the least safe method of transportation. I can’t vouch for or against it, we’ve just avoided it completely and it was super easy doing so because of the prevalence of Uber around the city, but something I just wanted to note.

Things to Do and Snap

Of all the places I’ve been, I don’t think I’ve ever been as overwhelmed by things to do as I am in Mexico City. Most of my travels are either long weekends (like this one) or on cruises where I’m only in a port of call for a handful of hours. I’ve done most of the Caribbean and, like, a third of Europe, a day at a time. And I generally leave these places with some kind of sense of accomplishment – I’m proud of how much I can see in such a short amount of time (I know, I know – it’s not for everyone). I generally prefer my trips that way because there are so many places I want to see that I’ll never get to them all if I linger for weeks at a time. The first time I left Mexico City, the list of things I hadn’t gotten to was longer than the list of things I did. That almost never happens to me. So I came back and the list of places I didn’t get to see got even longer. A lot of the reason why is the traffic I mentioned above – it takes forever to go anywhere in Mexico City because the traffic congestion is probably the worst of any city I’ve ever been to. But also, every time I visit, I meet new people who tell me about new things and the list just gets longer. I still haven’t made it to the pyramids at Teotihuacán or taken a fiesta boat ride in Xochimilco or visited the Frida Kahlo museum. But I have done and seen a bunch. These are a few of my faves…

Chapultepec

Often referred to as the green lung of the city, Chapultepec is a massive park (the fifth largest urban park in the world). It’s quite similar to Central Park in NYC except…its more than twice the size. Twice the size of Central Park. Isn’t that bananas? And there’s so much to do and see – you could lose yourself in that park for an entire day. There are paddleboat rides and food stalls. There’s even a castle (which I haven’t made it to yet, but the Instagram pics are stunning).

My favorite part of the park, though, is the zoo. The Chapultepec Zoo is massive and it’s entirely free to visit. And they have PANDA BEARS. Have we discussed my obsession with panda bears here? If not, here’s a primer: have you ever seen the video of Kristen Bell on Ellen sobbing over her husband surprising her with a visit from a sloth on her birthday? Yeah. That’s basically me. I really love panda bears. In the US, there’s just a handful of zoos with panda bears (Atlanta, San Diego and Washington DC are the only ones I can think of) and there’s an entrance fee for each of them. In Mexico City? You just walk right on in and you can chill with the pandas (or the tigers, or the monkeys, or one of the other 250+ species in the zoo) for free.  

The Zócalo

My Mom forced me into Spanish language classes when I was in 7^th grade (I loved them so much that I took Spanish all the way through college!) and in my very first year of those classes, they taught us about the Zócalo in Mexico City and how it was this hub of the city. In the 1300s, it was the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan, an Aztec city. Today, it’s a buzzing square surrounded by beautifully ornate cathedrals and buildings, and the largest plaza in North America (and third largest in the world!). Seeing it in person brought everything I learned in Spanish class to life. Festivals, celebrations and gatherings often take place at the Zócalo, and along the sidewalks, you’ll find local artisans selling their goods, all kinds of restaurants and even smudging ceremonies (which is why it smells like burning sage).

There’s a ton to see down any of the many streets leading out from the Zócalo, like the Palacio Postal, a post office built in the early 1900s that looks more palace than post office, with it’s marble stairs and gilded accents.

The Palacio de Bellas Artes is also nearby, a white marble palace capped with a vivid orange and yellow tiled roof. The Palacio de Bellas Artes houses a number of murals by Mexican artists and serves as a home for the performing arts.

My favorite little spot near the Zócalo, though, is in the alley alongside Casa de los Azulejos. The tilework is so pretty and so distinctive, with pops of blue, white and yellow covering the façade of the building. I haven’t gone inside (yet) but I have to imagine it’s as breathtaking as the exterior.

