Our first try at the end of May failed. We had a flight booked with a stopover in Mexico City. Unfortunately Andrea was not there, she was in Germany, because she had issues with her work visa. So we now were really looking forward to visiting Andrea and her boyfriend Ernesto.
An ADO bus to Cancun, a Volaris flight to MEX and a fast taxi ride thru the Mexico traffic. The taxi driver was a real expert at changing lanes and finding every little free spot on the populated road. 20 million people can produce quite a significant amount of traffic.
Finally we arrived. Ernesto and Andrea were still at work, but Ernesto’s grandma has a tiny shop on the other side of the street and let us in the house. Of course, she could only speak Spanish, but we managed to communicate. Michelle and she even played the piano together. She is an amazing lady with her 87 years. We also met Ernesto’s parents Malena and Mario, who also live across the street from Andrea and Ernesto’s place.
We went out to dinner at night with Ernesto and Andrea. It was great to spend time with Andrea again.
On the next morning, Andrea and I went grocery shopping. What shop do you go to in Mexico City?
Of course, Walmart, this is not even called at least “Walmarto” to give it a more Mexican look and feel. What did we buy, because we could not find any good Laugenbrezen? German Liverwurst, which tasted pretty good. The store was still a little too much Christmas for me in the middle of November.
Andrea almost has a full house to herself, since Ernesto is gone once in a while. I have to correct this sentence. She has to share the house with Tumbur. He is a cute 4 months old Schnautzer dog.
He is still a baby and sometimes he does his business in the wrong place and bites on everything he finds like legs, pants, shoes and fingers. But he is cute and fun to be with. Plus he is a really good watchdog, because he barks if he hears strange sounds.
Ernesto has a German dog, a BMW and a German girlfriend. We see a pattern here. If he starts eating Weisswurst and Brezen instead of tacos, he will probably turn into a German.
Mexico City is a hard place to park so we used Ernest’s office parking garage when we went downtown. Cool high rise buildings and Christmas decorations made it an interesting place. This weekend was “El Buen Fin” which is a kind of shopping “Black Friday” in Mexico. Coming from a tropical place to Mexico City I really felt cold at 17 degrees Celsius. Many thanks to Ernesto for loaning me his new jacket.
Mexican girls have a really big fiesta once they turn 15. “Quince años” is a big thing in Mexico and we saw many teenagers driving around in big hummer limousines and taking pictures of their nice dresses at the angel statue memorial for Mexican Independence.
After walking thru the city and the gay bar area we found a nice Corona cantina with good food. Finally, Michelle was happy after all that Italian food in Tulum. Andrea had a Mexican Radler which was a marguerita with a small corona bottle upside in the glass.
Later that night we planned on going Salsa dancing. Guess what, we did not go. People our age are just not into going out at 11pm at night as that is when it starts. It was fine, since it gave us more time to talk and spend time with Andrea and Ernesto.
On Sunday we went with the whole family to a really nice part of the city. A small town called Coyoacán. It is a bohemian town with lots of colonial charm, a nice market, excellent ice cream and lots of fun stuff going on. We also felt very safe because Mario took his dog “Rocas” with. With his FBI outfit he scares off every robber. In the evening we went in a cool cantina with Mariachi music. It was an excellent place and we had fun with the whole family. I like Mariachi music, but you get a tinnitus if the trumpets guy plays next to your ear.
Monday was holiday. So we went to the parks of Mexico City. The castle was closed, but the park very beautiful. In a city of 20 million people we ran into Andrea’s big boss. What a coincidence! He is a Swiss guy and gave us some good tips for the area.
We wanted to walk to the new park, which is even bigger, but there was a major highway in between and we could not find the right way. There was a road, but since it was next to the presidential residence it was blocked for pedestrians and cars.
A friendly jogger came by and asked us, if we need help. He told us, there is always a way in Mexico, a no does not always mean no. So he talked to the guard, who blocked the street and told him we were lost tourists and we need to get thru.
