Mexico (and a bit of Florida)

Said goodbye to friends and take United flights to Oaxaca with a connection in Houston. Used points from the Chase United card sign up promo to pay for the 2 tickets, card also gave us free lounge access at IAH. This lounge (and the other two I have been to at IAH) not as good as the American lounge in Miami, no showers and limited food. Those are my only lounge experiences. The flight to Houston was my first non-Delta domestic US flight that had screens in coach. Recommend the film “Roofman” because it is the perfect film for the tiny screen and bad sound one finds on a plane. Good enough to pass the time but not so good you mind the poor presentation. Boarded a little RJ for the flight to Oaxaca, marveled at the touchless boarding United used, no need to show boarding pass or passport, just a facial recognition stop and then you board. Would have upgraded to exit row but it was $90 each, so sat cramped in a coach seat for 2-1/2 hours. Fortunately my seatmate was an artist from Cornwall going to a residency in pottery in the mountains above Oaxaca. We had an engaging and practically nonstop conversation. This included my first of many discussions about the events back home in Minneapolis. Frankly the city hasn’t had sustained global attention like this since “Purple Rain.” Everyone wanted to talk about it, Americans, Europeans, Mexicans, lots of sympathy and compliments for the Minneapolitans, I heard the expression “Freedom Fighters.” Incidentally, I never heard any support for the president’s actions concerning Mpls. Back to the artist from Cornwall, he was not a fan of the Royal Family and had never visited Windsor Castle, so couldn’t advise me much about my upcoming June trip, although we exchanged emails and he volunteered to help me plan a future Cornwall trip. On arrival I got a “Welcome to Mexico” text from Verizon saying calls and roaming in Mexico are free and included with our home plan, the Cornwall artist was jealous.

Arrived in Oaxaca just after dark, they have posted shuttle and taxi fees at the airport so we just charged it; no need for cash. Arrived at a nice small Mexican hotel on the NE side of the Centro with rooms around a courtyard, paid for room via Expedia since it was cheaper than booking direct, about $75/night including taxes. Room was nice and so was the hotel, Mexican guests mixed in with the foreigners which I prefer to tourists only. Had a good attached restaurant, overpriced but convenient. Oaxaca is known as a foodie destination and is the home of mole sauces, and we had many delicious meals. Nearly all the tourists in Oaxaca are over age 50 and American. The politeness of the locals to the tourists was unbelievable, always nice and always stopped their cars to let tourists cross the street, and stepped out of our way on the sidewalks. During the entire trip the wonderful friendliness of the Mexicans to us as tourists was overwhelming. Considering how some politicians and media in the US portray Mexicans, my experience couldn’t have been more opposite. I can’t remember ever feeling as safe and as welcome on an international trip as I did in these 2 Mexican cities.

First thing after breakfast was to get some cash, I am in the Capital One changeover from Mastercard to Discover, read the details here
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/capital-one-debit-card-9f9d9659-2a36-4b14-8a2c-7240334dd172
Because I knew that the card wouldn’t work in Mexico City I got 3000 pesos to cover both locations, but ultimately only needed about 1000 to cover cash only situations for the 2 weeks. Adding that in almost every case the credit card machines at restaurants offered dynamic currency conversion, and without fail the server would immediately reach over and press “Pay in Pesos” on my behalf, acting embarrassed that it was even being offered.

We started our introductory walk about town. It’s a fun town to walk around in, almost all 2 story buildings, nice scale, lots of shops and little cafes and bakeries. Went in the gorgeous Templo Santo Domingo (for some reason cathedrals in Oaxaca are called templos), walked down a pedestrianized street to the Zocalo, sat in the shade and admired the flowering trees and all the people. Discovered that iPhones had a species ID feature that automatically IDs the plant species from a flower and puts it in the metadata! I had no idea. I don’t have a special app, it just happened. Had a great meal that evening, and my first Tlayuda, this one thin and of blue corn and flopped over like an omelet and stuffed—wonderful! This was at Expendio Tradición, our favorite Oaxaca restaurant.

Oaxaca is full of small, free museums all over town, take your pick. Started with the Museo de Arte Prehispánico de México Rufino Tamayo which was great. I love those pre-Colombian sculptures, so evocative. Then walked north to an old colonial viaduct that had housing build into the arches beneath it. There are vibrantly colored murals and buildings everywhere and as the sun gets lower the colors really pop. Temperatures are consistently lows of 50 (10C) highs of 80 (27 C) and full sun. But it is winter to them and I always get a kick out of people wearing down jackets in sunny 50 degree weather, whether Southern California, Houston, or here in Mexico-- people, this is shirt sleeve weather! A note about what the local guys are wearing: shorts are not worn by men, and blue jeans (esp Levi’s) work fine everywhere as they do in the US (except for DC). Some tourist guys wear polyester travel slacks but the locals don’t wear them.