Biblioteca Vasconcelos

As a very amateur photography hobbyist, I’m super drawn to lines and there has been no one interior space that has captivated me as much as the Biblioteca Vasconcelos, a megabiblioteca (or a megalibrary) not far from the city center. It’s lines on lines on lines, thousands of books geometrically (and colorfully) arranged. A photographer’s dream and a booklover’s heaven. One thing to note: because it’s often filled with students trying to study, they don’t love it when you come in to take pictures, and they’ll ask you to register and fill out paperwork if you’re trying to use an actual camera. Circumvent this by just snapping pics on your phone.

Kiosko Marisco

A Moorish structure in a non-descript park, the Kiosko Marisco is this beautiful kiosk covered in these colorful, Islamic-inspired tiles and patterns that was built as Mexico’s contribution to the New Orlean’s International Expo in the late-1800s. On the weekends, senior citizens meet at the kiosk to take dance lessons and residents of the surrounding Santa María la Ribera neighborhood use it as a meeting place. It’s also a super popular place for locals to use for family photoshoots and engagement pictures, so it’s best to visit in the morning before it gets busy.

Monumento de la Revolución

Right behind our hotel stands this tall, arched monument that is as equally beautiful in the daylight as it is in the evening, when it’s splashed with colored lights that swath it in vibrant shades of purples and pinks. The Monumento de la Revolución was commissioned in the 1800s, and construction was (shocker!) interrupted by the Mexican revolution in the early 1900s. Originally planned as a legislative palace, it stood unfinished for more than 20 years during the revolution until it was reconcepted as a monument dedicated to the revolution and the final resting place for some of the revolutions most important leaders, who are interred in the tombs located within the four pillars of the structure.

Diana the Huntress

Mexico City has SO many statues and monuments throughout the city, especially down the Paseo de la Reforma. My favorite is the Diana the Huntress fountain. Built in the late 1930s, the fountain is capped with a bronze statue of Diana the Huntress shooting towards the sky, a representation of the Archer of the North Star and a tribute to freedom. The statue hasn’t been without controversy – decency groups long protested the nude form until a loincloth was added for modesty. The loincloth was removed from the statue in the 1960s and the statue still stands atop the fountain today, gracefully arching her bow and arrow.

Coyoacán

Perhaps most famously known as the place where Frida Kahlo made her home (now a VERY popular museum with lines that often stretch down and around the street!), Coyoacán is an artsy neighborhood away from the hustle and bustle of downtown. There are green parks filled with street performers and artists, so many food carts and cafés and even an artisan market where you can buy locally made crafts (I may or may not have come home with three pairs of huarache shoes…). You could fill an entire day wandering around, reveling in the electric energy of the neighborhood. Tourists and locals alike converge in the park at all hours of the day and night, making the streets and sidewalks pretty crowded and traffic makes transit around the park slow and difficult, but the HOHO buses all make multiple stops within Coyoacán, making it easy to get back downtown.

Sunday’s on the Paseo de la Reforma

If you’re lucky enough to be in Mexico City on a Sunday, stroll out to the Paseo de La Reforma – the city’s main street running through the financial district and down to Chapultapec park shuts down to automotive traffic, opening space up for walkers, runners, bikers and…Zumba classes! Literally – there are Zumba classes in the middle of the street! The street is open to pedestrians from 8:00 AM through 2:00 PM, leaving a lane open for traffic, which means bad traffic throughout the city gets worse, but strolling along the Paseo on foot? Never a bad thing! The street is beautiful and seeing it repurposed like that is such a unique experience. 

Experience the Neighborhoods

Unsurprisingly, my favorite thing to do in Mexico City is simply be in it and ride around it open-air style on the HOHO. Each neighborhood has such a unique vibe – the big city feel of the Centro Histórico and the Paseo de la Reforma, the bohemian vibe of Coyoacán, the upscale elegance of Polanco and the cool, laid back streets of Roma Norte lined with cafés in every which direction. It’s like experiencing all of these mini cities within the larger one, each one distinct and amazing. There’s a saying amongst travelers, a feeling of being at home in the world, and there’s something about just riding around Mexico City that makes me very much feel at home, even thousands of miles away.

