Last Sunday through Wednesday nights I was in Mexico City. The primary purpose of my visit was to obtain my Visa from the Venezuelan Embassy. I rented an Airbnb in Polanco, located close to the Embassy. Polanco is also an area that I am familiar with from my first visit to Mexico City. Since I would be traveling solo, some of this familiarity helped to reduce a bit of anxiety with the trip.

I arrived Sunday night at Mexico City Airport. I flew AeroMexico. Most of the instructions were in Spanish and the flight crew would default to Spanish but were comfortable helping me in English when I struggled. Since I was traveling solo and “looked tall” they were nice enough to move me up into an exit row. I was in the window seat and distracted by airport workers when they came through with headphones so I didn’t get to use the in flight entertainment. Apparently when you are in the exit row you also can’t keep a bag under your seat so I had to put both of my backpacks in the overhead compartment. Luckily I grabbed Light Bringer to keep in the back of the seat and it was thrilling enough to last most of the 3.5 hour flight minus the brief time when the meal cart came through. To eat we had a hot ham and cheese sandwich on a roll with a small salad and a brownie. It wasn’t great but all I had since lunch was some Dots pretzels so I ate it all.

Once we landed there was a short line in customs where I met a Spaniard from Southern California who wondered why I would bring an umbrella to Mexico city (it was sticking out of the side pocket in my backpack). I told him it was supposed to rain the whole week and he expressed regret for not checking the weather. Luckily for me the weather looked to be about the same as Chicago at the time, mid 70s, partly cloudy and maybe some rain showers.

I left the airport and found an authorized taxi to take me to the Airbnb. I am trustworthy enough to get in a van with a guy who flashed me a badge, but not enough for me to take my eyes off the Google Maps directions in my sweaty hands. Luckily he followed one of the two routes to get to Polanco and somehow magically dodged enough traffic to cut the travel time down by 15 minutes. He got a nice tip for that. Check in to the Airbnb was easy; I showed my ID to the door man and he snapped a picture for someone. I saw my name written on a little notebook so I guess they’re very familiar with the process.

The actual unit itself was on the second floor facing the street. It was a strange unit, basically a studio but had two “toilet rooms” I will call them. There was a balcony overlooking the small courtyard of the building which looked like it was “outside” but not really. The divider between the area with the bed and the area with the kitchen and couch had the tv and also a glass cube where the shower was. I set up a fan and watched a little Netflix before trying to sleep.

I was one building away from one of the two main thoroughfares in Polanco. Its not a terribly busy neighborhood but there is some street noise which I am not normally used to. I was also sleeping with the window open and a fan since there is no A/C in most apartments in CDMX. Every morning at about 5am someone started sweeping the sidewalk right outside my window. I have never seen a place so obsessed with sweeping leaves. Everyone uses these brooms that look like they were stolen from the wicked witch of the west. I still can’t get over it.

Monday morning was set aside for going to the Embassy. I got breakfast at a cafe around the corner called Eno since I wanted to get the day going quickly. I saw it the first time in CDMX and it looked good but we didn’t get a chance to go. I got an omelette with cheese, poblano peppers, onion and avocado. I was instructed to avoid fresh juices (by Montezuma) so I also had Grapefruit juice :).

The embassy visit was relatively quick. I had to wait in the garage just like the first time but there were only about 5 people total waiting to go upstairs. After a short desk they sent me to the front desk and then upstairs to wait for my turn. Most people were very friendly, everyone was curious what I was doing there since I am clearly not a native Spanish speaker or Venezuelan. The couple next to me were there from Australia to get their passports renewed. Once it was my turn they basically asked if I had a more recent picture and took my Passport. They said I would get a phone call that evening when the Visa was ready, which was a pleasant surprise.

There were 2 things I didn’t get to do my first time in CDMX that were perfect for a day that required flexibility: visit McDonalds and Costco. Luckily there was one of each in Nuevo Polanco. Costco is conveniently located right next to the Museo Soumaya which was on my list of museums to visit but it didn’t open until 10am so I made the 30 minute walk over to the Costco to kill some time before I could get in. Generally the store was comparable to what I’d see in the US but the wine section was about 3x as large and for some reason their price of Justin cabernet was about $60 USD (normally like 20 back home). Also some what ironically instead of selling the ready to cook street tacos or the rotisserie chicken they sell hot Paella, which actually looked pretty appetizing.

