Mexico 2023: Quite the Wednesday in Mexico City

Wednesday I woke up plenty early because I was a man on a mission. The mission? Get my family chilaquiles tortas for breakfast. The line at La Esquina de Chilaquil gets awful long so I decided to get there awful early. The reward? A nice walk through Condesa as it was waking up and being first in line (and the only person there) for quite a while.

These are pictures from my walk over and the absolutely empty torta stand set up.

Dad walked down to join me shortly before the stand opened up and was there to catch all the excitement as they began slinging sandwiches stuffed with soft, salsa’d tortilla chips and chicken milanesas.

And then we walked on back to the house and enjoyed breakfast with everyone. We also picked up some water. Look at this great photo of Dad, the provider, holding the water!

Well fed, it was time to get our day going! We walked over to Chapultepec Park, passing Thanksgiving decorations and other neat stuff along the way.

Chapultepec Park Visit Part 1: Getting to Chapultepec Castle — this means entering the park, walking through some of the park, seeing a bear, seeing a beautiful squirrel, and hiking up the hill to the castle.

Chapultepec Park Visit Part 2: I hadn’t been to the castle in about 6 years and I think a visit to Chapultepec Castle every 6 years is a good amount to do it. It’s cool! There’s really lots to see and discover.

C.P. Visit Part 3: Walking down the hill, through more of the park, and over to the zoo. Saw another beautiful squirrel, got a little panda preview and saw other neat stuff.

C.P. Visit Part 4 — The Zoo! We were there just to see the panda, but we of course saw a beautiful leopard and the tiger on the way. Since my last visit to the park one of their pandas died so just one is left now. Sad. And when we got there the panda wasn’t out in her enclosure! Sadder! We could tell she was being observed in her private space but we couldn’t get over there. It was pretty sad. Or just disappointing. We almost left but Liz was like “Let’s go back and check one more time!” And guess what…a few minutes later the panda came out! She ate a little, we saw her poop, and then she came RIGHT over by the window and chomped on an apple just a few feet from us. It was incredible! In my 4 visits I had never before seen her be any closer than the middle of the enclosure but this time she was just right there right by us! And you know what we learned? Panda ears are real real cute and pandas eat apples real real slow.

Ok and after that we were done with Chapultepec Park! We walked on out and back to Condesa for two lunches — one at Tacos Don Juan and another at El Pescadito across the street. Both were so great and at Don Juan not only did we get tacos but a hamburger as well because I LoVE Mexico City hamburgers!

From there — back to the Air BnB, a little break, and then an Uber over to Polanco for museum time.

In Polanco we dropped Mom and Dad off at the Museo Soumaya (the fun is the first time we went to the Soumaya back in 2017, Mom and I were like “oh Dad would love this” so it was a little bit of a little dream come true to get him over to it) while Liz and I checked out an anniversary show at the Museo Jumex across the way. The show was curated by the head of the New Museum in New York (I used to live there) and it definitely had big New Museum vibes (I know from when I lived there).

Then we went over to the Soumaya and met up with Mom and wound up going to show her the giant grocery door across the street before coming back to find Dad.

Then. Oh boy. We got an Uber to take us from Polanco to the Centro to grab dinner and maybe dessert, too, before our Ballet Folklorico appointment BUT, WOW!, the traffic!! Easily an hour and a half in bumper to bumper rainy traffic all the way over. It was a trying experience. BUT it lead us to a McDonalds dinner in a shopping center. That’s pretty nice!

Rejuvenated by our meal, we went over to the Palacio de Bellas Artes for that evening’s performance of the famous Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. And guess what? It was thrillingly stupendous! You really owe it to yourself to see the BF in DF someday! I would go again at the drop of a hat dance.

From there? A much easier Uber ride home in the rain and right to bed with all of us, a nice big Thanksgiving day waiting for us in the morning.

Just one more Mexico City post after this, I promise!