Next day we visited the main city historical museum which is attached to the Templo Santo Domingo. This and every other national museum or archaeological site we visited in Mexico had just had a price increase Jan 1, from 100 pesos to 210, so it’s about US $12 to visit each one. Locals still pay the 100 price. Since the tickets are usually purchased from a machine we saw other tourists purchasing the lower native price but we didn’t do that. There’s no annual pass to buy and defray costs as far as I know (In the end we paid US $120 for 5 admissions for two people). The museum was in the old monastery and quite large. This museum and pretty much every museum we encountered here and in Mexico City is Spanish Language only. My wife and others we encountered got an app that translates the text in photos taken with the phone, so lots of tourists were taking pictures of labels to get translations. The highlight of the museum is the artifacts from the ruin above the town. Especially good here was a jade encrusted human skull. Sussed out how to get shuttle tickets up to the ruin for the next day, rather difficult to find the vendor. Went that night to a Michelin runner up restaurant, 15 Letters. but it wasn’t that great, and over US $80 for 2 (with just 2 beers). As an aside, there are sit down restaurants in the mercados, these are a great value and we ate in one 3 times. The main mercado south of the Zocalo is busy and a little dirty, we went to the Mercado Merced on the east side, cleaner and quieter. Bring coins to tip the musicians.

The grand ruin above the city, Monte Alban, occupied the next day. I’ve seen lots of ruins in Mexico/Guatemala/Honduras so I have some credibility when I say this is a good one. It’s Zapotec, the other ones I have seen are all Mayan. This one has still climbable pyramids not closed to tourists, and a very grand plaza. Taking the earliest 8:30 shuttle we were in by 9 am and loved the nearly vacant ruins and cool of this time. Getting a taxi arriving for the 8:00 opening might be worth the splurge. Definitely try to get here early, it’s possible to drift away in quiet solitude then. When we left about 12:30 pm there were hordes of tour groups clogging up everything and the tour guides had an annoying habit of encouraging the demonstration of echoes between the buildings by getting their whole group to clap and whoop, imagine 15 groups doing this one after the other and what that does to the experience. Here and in Mex City the midday tropical sun is searingly hot even though the temperatures were moderate, so you don’t really want to be in a vast shadeless ruin at midday, and certainly never without a hat! Sharing our shuttle rides up and down was a retired gentleman from NYC now living in Tucson, giving us 30 minutes to have a chat. He volunteers with an artist to put up crosses at the desert locations around Tucson where migrants have died crossing the border. When he found out we were from Minneapolis he said, “Tucson is full of undocumented migrants, why are all those federal agents up in Minneapolis?”

Compressing the last 2 days in Oaxaca, we saw a couple additional small museums, women’s textiles and modern art, diverting enough and free. Absolutely marveled at a group of 3 about 90-year-old American women all with canes and walkers traveling independently! I watched them leaving the museum expecting a driver to be waiting for them, but no, they started working their way down the sidewalk, no guide no driver. And the locals are stepping in to help holding doors for them and offering an arm to negotiate a step. Put those women in Barcelona or Rome and they’d have their purses snatched in 2 minutes, but here the community steps up and lends a hand, amazing.

Spent US $50 for an hour personal presentation on chocolate production and hot cocoa (Chima Chocolate Experience), and several versions to sample of each, plain chocolate made from beans with different degrees of roasting or with added spices like cardamom or cinnamon. A splurge but memorable and learned a lot, items to take home were fairly priced. Did a wonderful walking tour of wall murals, I think it was in Rough Guide, but just going to the street Miguel Hidalgo to see the murals there is enough. We noticed the wider sidewalks here and that outside eating was possible, wished we had found this neighborhood sooner. A final visit was the botanical garden attached to the main Templo mentioned above. The visit was free but it was posted closed noon to 5 then tours 5-6. We got there at 4, tours were limited to 30 and a queue was forming so resigned to wait an hour in line. Inexplicably they started the tours at 4:15, no charge and in Spanish. We were escorted inside the gate and seated in folding chairs to wait for a guide, and a very tall and pleasant lady from South Carolina stopped by and tried to get the skinny on the system from me, why tours were starting early, and I smiled and said, “I don’t know why they are not following the posted rules, we will just have to go with it.” Later after we started wandering among the plants she discovered we were from Minneapolis. She began to reply then stopped, apparently tongue tied by those Southern manners where saying anything remotely impolite is bad form, then started again to talk, then stopped again, and then finally got out five words: “I don’t understand the cruelty.”