The Museo Soumaya is free to the public and houses a variety of art: sculptures, paintings (mostly religious) and a collection of what they called “applied art”. A few of my favorites: - A reproduction of “The Gates of Hell” by Rodin - A reproduction of Michaelangelo’s “David” - Taberno de Monos (Monkey Tavern) by David Teniers the Younger - A watch made by the Elgin National Watch Company After wearing out my legs I walked across the street to an outdoor mall where I found a McDonalds on the second floor food court. I got some sort of bacon bbq burger with fries and sat over the second floor balcony. The burger was kind of dry and the bbq sauce was pretty sweet, overall not great but I got to try another foreign McDonalds.

At this point I realize that my small backpack was partially open and I didn’t have my sunglasses. I walked back to the Souymaya and asked the coat check if they could take a look for them but came up empty handed. Dejected about the loss of my prescription sunglasses I wandered back in the general direction of the embassy since I figured they’d be calling soon. I stopped at a place called the Cafebreria el Pendulo. It is part bookstore and part cafe/bar. The interor was really neat and you could get a waiter to bring you coffee or drinks while you sit at tables and read. I sat back and ordered a Montana lager. They brought me a Montan~a porter (I tried) and my phone rang. After a bit of difficulty I gathered my passport was ready and tried to drink the porter as quickly as possible so I could walk over to the embassy.

Once I arrived it turned out quickly forcing down the heavy beer was a waste of effort since I had to wait for the Visa person to come back from their break. I sat in the embassy for about 40 minutes (nobody told me what was going on) until she came back and got my Visa for me. It was worth the wait because I accomplished my goal for the trip on the first day.

That night I went to an Argentinian steakhouse to celebrate. It was an authentic mexican experience, watching Monday night football, drinking a cheap Chilean wine and eating Argentinian food. They had morcilla (blood sausage) on the menu so I had to see how it compared with what I was familiar with. It was less dark than I am used to but still had that same rich flavor. Different but comparable to what I can find in Chicago. Main course was a skirt steak, I was looking forward to the charred steak that I ususally get but they don’t cook it like that in Mexico so overall it was just ok, but my side was papas sufle, which were like tiny hollow french fry pillows. I’ve never had something quite like it and they were delicious. My food disappeared before the game was done so I asked the waiter to bring me one of the drinks I saw everyone else getting. It turned out to be an after dinner cocktail made with espresso and Licor 43. Very tasty but I am not a caffeine drinker so that wasn’t going to help my sleep for the night.

I walked back to the Airbnb and grabbed a couple of Modelos to drink while I watched Band of Brothers on Netflix.

Day 2: I woke up to the sound of sweeping again. Today was wide open to explore the city and eat more food. There were two places I knew I wanted to go, first was breakfast. Oja de Agua. We were there the first time and the food was great so I wanted to go back. Its a regional chain that has expanded a bit into Texas and a location in Miami. For breakfast I had a mixed juice :) of strawberry mango and pineapple and a brioche cinnamon roll french toast with fresh fruit on the top. Wonderful start to the day.

After breakfast I walked down to Museo Tamayo located in the NE corner of Parque Chapultapec. The museum was made for what I gather was an artist who believed strongly in not diluating the real Mexican culture and was strongly anti globalist. The art was ok. I expected sculptures because there were a few out front but the only ones there were from an artist experimenting with bricks. Short walls and things. They only took cash so I had to walk about 10 minutes to an ATM and back, then when I got there the front desk informed me they were having a “simulacro”. After some back and forth it seemed like they were having a fire drill. I got through the museum relatively quickly so although the security guard told me I could wait in line and come back in I left and walked towards the Museum of Modern Art. We weren’t able to go in last time since it was closed and it was again when I got by.

I left Chapultepec and headed up Avenida Paseo de la Reforma towards El Angel de la Indepencia and stopped when I started seeing large groups of people with signs. I saw people all up and down the street, police, signs, emergency tents. I didn’t really want to get caught up in some protest or something so I tried to dodge the crowds and go up a side street. Once I got around I called an Uber. The Uber driver explained that they were doing city wide Earthquake drills and that was why I had to leave the museum and why everyone was out on the street. She turned out to be from Venezuela so we talked a bit about that until we arrived at La Panaderia Rosetta. It is a cafe and bakery from a chef who was named best female chef in the world at one of the big restaurant awards. I had a corned beef sandwich and a cookie. The bread really stole the show and I wish I was feeling hungrier because they also had some pastries that looked incredible.