Indeed there was a way, because the street is open for runners. We just had to run. Our new friend ran with us all the way up to other side passing the presidential residence. The guards at the place looked a little surprised, but they also let us pass, since we were running. Mexico City is an elevation of 2300 meters above sea level and the street went uphill. We were huffing and puffing, but we made it.
There is always a way in Mexico City.
We decided to take an Uber taxi to the University, because they have a library with cool mosaics. This Uber driver did not have any clue, so he left us in the middle of nowhere with the comment, it is only a five minute walk from there. On the long weekend the university area was empty. We felt very uncomfortable in the deserted area and could not find the way to the library.
All the Uber taxis canceled on us in this area. So we wanted to take the Metro bus back to the city center. We found out, we need a special card to ride this bus. But as already mentioned, there is always some way in Mexico. The guard at the gate told us, we have to find a person with such a card. So we interrupted a kissing couple and asked for the card. The lady was really nice, helped us with the card and continued kissing.
The Metro bus took us to the World Trade Center. They had a rotation bar and restaurant, where we had a sundowner with nice views over the whole city.
Andrea had to work on the next day and we took a museum tour to the old town. We soon found out, how bad the traffic is on a working day. The old town was very interesting with the Templo Mayor, which was the major temple of the ancient Aztecan city.
In the Palacio National we looked at all the interesting and colorful wall paintings of Diego Rivera.
The old town is really full of interesting stuff, but we wanted to avoid the evening traffic and left after visiting the cathedral and the arty post office building.
We were invited to an excellent home cooked dinner by Ernesto’s mother and had a really good last evening talking to Ernesto’s family using our basic Spanish, some English, our hands and Andrea translating. Thanks a lot to Malena and Mario for their hospitality.
It was time to leave Andrea on the next day, since she had a busy schedule with their inventory at her company Felder. It was so nice to see how Andrea lives as a Mexican girl and we hope to see her soon.
It is time to leave the huge city. See you soon in the lovely town of Oaxaca in the south of Mexico.
An ADO bus to Cancun, a Volaris flight to MEX and a fast taxi ride thru the Mexico traffic. The taxi driver was a real expert at changing lanes and finding every little free spot on the populated road. 20 million people can produce quite a significant amount of traffic.
Finally we arrived. Ernesto and Andrea were still at work, but Ernesto’s grandma has a tiny shop on the other side of the street and let us in the house. Of course, she could only speak Spanish, but we managed to communicate. Michelle and she even played the piano together. She is an amazing lady with her 87 years. We also met Ernesto’s parents Malena and Mario, who also live across the street from Andrea and Ernesto’s place.
We went out to dinner at night with Ernesto and Andrea. It was great to spend time with Andrea again.
On the next morning, Andrea and I went grocery shopping. What shop do you go to in Mexico City?
Of course, Walmart, this is not even called at least “Walmarto” to give it a more Mexican look and feel. What did we buy, because we could not find any good Laugenbrezen? German Liverwurst, which tasted pretty good. The store was still a little too much Christmas for me in the middle of November.
Andrea almost has a full house to herself, since Ernesto is gone once in a while. I have to correct this sentence. She has to share the house with Tumbur. He is a cute 4 months old Schnautzer dog.
He is still a baby and sometimes he does his business in the wrong place and bites on everything he finds like legs, pants, shoes and fingers. But he is cute and fun to be with. Plus he is a really good watchdog, because he barks if he hears strange sounds.
Ernesto has a German dog, a BMW and a German girlfriend. We see a pattern here. If he starts eating Weisswurst and Brezen instead of tacos, he will probably turn into a German.
Mexico City is a hard place to park so we used Ernest’s office parking garage when we went downtown. Cool high rise buildings and Christmas decorations made it an interesting place. This weekend was “El Buen Fin” which is a kind of shopping “Black Friday” in Mexico. Coming from a tropical place to Mexico City I really felt cold at 17 degrees Celsius. Many thanks to Ernesto for loaning me his new jacket.
