Gellin' in Mexico City

I left today for some work in Mexico City. I decided to go a couple of days early so that I could see the sights a little and settle in before I had to go to work. After all the hype about how Mexico can ravish your innards, I also thought I'd give myself some time to get over that.

My flight left Ottawa at 6:00am, so I had to get up at about 3:30. I hate that. When I have to get up that early, it's like I don't sleep at all. I keep waking up because I'm worried that I'm going to miss the alarm. Sucks.

The flights were pretty uneventful. Both were on time and the leg from Toronto to Mexico City was surprisingly short (only about five hours). Going through customs was also pretty uneventful as I had visited the Mexican embassy the day before to pick up a business card to work here for the week.

I took a cab to the hotel and after a couple hours of rest, decided I'd hit the street. I walked south of my hotel for a few kilometres until I got Coyoacan. Incidentally, this area of Mexico City was rated in the top five livable neighbourhoods in North America. There's a large park in the west end of Coyoacan called the Vivero. I walked along the edge of it and took a break in Plaza Santa Catalina. From there I walked down a fairly quiet, cobbled little street (Francisco Sosa) until I reached one Jardin Hidalgo. There are a couple of large plazas in Coyoacan that turn into markets on the weekend. I strolled around a bit and headed to Cantina de la Guadalupana for a bit of refreshment.

I'd heard that Chilangos (people from Mexico City) don't really eat until about 8:00pm, so I had a few beers to wait it out. By the time I thought it was acceptable to eat and asked for a menu, they told me they didn't have food at the time. I was getting pretty hungry since I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so I pounded back my beer and went out looking for other options. I had walked past a little place on Francisco Sosa called Cafeteria Moheli and decided to have some dinner there. Once I found it again, I settled in for my first Mexican meal - enchiladas con pollo con salsa verde. One of my favourites and it didn't disappoint.

After dinner, I went back to Jardin Hidalgo. There was a Mexican Beatles cover band playing. They were the most spot-on cover band I have ever seen. In fact, when I first heard the music (She Loves You), I thought it was a recording. It was about three songs before I realized there was a band playing. They had the accents, the hairdos, and the clothes. If the Beatles were Mexican, this is what they would have looked like. I hung around a bit, grabbed a churro from a street vender and headed back to the hotel in a cab.

Tons of walking, and my feet didn't hurt. Thanks, Dr. Scholls!