Waited out the afternoon in the Zocalo before leaving for our flight to Mexico City at 5:30 pm, AeroMexico, bought with Delta SkyMiles. Enjoying the shade and all the activity, we had sellers approach selling trinkets, but also these woven bracelets that had slogans in Spanish, and all began with “Trump.” We’d seen them before but this time my wife took a picture for the translations, we just had to satisfy our curiosity, and to say the least they were not so nice: moron, pedophile, and more with profanities. And here I was thinking the locals were so nice to us because they had no idea what the US president was saying about them. And here was proof that they knew, but they treated us like royalty anyway. Wow.

Arrived in the Big Taco, Mexico City, largest city in the western hemisphere, about 8 pm, ordered an Uber to get across town to our apartment in the Juarez neighborhood, near the intersections of Reforma and Insurgentes. By serendipity this was the place to be. Right in the middle of things but the apartment was graveyard quiet at night. Almost a Greenwich Village walking atmosphere to it, many cafes and restaurants. We were near the bus rapid transit line (Metrobus) #7 which goes down Reforma one direction to Chapultepec Park where many museums are, then going the other way to Alameda Park in Centro where the historical stuff is. The metro doesn’t work that well from here, but we did take it a couple times, a 12 minute walk. Cost is basically nothing, metro 29 cents, metrobus 34 cents. At no time did we feel the crush of people that is normal in say Tokyo or NYC, there was plenty of activity but not the crazy crowds and traffic of either of those other 2 mega cities. It had a feeling more like LA, but with less traffic. Did the supermarket run before they closed for milk and cereal and such. I love to visit supermarkets because there’s so much cultural discovery there. Kick myself for not trying the Oreo popcorn, the $7 price for a small bag held me back. Also peanuts are priced like caviar in Mexico, no idea why.

First day we did laundry, often this is a 4 hour production overseas due to slow washers and very slow dryers. Used the drying rack for half the load and it still took 2 hours to dry the rest. After lunch went to Chapultepec Park to see the Castillo which is now a history museum. Mexico has a complicated history, the Castillo was used as a residence for Spanish rulers, Mexican presidents, and also a Hapsburg ruler thrown in too. This was Saturday so a busy day. One of the highlights is the view over the city: down Reforma to the Angel of Independence statue and beyond, and across the plain to the far mountains. Both distant volcanoes were visible, one with snow on it. The historical rooms were interesting, this was an important building for the country’s history. At the base of the Castillo is an impressive monument to the 6 Boy Heroes, youths who died defending the castle from invading American forces in 1847 (“From the halls of Montezuma…”). We Ubered each way because we didn’t have the energy to figure out the buses right away, $4.

Next Day was Sunday and since all the public museums and archaeology sites are free this day for locals, we decided to visit the Frida Kahlo house to avoid those crowds. This is the difficult ticket to get, it sells out 2 weeks in advance, but I had reserved tickets. Ubered again because the metro doesn’t really service here, about $9. I liked the museum, but it was busy and although her art is fascinating, it’s not always pretty. For some reason she painted herself to be much less attractive than she was. My 2 complaints about Mexico are the teensy paper napkins used everywhere (honestly bring your own) and that people stand right in front of exhibit cases so no one else can see. The international agreement to form an arc of 3-5 people in front of exhibits so many people can see at the same time doesn’t happen here. If you go don’t miss the video running on a patio outside, it’s on its own level so look for stairs. We then went to the Leon Trotsky house only 2-3 blocks away. You get a lot of info about Trotsky and the Russian Revolution, and you get to see the room where assassins axed him to death with a blow to the head. His grave is there also. It’s one of those completely unexpected things to find in Mexico but worth doing. Had dinner on the sidewalk at a seafood taco place that we loved, El Turuleto Tacos Del Mar, had great guacamole with raw tuna and shrimp burritos with galan sauce, wonderful and inexpensive.

Next day we went to the first feature attraction of the city, the pyramid complex at Teotihuacan. I’d printed out directions from a blog which detailed all the steps to get there, including pictures of the express bus that goes there and the window that sells tickets, but my wife said no and booked a tour. A bit of a contentious decision, but a battle not worth fighting. So we walked 10 minutes to a Starbucks and waited about 20 minutes for a tour bus. Tours have pluses and minuses. You get a guide and transportation, but is it really worth 4 times the cost of going on your own? Anyway, this was a good ruin, the 2 pyramids are huge and one can still be climbed (halfway). With a guide you see all the highlights but it is hard to pay attention to so much talking (4 hours straight) and not zone out. Guessing 90% of the visitors here are with a tour. Just a warning this is a HOT site, so carry water and a hat. If you go on your own be sure to see the murals near door 3 and then the feathered serpent pyramid near door 1. The climbable pyramid, the Pyramid of the Moon, has all the vendors and one of the things they sell are noisemakers that make jaguar calls, or dog barks, or just whistle. The first time several whistle sellers started whistling together, I got caught off-guard and immediately was transported home and got a pit in my stomach because whistling in Minneapolis often means a child is about to lose a parent, or someone is about to be shot. But after a couple seconds of worry I realized that no, I am in Mexico, and everyone is safe here.

