Travel plans/Summer 2009 (Mexico)

Mexico City

Totally unrelated cuteness: Panda Bread

Hotel:

• http://www.choicehotelsmexico.com/hotels/hotelServices?hotel=MX046

Transportation:

• From the airport: You could take a metro if you don't have many bags. Otherwise, take a yellow and white taxi outside the airport with an airplane sticker on. There should an authorized sign at the stand. You could ask about the price before you get on.
• Taxi: I usually take Sitio taxis at the Sitio taxi stands. You can also call for radio taxis. I don't take libre alone and my friends told me that if I have to take it, take ones with meters, crosses hanging from the mirror, and an old driver.
• Metro Subway: Buy tickets at Taquilla for 2 pesos per trip. Easy to use and pretty safe. There're ladies only cars during the peak hours. If with a lady, a man can go into these cars, most of the time. Can get crowded during the peak hours.
• Metrobus: 5 pesos (10 pesos for the card? Minimum 15 pesos for the initial credit). I take ones on Insurgentes to go to UNAM.
• Walking: Pretty safe in Roma/Condesa. Avoid walking alone on Av. Insurgentes Sur at night. I try to be in a group whenever I'm walking at night. All my friends advised against going to Tepito without someone from the neighborhood.

Possible things to do:

• Teotihuacan
• National Anthropology Museum / Mexico City Zoo
• NYTimes has a full list
• Palacio Nacional and the Diego Rivera Murals
• Mercado de La Ciudadela, crafts market
• Mercado de la Merced, food market
• NaCo
• Desierto de los Leones National Park
• Ride in a gondola
• Apparently there are free concerts at 7pm by the Orquesta Sinfónica del Conservatorio Nacional de Música
• Coyoacan
• Lucha libre Fridays and Sundays

Food:

• Gold Taco
• other Vegetarian restaurants: Aside from Gold Taco, I like the lunch buffer at Nirvana in Roma a lot. Only 55 pesos for all you can eat! The restaurant comes with parrots.
• Mercado de la Ciudadela

Centro Historico

wikitravel link

The city center, there is a lot of interesting stuff around the zocalo (Plaza de l/a Constitucion).

• "Templo Mayor": the old temple of the aztecs around which the city was built. The temple is thought to be on the exact spot where the Aztecs saw their symbolic eagle, pearching on a cactus with a snake in its beak - the symbol of Mexico today.
• Palacio Nacional: Don't forget your ID! I did.
• Museo Nacional de Arte

Alameda central

West of centro historico.

• Palacio de Bellas Artes

Notable building incorporating pre-Hispanic motifs in neoclassical & art nouveau styles. Lots of murals: 2nd floor, Mexco de Hoy and Nacimiento de la Nacionalidad, 3rd floor west end is Diego Rivera's famous El Hombre en el Cruce de Caminos originally commissioned for the Rockefeller center (destroyed for its anticapitalist themes), north side David Alfaro Siqueiro's La Nueva Democracia and Rivera's Carnaval de la Vida Mexicana, east: La Katharsis.

• Museo de Arte Popular
• Mercado de la Ciudadela: A favorite destination for various good stuff from all over Mexico. Worth seeking out are Oaxaca alebrijes and the Huichol beadwork ranging from masks to bowls and jewelry. Prices are generally fair even before you bargain. If it's a Saturday, you can learn a few dance steps at the Plaza de Dazon, southwest of the market.
• Torre de Latino Americana: A great view of the city with drinks/food from the 41st floor.

Coyoacan

Transportation: You can walk from two different metro stations. M.A. Quevedo or another one that I can't remember. About 25 minutes from each station.

Things to do: an outdoor market at the park, an indoor eatery place, great coffee at el jaracho or something like that, churros, ice cream, museums.

Bosque de Chapultepec

wikitravel link

• Museo Nacional de Antropolgi Tues - Sat, 9AM - 7PM (closed Mondays)
• Zoologico de Chapultepec

Xochimilco

wikitravel link

• Transportation: You can take a light rail from Taxquena. From Roma, it takes about 1.5 hours to get to Xochimilco.

• Canals

Take one of hundreds of boats (trajineras) through the canals which is all that is left of the lake on which Mexico City was built. I paid 175 pesos but it should be around 145 pesos. You want to take a taxi to Nativitas (about 15 pesos) to get a better deal. When I went, I walked from the station to one of the smaller piers -- I followed the arrows and the people waving their arms -- and they charged 350 pesos/2 people for 2 hours.

• Parque Ecologico de Xochimilco (M$20 9am-6pm), boats also tour this ecological park.

• It's also possible to take one that goes to the Island of the Dolls (creepy!!!) from the Cuemanco landing, four hour round-trip.

• Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino (M$40, Tue free, 10am-6pm Tue-Sun)

Large Diego Rivero collection, some Frida Kahlo

• Mercado: I don't know the name but it's a big market, so the boat people should know what it is. They will park the boat at the market and wait for you for 30-40 minutes.
• You can buy lunch and other handcraft things from boat restaurants/stores. You just wave at them. I had some corn and quesadillas on the boat. You can have some drinks on the boat and pay for what you've had at the end.

Teotihuacan

wikitravel link

50km from Mexico City, 1 hour. Although there are hotels in the area, this is best done as a day trip, returning back to the city in the same day. There's an information booth near the southwest entrance (Gate 1).

From the Lonely Planet: There's an information booth near the southwest entrance (Gate 1).

Crowds at the ruins (admission M$45, 7am-6pm) are thickest from 10am to 2pm, and it's busiest on Sunday and holidays. Bring a hat and water - most visitors end up walking several kilometers, and the midday sun can be intense. Afternoon rain showers are common from June to September.

Getting there by bus: Autobuses Mexico-San Jan Teotihuacan runs buses from Mexico City's Terminal Norte to the ruins every 15 minutes from 7am to 6pm. (Make sure your bus is headed for "Los Piramides", not the nearby town of San Jan Teotihuacan.) Buses arrive and depart from near Gate 1, by the southwest entrance to the site.

Puebla

Hotel:

• The driving guide recommends "Palas or Palace, on 2 Oriente, a block from the zócalo and about four blocks from Los Sapos" as a cheap hotel
• Orbitz has a list, most hotels are around $100/room/night
• Lonely Planet has a map of the area and list of hotels, their pick is Hotel Colonial

Dates

August 11

• Erik arrived

August 12

• UNAM

August 14

• 3:50 PM Chris & Madeleine arrive
• Dinner/Snack in Roma/Condesa?
• 7:30 PM Lucha Libre?

August 15

• Alameda Central?
• Lunch/Snack at the original Sanbourns?
• Dinner/Drinks at Torre de Latino Americana?

August 16

• Coyoacan?
• does Erik prefer Lucha Libre today (Sunday) to Friday?

August 17

• Xochimilco?

August 18

• Chapultepec: National Anthropology Museum & Zoo and the Castle.
• Lunch at the Tuesday Market near Chapultepec?

August 19

• Chris and Mad explore the Centro Historico
• 10:10PM Mako arrives

August 20

• Erik leaves at 6:50AM
• Teotihuacan in the morning or perhaps a daytrip?

August 21

• Teotihuacan in the morning or perhaps a daytrip?

August 22

• 7:04 AM Chris & Madeleine leave