I walked up the street to another park with a fountain (there are a lot of those around the city) and called an uber to take me up to Plaza de la Constitucion, informally known as Zocalo. It is a large town square bordered by many government buildings and at the north end the Metropolitan Cathedral. I walked around the square and found out the Cathedral was open to the public so I went in. It is quite an epic building, it was finished over 200 years ago and apparently took about 250 years to build the whole thing. It has two large pipe organs in the center and lots of extravagant altars covered with gold leaf and figurines. I sat in a pew and to take it all in and then heard what I assume was a crypto bro talking about Bretton Woods so I left the cathedral and started walking west towards some more museums. The street was very busy with tourists and vendors. There must have been 20 people down the street handing out cards and trying to get people to go to the Plaza de Lentes, which must be the worlds largest glasses store or something.

I stopped at the Museo Nacional de Arte. It is housed in a large stone building that was formerly the Palacio de Communicaciones. Because I was used to seeing old buildings I assumed it was much older than it was but apparently it dates to the 1950s. Regardless of the date it is a beautiful building. They have a relatively set path that you follow starting on the 3rd floor and working your way around and down while traveling chronologically through the different periods of Mexican art starting in the 1500s. The first (3rd) floor is generally art from the New Espana period and literally all of the art is religious. Apparently they were very controlling and all artists needed to belong to the national academy of art where they dictated what types of things you could produce. After the Mexican revolution in the early 1800s the styles were simliar but the subjects began to change. There was a fight over the direciton of the country so some of the art remained religious while others depicted heroes like Christopher Columbus or Galileo. Once you get into the 1900s Mexican culture really came into its own through a reconnection to the Aztec roots and you see the bright and colorful art that one tends to think of as Mexican.

After making my way through the gift shop I continued heading west towards the Palacio de Bellas Artes. By this time my legs were dead tired from all the walking so I took a few pictures and then hung out by some street clowns in the park. I don’t know what they were saying but it seemed funny. At this point I was ready to head back for dinner so I made my biggest mistake of the trip and hopped in a CDMX cab. I asked if he could take a credit card and he said sure and we headed back to Polanco. He said something about calling his friend which I thought was strange so again I made sure he was following Google Maps the whole way. He could tell I was getting nervous so he tried to make conversation but after some texting with Genesis I knew I had made a mistake. I had him drop me off on a busy street in front of a bar with a patio and his friend came to charge my credit card. He showed me the amount which was already outrageoius and my card kept declining. I had enough cash for what the Uber would have cost but they were trying to charge like 7x that amount. I told him I had USD and they said that I would need to pay double because they have to convert it. I told them it was ridiculous and gave them the $100 cash and got out of the cab. They were mad but considering how much I paid for a half hour cab ride I was more than justified in being the mad one.

I went into the bar and got a margarita. I didn’t plan on eating there but at this point I was tired and angry so I got a shrimp burger. My waiter seemed to have trouble understanding me but another waiter helped out sometimes and we spoke to eachother just fine so I think it was just the first guy. The shrimp burger was actually pretty good, I think it had some sort of egg yolk sauce on it like you get at a hibachi restaurant. It began to rain so I stayed for a few beers before I decided to head back to the Airbnb. This was the only time the whole trip I needed the umbrella I was carrying around.

Day 3 was mostly just killing time until my flight at 6pm. I ate french toast (again) at Cafe del Parque, then wandered around for a little bit. Stopped in at Baby Craysi (hilarious name, overpriced clothes). Had some herbal drink at Tierra Garate cafe. Lunch was El Califa, another repeat from first time. Costras are a wonderful taco made of griddled cheese that need to catch on everywhere. After lunch I walked down to the southern part of polanco to see where the fancy hotels were and catch an Uber. In the time it took me to walk the travel time to go the 7 miles to the aiport climbed from 30 minutes to an hour. Luckily I decided I should get to the airport way early so I made it in plenty of time.

The airport and flight back were uneventful. I watched the movie Renfield on the plane and had to keep from laughing out loud too much. The stewardesses were making me speak to them in Spanish because I said had been practicing.

This post took me way too long to write and goes into unnecessary detail but it was fun to recap the trip. CDMX is great, next time I’ll see an Aztec ruin.