Mexico City Part 3
Day 3- Wednesday, 12/27/17:
This was the day I was waiting for! A day in Coyoacan to visit the Frida Kahlo museum.
We slept in until about 8:30. I woke up with a little bit of a funny tummy and the starting symptoms of a cold. *TMI, I know, I'm human, but honestly, I wish that some of the travel blogs I read would mention things like tummy, communication, commuting problems, or anything that is worth noting aside from the cool places to see. We were very cautious about the water situation while we were there. We only got bottled water, no ice in drinks, we brushed our teeth with bottled water, and we didn't try any street food; which I regret now. We took Pepto about 30 mins before our first meal every day as well as drinking Emergen-c midday to help our immune system. Paranoid? Maybe, we were just trying to make sure we would be comfortable during the trip. This was both of our first long stays in Mexico only having gone on day trips in the past.
Anyways, We leisurely got dressed, ate granola bars and bananas, and got an Uber straight to Frida's house. We got there a little early knowing that it would be busy. We bought our tickets to the museum online in advance before we left for Mexico so that we could ensure it would not sell out. We arrived almost an hour early from our 12 pm appointment. I had mapped out the neighborhood in advance, so we walked to a popular coffee shop called, El Jarocho. I got a bottle of water and Randall got a coffee. We noticed a churro shop next door so we got one for Randall. It was stuffed with Nutella, of course, I took a bite, yum!
We headed back to Frida's house which was even more packed. Even though we got our tickets in advance the prepaid line was super long and wrapped around the side of the house. We were a little worried about how long it would take to get in but it wasn't too bad.
Even though I didn't feel super awesome seeing Frida's house was a dream come true. I have loved Frida Kahlo's work and story since I learned about her in art school. So, this was definitely a big check off of my bucket list.
When we walked in my heart was in a flutter. You walk through the courtyard first. It's beautiful and open and blue with plants and trees. There's a souvenir shop, a little cafe, and 2 areas with exhibits. We walked through the smaller one first which had some of her sketches, clothing, casts, and her artificial leg. After that, we walked through the actual living area of her house showing, her bedroom, living room, kitchen (which had amazing decor and colors), and the studio. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside of the house because we didn't know we had to pay extra for the privilege. The beauty of that place will forever be ingrained in my brain. I loved it, but honestly, it was very busy, it was kind of hard to take everything in because it was so packed. I assume it always has a crowd. I couldn't help but wonder what Frida would think about her lovely home turned into a museum. It was still worth it though just to say I saw it.
After that, we walked to the historic square of Coyoacan. It's a little further past the coffee shop. It was around 2 so we were ready for lunch. The square is a park with shops and restaurants all around. I had seen a recommendation for a place called, Corazon De Maguey. It was a cool place with colorful decor. We got a couple of beers. I discovered a Mexican beer I liked at the Luchador match called, Victoria. It's a darker beer, an amber I think, which is my favorite. It was my go-to beer the rest of the trip! We had a little bit of trouble translating the menu but ended up getting some guacamole with pico de gallo and tacos al pastor. It was very good!
From there we walked through the park to the square where the church, Parroquia San Juan Bautista Coyoacan, and the Mercado Artesanal Mexicano are located. We spent some time walking around shopping and went inside the very old and beautiful church.
I wanted to get more pictures inside the market but they are packed, and I didn't want anyone to think I was trying to do anything funny or offend them. I also noticed some makers charged you to take pictures of them working. So I just didn't try and took it all in.
After a lot of walking around, I was beat, my head and throat were hurting. We got an Uber back to the Airbnb to plan what we wanted to do for dinner and to rest for a little while.
After, a few sips of tequila and just sitting for a bit. We got back out and just walked our neighborhood. We wandered a little further than we had been before and checked out some shops. We walked back down the main street, Calle Alvaro Obregon, of our neighborhood in Roma, looking for a tamale place I had heard of but it wasn't there. So, we took a chance on this small place called, Luna Mixteca, that had tamales on their specials menu. Luckily, the woman that greeted us spoke English. She helped us through their menu, let us sample some mezcal, and we even tried crickets. She just brought out a ramekin of crickets. They aren't as big as you might think. Or at least the ones she had were small. They basically tasted like a seasoning, seasoned leaves, or like stale popcorn. Haha, gross. I mean I only did it because Randall took like a teaspoon amount in his hand and just tossed them back. He made a face, but I think its more of a mental thing. Same goes for me. I only ate 2 but was more grossed out by the idea that I had bugs in my mouth than the actual taste of it. Randall ended up putting them in his half of the quesadilla we ordered. I got a tamale and we shared that too. It was a good little place and a great way to end our last night in Mexico City.
Day 4- Thursday, 12/28/17:
We got up and packed our bags to check out of our Airbnb at 10 am. I woke up feeling all around sick. We had a lot of time to kill in between checkout and the airport to head to Puerto Vallarta.
So, we had planned to walk down luggage and all to El Moro which is a chain churro place. It's very popular and can get very busy in the evenings but it wasn't crowded when we went. We got an order of churros with chocolate dipping sauce and coffee for Randall. It was so good.
After that, we walked to the Rio de Janeiro park one last time and sat for a little bit before heading back to another coffee shop.
We still had a lot of time before our flight but we didn't really know what to do and dragging our luggage around wasn't very convenient so we got an Uber to the airport. I was feeling so yucky. I just wanted to get some medicine and sit. Once we arrived at the airport and made it through security we did just that. There are pharmacies all throughout the airport. We got something for my tummy and my cold. Thankfully, the tummy medicine was my savior for the remainder of the trip.
It was really easy to fly domestically from Mexico. I was a little worried about communication or anything that might come up wrong when we bought our plane tickets online, but it was smooth.
We were also worried that it was a tiny plane based off of the luggage sizing restrictions online. We flew Viva Aerobus. It was a big plane and super clean and new. It was probably the biggest and newest plane that we had been on the whole trip. So no issues at all.
Due to my cold and all the drainage, when we were descending into PV I had the worst ear ache I have ever had. I also felt like at this point I might have a fever. So when we got off the plane my ears were clogged and I could only hear half way. I haven't been sick in a long time. It really stunk to be starting our more relaxed part of the trip in a beautiful beach town feeling this way.
More on our Puerto Vallarta trip soon.