Some reservations: Mexico City — Howdy, Sarah West

Sean and I made a major tactical error the night before we left for this trip: We watched the Mexico episode of Parts Unknown. Fans of Anthony Bourdain may recall that he spends almost the entire episode discussing the country’s soaring murder rate. Footage of him cruising the meanest streets of Mexico City is interspersed with image after image of screaming ambulances and dead bodies. It was not—as you might imagine—the inspiring, lighthearted romp we were hoping for.

It’s true, the murder rate in 2019 was the highest Mexico has seen in 22 years. But a big chunk of those deaths were drug related, and the majority occurred in a handful of particularly lawless states. It’s a problem that desperately needs to be solved, but it’s not likely to impact tourists. Especially in Mexico City, which has actually gotten safer over the past few years. In fact, you’re more likely to meet a violent end in Atlanta, Detroit, and New Orleans than you are in Mexico’s capital.

Coyoacán neighborhood, Mexico City, Mexico

We knew that if we stuck to the good parts of town and didn’t cross any cartels, we’d almost certainly make it out unscathed. Still, it was pretty unsettling to see all that carnage in Mexico City just hours before we boarded our flight.

But I’m happy to report that we did not die! In fact, we had an absolutely incredible time. Mexico City is a world-class destination full of museums, delicious restaurants, and airy green spaces. While walking to breakfast one morning, Sean and I were convinced we’d somehow woken up on the Upper West Side (until a mariachi band showed up, that is).

These are the top 5 things we did in and around Mexico City that did not lead to our demise:

5. Day-tripping to Puebla/Cholula

Puebla is one of the largest municipalities in Mexico. It’s just a couple of hours from Mexico City, and while it didn’t have as much to offer as the other places we visited, there were still plenty of ways to fill a day.

Remedios church, Cholula/Puebla City, Mexico

The highest profile offering is the hilltop Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios church in nearby Cholula. It’s within spitting distance of Popocatépetl volcano, so the views are pretty spectacular.

Remedios church and Popocatépetl, Cholula, Mexico

There’s a cave system and a Mesoamerican pyramid at the base of the church that was worth the $4/person admission price, and a free Puebla City museum nearby that we walked into by mistake and both wound up loving.

An unexpected alebrijes exhibit at the Puebla City museum

Puebla’s zócalo was also one of the best. It’s absolutely stunning, especially at night. We spent a ton of time just wandering around it.

4. Strolling Roma/La Condesa/Chapultepec Park

Roma and La Condesa are Mexico City’s wealthiest neighborhoods, and they’re drop-dead gorgeous. The simplest activities like going to dinner and walking home from the grocery store were a visual treat.

Chapultepec Park is hitched to the edge of La Condesa, and it’s the Mexican equivalent of Central Park. It’s full of lakes, trees, sculptures, and wide walkways lined with street food vendors.

Dorilocos—a very popular, very strange chip-and-veggie street snack

It’s also where some of the city’s top attractions are located, like Chapultepec Castle and the very well done and absolutely massive Anthropology Museum.

3. Watching a lucha libre match

Holy moly. Where do I begin? Lucha libre is Mexican wrestling, and it’s absolutely bonkers insane. (You’ve seen Nacho Libre with Jack Black? It’s about lucha libre.)

The luchadores (fighters) wear colorful masks and over-the-top costumes, the choreography is cheeky and dramatic, and political correctness is non-existent. (Little people in blue gorilla suits? It’s a mess.) And the crowd goes completely insane for it.

The streets outside the arena are packed with people selling lucha libre masks, and Sean searched high and low until he found the perfect one.

2. Eating

Show me the tacos! (And the empanadas, horchata, and fancy pastries, too.) Mexico City is brimming with absolutely incredible restaurants, and our friends and Airbnb host directed us to some of the best ones.

The chicharron (pork skin) tacos at Taquería Orinoco were out of this world, and we enjoyed the food at Taquería Los Cocuyos so much that we went back for seconds. (I particularly loved my surtida taco—basically a mix of beefy nasty bits.)

La Gruta was the coolest place at Teotihuacán for an aprés-hike snack—including an horchata (cinnamon rice milk) mezcalita.

We slept in a cave in Romania, explored caves in San Cristóbal, and ate lunch in a cave near Mexico City. We’re now thinking about moving into a cave when we’re done with our year abroad.

La Gruta restaurant, Teotihuacán, Mexico

Comedor de los Milagros was just a few steps from our Airbnb, and it took the trendy food market concept and made it amazing. There are seven food stalls in the restaurant—each one representing a different Latin American country. You sit down at a picnic table, order off one menu, and wait for your food and tiki drinks to arrive.

We shared a killer Venezuelan empanada and a huge plate of Colombian fare that prepped us for the next country on our agenda.

A gringa and her coconut at Comedor de los Milagros

Remember the transportive NYC-meets-mariachi experience I referenced up top? We were en route to Rosetta, a fancy pastry shop recommended by no less than three people. The guayaba roll was to die for, and Sean was a huge fan of the lavender-blueberry scone.

1. Visiting Teotihuacán

I’m going to be honest with you: This was a check-the-box activity for us. We don’t particularly like ruins, and we’ve been burned by a lot of blah ones in the past (I’m looking at you and your trash piles of rocks, Mycenae). But Teotihaucán was right down the road, so we figured what the hey.

Daaaaaang, y’all. Wow. This place is epic. I was expecting to run to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, take some obligatory photos, and leave.

Avenue of the Dead and Pyramid of the Moon, Teotihuacán, Mexico

NOPE. Teotihuacán is so massive and so well preserved that you need hours to see it all. We arrived at 10am full of skepticism, and boarded the bus back to Mexico City at 3pm dusty, exhausted, and completely blown away.

Sean and I lived in Texas for almost 30 years and never once considered visiting Mexico City. It was too uncertain; too dangerous. But now that we’ve been, our opinion has completely changed.

We haven’t decided where we’ll live when we’re done traveling, but Texas’s proximity to Mexico City gives our home state a huge advantage. Long weekends eating tacos and guayaba rolls? Sign us up.

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