Mexico 2023: a Monday Afternoon and all of a Tuesday in Mexico City

From a chapel to a chapel! The drive back to the city was not swift, we endured a real dog of a traffic jam that had us editing our plans BUT one thing we did not edit was a little visit to Tlalnepantla, the final area of my mission. Unlike San Juan del Río, I recognized a lot of Tlalnepantla and I did know how to get to my apartment. I almost didn’t need a map driving around there, except new overpasses had been built, so I actually needed a map very much. Anyway. First stop, our chapel. Isn’t it good looking? I did some good work in Tlalnepantla, finally kind of decent at my Spanish, finally kind of decent at being a missionary, had a lot of friends in the ward, worked with some great missionaries, met a lot of characters and good people. Hooray for Tlalnepantla!

And here’s where I lived back then. Or, actually, I didn’t live in one of these buildings. But I lived in a building exactly like them on the other side of those ones. I was a little turned around when I got to the old complex and was like “That’s definitely the building! No, wait, that one, that one’s definitely it!” (gets back into car) “Oh wait no actually it was that one!” If you’ve read the story of my speedy departure from Mexico, just imagine me being lowered down from the roof into one of those fourth floor windows. It was really something!

From there we drove to our Air BnB in Condesa and the intensity did not let up! Boy was I glad to pull into our building’s parking lot. And boy was I glad our building had a parking lot! Our Air BnB abounded in quirks but also was very comfortable and a nice size and perfect for our trip.

Ok, now. Time to get down to business! Walked through Condesa right on over to an Orinoco to share the magic with Mom and Dad. And, as always, Orinoco delivered (to our table [although it took a while]). Just when you think to yourself “maybe Orinoco isn’t so magical? maybe I’ve been remembering it too fondly?” BOY does it remind you that it is quite the place. What a start to the Mexico City eating!

After returning our rental, we made our way back to Condesa on foot with a few stops along the way. First up: Taqueria Gabriel, which I had stumbled across on Instagram. I ordered lightly, just two tacos: a tripas and a campechano. The tripas was excellent. The campechano nearly knocked me out of my seat. Best taco of the trip (in a trip packed full of great tacos). I look forward greatly to coming back to Taqueria Gabriel and going absolutely buck wild.

From there we walked down Reforma and towards Roma (passing a promising looking taqueria that Liz has since been doing some good internet research on) and getting one more dinner at Tortas al Fuego, which we had visited on our last trip, but back then I didn’t realize it was, what, three stories worth of good taco eating plus a bustling outside stand? When we got home I was awfully worn out but went up on our roof to have a little look at what I could see from there.

TUESDAY: Up and at ‘em! We had things to accomplish and we caught an uber downtown around 8 in the morning. First stop? Breakfast at El Cardenal which was absolutely killer. On our last visit we’d eaten there during the Sunday brunch crush, it’s less than ideal. But on a calm weekday morning? It’s the life! A nearly 4 star experience from service to food to beverages and back.

After breakfast, we enjoyed a bit of a Zocalo/Zocalo area walk around.

And then we took a guided tour of the National Palace and the Diego Rivera murals found therein. First we gathered in a building across from the palace. Then we went into the palace.

Then we made our way through downtown over to our two lunches, with stops at the National Cathedral, Pasteleria Ideal, Blue Tile House, the Postal Palace, and Fine Arts Palace (for buying tickets!) along the way.

Lunch #1: Cochinita Pibil panuchos (which are bean-filled, fried tortillas topped with meat [in this case, the cochinita pibil]) from Tacos de Oro! I’d been meaning to get over here for years and it was so nice to finally get there and find that it was very worth the wait … and from there we walked over to…

El Huequito! Where I consumed one of my favorite things of the trip: An Ice Cold Orange Crush, just when I needed the sugar and the cold the most! From there we went over to the Ciudadela market and, well, walking around downtown Mexico City is taxing. A lot fewer photos were taken. And from there we took a perhaps mildly ill-advised subway ride up to the Basilica of Guadalupe (or I should say up to the walk to the Basilica of Guadalupe) — It all seemed (to some of us) like a good idea at the time, we survived, that’s what matters the most a month later.

