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!)