Oct 4th: Day 6
I was starting to feel a little under the weather by this point. I was battling a cold and the food and change of routine was causing me stomach aches. But I didn't want to waste any time so I dragged myself out to go see some more sights!
First we went to Diego Rivera's studio, which was a short walk from our house. You had to pay extra for photos at this museum (we found this at a lot of small museums) so my friend took photos and I don't have any. It was pretty interesting but they only has English on the exterior information plaques. Plus WAY too many people were working here and it made us uncomfortable.
Next we went downtown to the Templo Mayor, which was once a large temple of the Aztecs, but now it is just low ruins. They are located in the middle of downtown in the Historical District, so it is easy to get to and you take paths over and through the ruins and then into a museum.
 |
| Creepy |
After the Templo Mayor we went over the Palacio Nacional, which is right nearby, lining one side of the centre square, Zocalo. The Palace is now a government building, but is open to the public to visit. A lot of it was under construction, but we were able to see the murals painted by Diego Rivera and the museum devoted to Benito Juarez.
That night we went out for a delicious dinner at a French restaurant with Olga and her sister Anna. We had wine and I had mussels and then dessert. mmm! And with the exchange rate it only cost me $30! The exchange rate here was amazing.
Oct 5th: Day 7
On the Friday we took it a bit easy as a lot of people get off early on Fridays in Mexico City and we wanted to be fresh for whatever the evening brought. First we took a cab to Frida Kahlo's blue house! This was another pay-for-photos museum, but I have these ones so I get to share! The house was beautiful and we enjoyed walking around the grounds (this is not a long stop- I think we were only here an hour). After Frida Kahlo we walked down the street to the Leon Trotsky house, but I have no photos of that one (Veronica does). It was interesting, but a little creepy with all the shootings that had occurred there- you could still see bullets in some walls!
We then went to our friends' restaurant called Osama Bin Taco (it is Afghan themed tacos!) which we had surprisingly not eaten at yet because they close at 5pm and we usually were still out and about at that time. After feasting on some tacos we walked to a nearby mall, but we found nothing we liked in our price range. Mexico has a great exchange rate for Canadians, but the store Zara has a monopoly down there and really prevents a lot of good, cheap clothing stores from coming in. Mexico City JUST got their first Gap!!
Around this time we got a text from our friend Olga informing us that she had bought us tickets to Luche Libre!! In case you don't know what that is- it is Mexican Wresting with masks and everything. They confiscated my camera at the door (dang!) so I couldn't take any pictures, but let me tell you it was surprisingly entertaining and we really enjoyed ourselves!
After a few beers and too much junk food at the match, we decided we weren't done with our night and ended up at an amazing little restaurant where we had tequila and ginger ales and tapas and paella! mmmm. The prosciutto was amazing!
Oct 6th: Day 8
It was finally Saturday so the whole household slept in before heading out to the markets! I don't really have any photos of the markets, but picture tons of tents with small vender tables under. We went to three different ones, but we really scored big at a pottery stand in the non-tourist market. It was so much fun and really handy having Olga there to negotiate prices in Spanish! In one store Veronica spent about $85 Canadian and did all of her Christmas shopping AND souvenirs. As I said- amazing exchange rate.
That evening Olga was going to a wedding (which we clearly weren't invited to!) so we went with her husband to a party that they were catering that night. Technically we were invited by the host earlier in the week so it wasn't quite crashing :P. It was hard to meet people at first because of our limited Spanish, but we ended up meeting some people who spoke English and had a very enjoyable night. At one point Veronica was drinking a cooler that she had gotten at the 7-11 (It was BYOB) and the host, Fernando, came over and yelled at her for drinking such a sissy drink and threw it in the trash! He then made her some tequila drink, which she seemed to enjoy thankfully. We had been told beforehand that there was going to be a Pinata, but it wasn't there by the time we left around 12:00am (The party reportedly went until 7:30am so I guess it came out later).
We then took a cab to go a crash the wedding Olga was at! Dinner was over so we got in without too much problem from the bouncer downstairs. We were shocked when we came upstairs and found out the reception was on a balcony overlooking the Templo Mayor! SO beautiful! We had a couple of drinks and danced a little before deciding it was time to head home around 3am.
Oct 7th: Day 9
Sunday we all slept in after the crazy night before. We then went out for Barbacoa, which is some sort of meat (lamb? goat?) and it slow cooked in a hole in the ground. Something with blankets too. I don't know. But I didn't really like it so I only had a bit. We then ran some errands, including going to a very crowded bakery that was full of delicious things!! I can't remember what we did for the rest of the afternoon and evening, so we probably hung out at home and caught up after a busy week. I do know that in the evening we planned a very fun mini-vacation from our vacation that I will cover tomorrow!!
No comments:
Post a Comment