The Eats

The food scene in Mexico City runs one of the most unexpectedly wide gamuts I’ve seen in any city. Predictably, there’s a lot of street food. Taco stands, candy stands, fruit stands, hell – you can buy these huge chicharrones (fried pork rinds) right off the side of the HOHO bus at a driver rest stop in Coyoacán. There’s SO much street food. And then there are the chains, many of which are familiar to travelers coming down from the US – Starbucks, McDonalds, there was even a Panda Express next to our hotel. There are the hole-in-the-wall super authentic places (those are my favorite!) everywhere and anywhere.

And then, there’s this gastro food scene that’s littered with Michelin-star winners, restaurants that have months long waiting lists for reservations and prix fixe meals that cost more for a seating than my airfare to Mexico.

I can vouch for the first three – the street food is baller, the local places equally as good and the chains, well, they’re there and they’re exactly the same as they are at home (except for Starbucks, which have these amazing little cheese bread bites that are just doughy perfection). I’ve heard so many wonderful things about the gastro restaurants but I’m a picky eater so they just never really make sense for me and above that, I’m more of a dine-on-the-fly kind of girl when I travel. Planning an entire day around a dinner reservation and meals that take hours just aren’t my thing given the way I travel and tour (for now, anyways!).

So when I’m in Mexico City, it’s mostly coffee shops and street food, with formal cafes and restaurants sprinkled in. These are my picks…

Cielito Querido

A Mexican chain of coffee shops, Cielito Querido coffeeshops have an expansive menu of hot and cold caffeinated (and non!) drinks and these gorgeous tiled floors. Oh, and some delicious conchas (Mexican sweet breads). Any day that starts with horchata fría (like a frappuccino made with rice milk and cinnamon) and a nice, soft concha can’t be a bad day!

Tacos el Caminero

On my first trip to Mexico City, on our first night there, we found Tacos el Caminero, a taqueria between our hotel and the Monumento de la Revolución. We loved it so much that we went twice that weekend, and when I came back to Mexico City with Mom, it was our first dinner the night we arrived. The taqueria is spacious and totally informal with an open kitchen where you can watch them grill meat and make tortillas fresh from scratch. You order off a form that you hand to your server and the food is prepared fresh and quickly brought out to your table. The tacos are aces, with a heaping serving of meat (and cheese, if that’s how you order it!) served atop layer of fresh tortillas, below another layer of fresh tortillas (because at many taquerias in Mexico, tacos come as a plate of meat that you heap into tortillas yourself). The guacamole is also a highlight, and their horchata is a solid A+. Good food, completely unpretentious and loved by locals. It doesn’t get better. 

Mythos Roma

Would you believe me if I told you the best Greek food I’ve had outside of Greece was at a trendy café in Roma Norte? Mom spotted this gem when we were walking around, with their walk up window and chic café and bar. Gyros are basically Greek tacos anyways, right? The saganaki was killer and the chicken souvlaki was equally tasty. Oh, and the bottle of mineral water we ordered (never drink tap water in Mexico – it can make you very sick!) was accompanied by a selection of fresh fruits we could add to flavor it, which I thought was a very nice touch.

Isabella Café Condessa

Neon signs, flower walls and pink everywhere – all things I love. This coffee shop also has killer horchata cappuccinos (drown me in anything horchata!) and matcha drinks. It’s probably the least authentic place on this list – it’s a place designed purely for the ‘grams – but the coffee and the pastries are legitimately good, making it worth the visit if you’re nearby and in need of some caffeine.