Mexican girls have a really big fiesta once they turn 15. “Quince años” is a big thing in Mexico and we saw many teenagers driving around in big hummer limousines and taking pictures of their nice dresses at the angel statue memorial for Mexican Independence.
After walking thru the city and the gay bar area we found a nice Corona cantina with good food. Finally, Michelle was happy after all that Italian food in Tulum. Andrea had a Mexican Radler which was a marguerita with a small corona bottle upside in the glass.
Later that night we planned on going Salsa dancing. Guess what, we did not go. People our age are just not into going out at 11pm at night as that is when it starts. It was fine, since it gave us more time to talk and spend time with Andrea and Ernesto.
On Sunday we went with the whole family to a really nice part of the city. A small town called Coyoacán. It is a bohemian town with lots of colonial charm, a nice market, excellent ice cream and lots of fun stuff going on. We also felt very safe because Mario took his dog “Rocas” with. With his FBI outfit he scares off every robber. In the evening we went in a cool cantina with Mariachi music. It was an excellent place and we had fun with the whole family. I like Mariachi music, but you get a tinnitus if the trumpets guy plays next to your ear.
Monday was holiday. So we went to the parks of Mexico City. The castle was closed, but the park very beautiful. In a city of 20 million people we ran into Andrea’s big boss. What a coincidence! He is a Swiss guy and gave us some good tips for the area.
We wanted to walk to the new park, which is even bigger, but there was a major highway in between and we could not find the right way. There was a road, but since it was next to the presidential residence it was blocked for pedestrians and cars.
A friendly jogger came by and asked us, if we need help. He told us, there is always a way in Mexico, a no does not always mean no. So he talked to the guard, who blocked the street and told him we were lost tourists and we need to get thru.
Indeed there was a way, because the street is open for runners. We just had to run. Our new friend ran with us all the way up to other side passing the presidential residence. The guards at the place looked a little surprised, but they also let us pass, since we were running. Mexico City is an elevation of 2300 meters above sea level and the street went uphill. We were huffing and puffing, but we made it.
There is always a way in Mexico City.
We decided to take an Uber taxi to the University, because they have a library with cool mosaics. This Uber driver did not have any clue, so he left us in the middle of nowhere with the comment, it is only a five minute walk from there. On the long weekend the university area was empty. We felt very uncomfortable in the deserted area and could not find the way to the library.
All the Uber taxis canceled on us in this area. So we wanted to take the Metro bus back to the city center. We found out, we need a special card to ride this bus. But as already mentioned, there is always some way in Mexico. The guard at the gate told us, we have to find a person with such a card. So we interrupted a kissing couple and asked for the card. The lady was really nice, helped us with the card and continued kissing.
The Metro bus took us to the World Trade Center. They had a rotation bar and restaurant, where we had a sundowner with nice views over the whole city.
Andrea had to work on the next day and we took a museum tour to the old town. We soon found out, how bad the traffic is on a working day. The old town was very interesting with the Templo Mayor, which was the major temple of the ancient Aztecan city.
In the Palacio National we looked at all the interesting and colorful wall paintings of Diego Rivera.
The old town is really full of interesting stuff, but we wanted to avoid the evening traffic and left after visiting the cathedral and the arty post office building.
We were invited to an excellent home cooked dinner by Ernesto’s mother and had a really good last evening talking to Ernesto’s family using our basic Spanish, some English, our hands and Andrea translating. Thanks a lot to Malena and Mario for their hospitality.
It was time to leave Andrea on the next day, since she had a busy schedule with their inventory at her company Felder. It was so nice to see how Andrea lives as a Mexican girl and we hope to see her soon.
It is time to leave the huge city. See you soon in the lovely town of Oaxaca in the south of Mexico.
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