taco's & toucan's travels ~ 2019

aussiefitzy.com

DAY 17

Week 3

MEXICO CITY (Ciudad de México, MEX)

Sunday March 31^st, 2019

TODAYS MILEAGE – 8 miles / 13 kilometres

TRIP MILEAGE – 14,006 miles / 22,540 kilometres

Couldn't help myself, I availed myself of the $8 AUD Huevos Rancheros breakfast deal, that I happened upon yesterday at the café located next to the hotel. While knocking down the eggs on tortillas and good black coffee, I surfed the Internet for things to do today as I really had no set plans for the day.

I decided to head over to the Mirador Torre Latino (Latin-American Tower) to try and get some shots of the city from the 44^th floor open viewing platform and then make the rest of the day up as I went along.

As the 182 metre (597 foot) tall 45 floor tower is a good ½ hour walk from my hotel, so I decided head down there early to try and avoid any potential long queues and overcrowding. Imagine my disappointment upon arrival that they would not allow me to take my camera rig and was told that I “had to enter a commercial engagement with the building owner and that could take a couple of weeks and I could only occur on a day of the owners choosing”.

I advised the team member that I saw no camera/photography exceptions or restrictions either on their website or upon arrival and that I was leaving in the morning – didn't make a difference. I’m like OK and start heading out the door, at which time they said I could use a mobile phone if I wanted to. I simply kept walking as it wasn't like there was a shortage of interesting subject matter in the general vicinity.

As I stepped to the street I had a decision to make: head left to wander around the Zócalo again or turn left to explore Parque Alameda Central and the historic buildings fronting onto the landmark green-space that was created in 1592. I was able to take in Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts), Parroquia de San Juan de Dios (Church of San Juan de Dios) and the Iglesia de San Hipólito y San Casiano (Church of San Hipolito) that was constructed in 1521.

I kept meandering towards the southern side of town and ended up in the so-called Bohemian art/café/hipster and tree lined suburb of La Condessa. As you can imagine, coffee shops, cafés, eateries and galleries abound, but one of the major attractions is the so called “Lungs of Mexico City” – Parque Espana.

Speaking of the citys' organs ..... every Sunday, Mexico City closes a fair amount of the major thoroughfares, to all vehicular traffic, for most of the day, which allows all the 'lycra lunatics' their time in the sun. A great initiative I reckon - closing the roads that is, as lycra is not for everybody nor every body.

Feeling a bit peckish by now, I happened upon the Taqueria El Pescadito tucked away in a back street that was jam packed with locals. I decided to park up with ice cold Victoria cerveza and tried their Taco de Camarón and Taco de Chile Relleno de Marlin, which were awesome. Didn't care much for the Quesadillas Marlin as the filling was like a really dry tuna. Finding local places like this, that turn out to be a brilliant experience, is one of the best parts of travel .... IMHO.

It seems that after all this walking, my feet have embraced the local culture by advising me in no uncertain terms that a siesta was in my best interests, I walked the ½ hour back to hotel and whiled away the afternoon with a good book.

A couple I’d met at the hotel and I decided to dine together the Argentinian restaurant next door. We figured to meet at 8PM as the place closes at 10PM. We lob up at 7:45 only to be told that the kitchen has closed. All righty then. We ended up a few blocks away at the Comedor Lucerna, which was simply jumping.

As eating establishments go, it’s a great concept. It’s basically a warehouse space, filled with large 12-seater picnic table/bench furniture and surrounded by 6 different food outlets and a bar. The premise is you are seated and receive menus from each outlet, order what you so desire and then have it delivered to your table for consumption. The meals we had were great and you couldn't complain about the service - there was none!

It seemed that no one wanted to help the Gringo’s for whatever reason. It even became Fawlty Towers like when we asked to pay and leave. We received 5 different tickets, from 3 different wait staff performing perfectly choreographed 'drop & dash' manoeuvres that facilitated us spending 20+ minutes trying to settle the bill(s).

Couldn't help but laugh at another moment that I’m labelling “TIM” – This Is Mexico.