From the Basilica we went over to the Mexico City Temple, enjoyed a nice session, Christmas decorations, downtime at the visitors center AND a man asked us to watch his baby while he used the bathroom. Ha!

And for Tuesday night’s grand finale, we had dinner at al pastor wonderland El Vilsito, what a wonderful party that was! (And nearby Tacos Tony looked quite promising itself…next time, Tony!)

Mexico 2023: a Return to San Juan del Río

Early early on Liz asked “when can we go back to Mexico?” and I loved it. We got a Thanksgiving trip in our heads, and then got it into our heads to invite Mom and Dad with us. And guess what? It all worked out! We went to Mexico for Thanksgiving!

But first…Liz and I had to drive to Chicago! Along the way we stopped at the Lincoln Oasis rest stop.

And then we made our way up to Bob Chinn’s Crab House in Wheeling to meet up with Mom and Dad after their temple shift had ended. I hadn’t been to Bob Chinn’s in 25 years and it was a favorite of Liz’s family during their Illinois/Wisconsin days so it was awful good to kick off our trip with a nice meal there. AND to get some new souvenir cups!

Then the next morning we were up nice and early to catch our flight to Mexico!

Goodbye Chicago!

Hello Mexico!

From the airport we picked up our rental car and then hit the road because this Mexico City trip was different from all the others (so far) … this Mexico City trip was going to start with a trip to San Juan del Río, Querétaro, a “small” town that was my second area on my mission. I cannot say the drive up was very familiar.

For dinner we stopped at Los Cochinos right outside of San Juan (we had considered another place but the owner had recently been execution-style murdered and weren’t feeling so crazy about it because of that…plus they mainly served lamb) for a wonderful porky start to our Mexico eating. What a porcine wonderland it was!

Back on the road for a bit…

Mom had found us a little hotel right in the middle of downtown San Juan del Río and it was absolutely perfect. The most wonderful little place to call our home base. After settling in a bit we had a nice walk around the main plazas and streets of the city, places I was very familiar with from back in 1997.

Perhaps this would be a good place to insert a little color re: Brigham & San Juan del Río c. 1997? I received my transfer to San Juan on (I believe) December 30th, 1997, just as I was starting to get comfortable in my first area, El Molinito. Molinito was a WILD place to start a mission, the easygoingness and general safe feeling of San Juan a welcome change. And San Juan del Río is flat! Molinito was very hilly. I lived there in a house with 3 other missionaries and worked with 3 companions. It had its ups and downs, but on the whole, it is easy to remember San Juan as a peaceful and happy part of my mission. And, in 2023, San Juan del Río proved to be a peaceful happy place still.

The next morning I woke up a lil early (as I do) and walked around the plazas and Main Street and side streets down to the river and back, wondering if I’d maybe find the old church building, but I didn’t know where exactly it was so I did not find it. But I saw a lot of great stuff and really ate up the feeling of the town waking up, people heading off to work, buses starting out their routes, all that great stuff.

Then we all met up at the hotel’s little restaurant for a breakfast that just hit the spot so hard. Probably one of our absolute favorite meals.

And then we all took a nice long walk to the river and back, but with a different route than all the other walks.

And then, holy smokes - we ran right into a parade! Turns out it was Revolution Day! It was quite the parade, we only saw a little bit of it before continuing our walk but still saw a lot.

Something you need to know about downtown San Juan del Río is that the sidewalks are all paved (tiled?) with this tile.

We kept on heading down to the river, admiring the beauty of San Juan as we went. On the other side of the river we visited a cool cemetery, then headed back up to the hotel.

And then it was time to leave San Juan del Río! It was such a nice little trip, so good to be back. On the way out I drove kind of blindly through the city kind of trying to figure out where I used to live but just wasn’t recognize BUT we did pass by a new, big SUD church and it’s nice to see the San Juan del Río saints got themselves an upgrade from the house they met at during my SJdR days.