Mexico City

So our journey has begun, after some final farewells to our family and friends we consolidated our lives into three and a half bags and headed to Heathrow. First stop Mexico!

The flight went well, it took around 11 hours so from an entertainment perspective it was manageable between meals, movies and a nap. Elana spent a big chunk of the journey studying the live map to work out exactly where we were and when we might arrive (in between asking when we would be fed again)! Bert did surprisingly well, the last time we did a long haul flight was a year ago when he was less mobile!

We left behind a rather damp UK, albeit rather mild for December it was the typical grey. We arrived in Mexico City early evening, the light had drawn in but the temperature was much more pleasant (average 20 degrees C during the day and 12-14 degrees at night). Mexico City was to be our base for five nights to give us time to acclimatise and see some of the sights in, and surrounding the City.

We stayed in Mexico City ‘Historical’ (the old town in the centre of the city), and had the first day, New Years Eve, to ourselves. Sleep patterns were well out so we spent the day gently mooching around the Downtown area and discovering what it had to offer. We didn’t really know what to expect but we were pleasantly surprised. Whilst it’s rough round the edges, it’s relatively low-rise (Helen’s GCSE Geography came bounding back to her – Mexico City is built on a massive dried-up lake bed of unconsolidated sediment and the City lies close to several tectonic plate intersections, experiencing multiple tremors a month so caution around earthquakes is taken extremely seriously with two devasting quakes occurring on the same day(!!) on 19 September in both 1985 and 2017), clean, friendly and welcoming. We found the city safe, although having armed Policia on each street-corner. We were only a couple of blocks from the main square (El Zocalo) where the Presidents Palace is, they certainly go to town with their Christmas decorations with lots of Poinsettia’s throughout the city (it’s indigenous to Mexico) amongst other Christmas displays.

Just off the main square are some Aztec Ruins (Templo Mayor) and the ‘Cathedral Metropolitana’ which were interesting points of interest. The square is alive with a variety of hustlers, people dressed as eagles (we think they were witch doctors as they were performing ceremonies on members of the public), shoe-shiners and various street-food options. Post-lunch Mark took Bert for a walk around the city, venturing into some of the less-busy spots where we took in the various ventures that occur off the main-drag as well as stopping to listen to some great street music which Bert bopped along to! Something we have already noticed is that Bert gets a lot of attention, blonde-haired, blue-eyed and looking cute gets him a long way. He’s followed about by calls of ‘bonito’ (if only they knew looks can be deceptive!).

New Years Day - Teotihuacán pyramids and Guadalupe Shrine (see separate post).

2nd January 2024
The following day we had to ourselves, first thing we decided to take a trip up the ‘Torre Latinoamericana’ (The Latin American Tower), it was Latin America’s tallest building when constructed in 1956 and is a great way finder when strolling abut the City as it can be seen from most places. As we mentioned before, the City is relatively low-rise due to risk of earthquakes, so this building stands out! From the observation deck at the top we were able to take in the scale of the city and appreciate just how it is surrounded on all-sides by mountains, and one active (steam and sulphur) volcano.

After this we spent the rest of the day mooching, including finding a play area in a shopping centre that entertained the children for a chunk of time, this trip needs to balance time for them and us so I am sure play parks will become a regular stop on our days out!

3rd January 2024 - Xochimilco, Frida Kahlo museum and Coyocan (see separate post).Read more