Mercado Roma

The food market trend is taking over the world and Mexico City is far from exempt. On a busy side street in trendy Roma Norte, Mercado Roma is an upscale food hall featuring international and Mexican fare alike, everything from tacos and freshly fried churros to Italian food, French sandwiches and Spanish tapas. A large piñata hangs over the communal dining space, next to the bar that sits below a large wall covered in greenery and succulents. Don’t forget browse the stalls upstairs, and grab a paleta (a Mexican popsicle) before you leave.

Corazón de Maguey

One of the many restaurants in Coyoacán, Corazón de Maguey has an expansive menu of Mezcal cocktails and authentic Mexican dishes that are artfully prepared. They’re known for their moles, but their Cocinita Pibil might be the best I’ve ever had.

Ballaró

A bakery and café in the heart of Roma Norte, I never leave Mexico City without a box of their butter cookies (legitimately the best I’ve ever had) and some concha. When we travel in the US, we get hotel doughnuts (a box from the best place in the city we’re visiting to snack on in our hotel room) but in Mexico? It’s all about the hotel concha!

Finca Don Porfirio

If you would have told me that any list of best places to eat would include a café hidden at the top of a Sears department store, I’d never believe you – but here we are. Finca Don Porfirio is hidden away on the 8^th floor of the Sears department store next to the Torre Latinoamericana building. We didn’t order any food and the coffee was good enough, but we came for the view. The outdoor patio offers a birds-eye view of the Palacio de Bellas Artes and if you can find the time to seek out the café (it took us more than a half hour!), the views are worth the visit.  

Street Food

The best food in Mexico City is the food you find in stalls in the parks or along the sidewalks of busy streets. It’s made to order, mega cheap and so delicious. I could eat all my meals from street vendors and it would be amazing. But since there are so many and they’re mostly unnamed and non-descript, I want to share some of my favorite things to order.

Tacos – Starting with the most obvious and easiest, you’ll find dozens, if not hundreds, of taco carts throughout the city. Most of them prepare their food fresh off their carts, from pressing the tortillas to grilling the meat. You can eat them on a stool at the cart or take them to go, and there’s often a variety of salsas you can add. My favorite tacos were MX$40 ($2 US) off a cart next to our hotel. The vendor made the tortillas fresh in front of me and loaded them up with steak, melty cheese and fried potatoes. I topped them with salsa and some beans and they were perfection.

Tortas – A Mexican sub sandwich of sorts, tortas start with a crusty Telera roll that’s been spread with refried beans and layered with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, avocado or guacamole and sour cream or mayo. It’s super hearty and a lot of flavors and textures, but it comes together deliciously.

Fresh Fruit – Along bus stops and parks especially, you’ll find a lot of carts peddling fresh fruit. It’s generally safe to eat, but obviously, your mileage may vary depending on the vendor and how they treat the fruit (anything washed in tap water is a no no). I’ve never gotten sick from it, and cups of freshly cut mango are heavenly on a hot day.

Dorilocos – I was Googling the best food to eat in Mexico City (I know, hard hitting trip research!) and I found an article on Eater about this crazy street snack called Dorilocos that were all the rage. They’re bags of Doritos that are topped with julienned veggies (usually jicama, cucumbers and carrots), cuertos (pickled pork rinds), Japanese peanuts, gummy candy, lime juice, chili powder, Salsa Valentina (a hot sauce) and chamoy sauce (a sweet and sour sauce). I kind of thought it had to be a joke – like haha look at all the tourists willing to eat this crazy mix that no local would ever consider real food – except it’s the locals that were ordering them! I have this impulsive streak that randomly kicks in and when I saw a snack cart offering them, I had to try them. And they were flipping delicious. Like I’m kind of craving one just writing this. It’s a mix of flavors that should not work together but somehow just do. If you see them, try them…and then let me know if you liked them, or if I’m the loco one!

No matter what you do or where you eat, any weekend in Mexico City is bound to be full of sunny skies, friendly people and really good food. And hopefully, blissfully devoid of shifting plate tectonics.

Have you been to Mexico City before? Would you consider it for a quick getaway? Let me know in the comments below!