It doesn’t matter where you live or where are you staying in Mexico City, a couple of blocks away from you there is a little joint famous for having the best whatever-they-sell in the whole city. Once you’re acquainted with their tacos, juices, tamales, ceviche, fruit salads or whatever their business is, you’ll have a hard time leaving it behind.
Mexico City holds the title of the city with the most museums in the world, having around a hundred and fifty venues dedicated to all kind of themes, mainstream and bizarre. Just stepping outside of the Bellas Artes metro station gets you within reach of at least ten important museums. We’re not only showing off in terms of quantity here, we have some of the most original exhibitions around town with museums dedicated to light (Museo de la Luz), old traditional toys (Museo del Juguete Antiguo) or our best known liquors (Museo del Tequila y el Mezcal). If you were looking for variety, it doesn’t get much better than this.
The EcoBici bike rental program has been operating in the central and most touristy neighborhoods of the city for a few years now. It’s not only the best option for daily commutes, but also a different way to explore the city for tourists and locals alike. With EcoBici, you can also join the monthly massive bike tours, celebrated every last Sunday of the month. Subscribing to the service is cheap and easy… check out their page.
Made from authentic cacahuazintle corn! This traditional cornbread has one of those smells you’ll typically find yourself following while walking through the city’s many parks and public plazas. They taste really good, but the smell is just something else! Gorditas were one of the first street foods to conquer the evening-traffic-jam market. Everyone in the city has desperately looked for ten pesos in their pockets when hunger strikes and a neon green cardboard appears in the distance announcing: “Gorditas de nata diez pesos. Prepare your toll.”
You’ll never want to return to a regular supermarket after being immersed in the multicolored canvas universe of a tianguis market. You’ll find everything you need here: from a sack of oranges, medicinal herbs, mineral water cocktails (the always present Tehuacán preparado) and carnitas tacos, to the mask El Santo used in his movie “El Santo contra Capulina”, military paraphernalia or action figures that were discontinued long before you were born. How surreal you want your regular shopping to be, depends entirely on you.
Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl are the two volcanoes that watch over the city from the east. During winter they show up completely white, some other times el Popo looks all menacing with glowing lava and its perpetual ash cloud spreading towards the city, but every single time you catch a sight of them, you’ll get lost in their magnificence for a few moments. Most days they’re hidden by the cloud of suspended particles that floats above our heads, but that makes them even more impressive when they show up in their full glory after a stormy night or during those days in October when the air looks more transparent than usual.
Palaces from colonial times are mixed with modern buildings in the busiest streets in the all of Mexico. Take out the camera, shoot in any direction and you’ll see how every pic you take has a building worth paying a visit to. Most of these buildings are home to different kinds of businesses, from the traditional cantinas, to cafes, restaurants, galleries and museums. The ones that doesn’t function as businesses are probably churches, so one way or another, you’ll be free to explore their architecture both from the outside and from the inside.
El metro is one of the biggest icons of the city and even when we love to hate it -it’s not perfect, and we’re way too many people here- our elegant orange limousine is one of the most efficient transport systems in the whole country. You’ll enjoy it better if you stay away from rush hours and remember that sometimes -sometimes like every two or three stations- it suddenly brakes, like, just because.
Coyoacán, San Ángel, Centro de Tlalpan, Santa María la Ribera, the parks in la Condesa, la Roma, Chapultepec, el Centro and many other places are just ideal for one of our favorite activities: go out and take an evening stroll. Try it, get comfortable and become addicted to the public spaces.
When talking about tortas (sandwiches) for breakfast, we can distinguish two kinds of people: the ones that support the guajolota (torta with a tamal inside) and the ones who heavily bet for the chilaquiles torta. Here I’m gonna favor the less popular example which, in my humble opinion, is the most underestimated breakfast in Mexico. Why? Chilaquiles are already awesome, even better if you transform them in a take away food, and the fact that it comes with extra bread guarantees your munchies will surrender before its power… You gotta love it!
We love to hate on the climate, but once you realize the difference between qué pinche frío (too fucking cold) and qué pinche calor (hot as hell) are just fifteen degrees Celsius, you’ll understand the obvious: we complain about the weather every time it’s not plain perfect! Mexico City is never too cold, nor too hot, it’s never that windy, dry or super damp. It doesn’t matter which time of the year it is, we can always go out with the same kind of clothes without suffering severe problems… an umbrella’s never a bad idea though. 