Next day we went to the second feature attraction of the city, the Anthropology Museum, in Chapultepec Park. I’d always figured it was the Archaeology Museum because it has so many ancient treasures, but they have 2 floors, and upper level of anthropology stuff, then the archaeology stuff (why the museum is famous) on the ground level. Since it’s huge we just stuck to the bottom level and that was a full 4-5 hours including a lunch break, and seeing things like how people grind corn (anthropology) is not so interesting to me. Many good rooms: Mayan, Toltec, Zapotec, Olmec, Mixtec (Aztec). Can see 2 huge Olmec heads, reconstructed ruins, the famous calendar stone (which isn’t a calendar), Tula column sculptures, and many of the great treasures of the country. A quibble is that it is not always easy to know what is real and what is a reproduction, certainly the Bonampak murals must be a reproduction, but I can’t say for sure. Also one of the large 2-room sized ruin reproductions isn’t labeled, but it looked familiar so I googled “Sayil” which I have visited in the Yucatan and bingo, that was it. It helped me to have seen so many ruins in person, esp Mayan but also Monte Alban and Teotihuacan on this trip, that I could place and absorb a lot of the info. With no prior knowledge of the locations and names of the various pre-Colombian civilizations it would be tough to not be overwhelmed. We took the metrobus to get here and assumed it would be easy to pay since they have fare readers that accept apple pay and contactless credit cards—but no, both my wife and I using pay readers on either side of the bus entry got the red X for both apple pay and our contactless cards. And it is not possible to pay with cash. So the drivers let us ride free both directions. On arrival at the stop home we tried to buy a transit card for future use, but the machines didn’t sell them, only allowed adding funds to cards. A young lady stepped up to help us, figured out we needed a transit card and that that machine didn’t sell them, so opened her purse and gave us one of hers, saying, “A gift to you from Mexico.”

The last 2 days we went the other direction, east to the old center of the city. Took the metro, easy, no safety issues or uncomfortable issues. We walked into the cathedral, and around the zocalo. We got the skinny on tickets for the National Palace to see the Diego Rivera murals, “Be in line by 9:30, tickets are free and all gone by 10:15.” All the buildings in the center are tipping off plumb due to settlement, it makes for some remarkable blocks with buildings tipping this way and that. We decided to tour the old main Mixtec temple, adjacent to the cathedral, despite not much left it was still very interesting. Warning this is another site to maybe not see midday due to the intense sun. If you do get there midday, walk through the site to the museum at the end, see the indoor museum, and then walk the site again to see the outdoor stuff later after 2 pm. The next day we repeated the metro rides then got our National Palace tickets, but had a couple of hours till the tour so walked down a pedestrian street to the big park, Alameda, then through the park to see a Diego Rivera mural museum, which has one mural saved from a hotel destroyed by the 1985 earthquake. This was a good preview of the murals later, and we are allowed to go up to the murals here. Stopped for lunch at a famous local family restaurant chain, Bisquets Obregón, good to eat with only locals, ordered a Pepsi ice cream float. The one hour tour was mostly of the murals, there are many and they are quite good. Guide spoke English and wasn’t repeating memorized text.

Last day, 2:30 nonstop flight home, Delta, paid for with Chase points transferred to Virgin Atlantic who issued the ticket. Had to be out of the apartment at 11 so just went right to the airport, Uber, all predictable including the crappy overpriced lunch at the airport restaurant. Saw for the third time a young couple from Washington State we met on the pyramid tour, the guy confessed they were there for IVF since they couldn’t afford it at home, wished them well on that journey. For the flight home Delta offered exit rows at $15 each, grabbed that deal, the middle seat stayed empty so a gloriously comfortable 4 hour flight home. For movies watched the final Downton Abbey movie, another perfect plane movie, just diverting enough but not that great so you don’t mind missing some of the dialogue.

Final thoughts. I’ve encountered 3 what I call “Perfect” countries for travel. Japan, Peru, and Mexico. These are 3 countries where it all comes together with great food, history, art, architecture, culture, music, scenery, native costumes, and complete safety in tourist areas.

AND PLEASE: I haven’t provided any political commentary, so please don’t put any in your responses.

Final thoughts. I’ve encountered 3 what I call “Perfect” countries for travel. Japan, Peru, and Mexico.

I've never felt so welcome as in Oaxaca. The Oaxacans are so wonderful. I hope they can hold on while the world is changing around them.

-- Mike Beebe

“AND PLEASE: no political commentary in your responses.”

Only you get to do that.

What a great trip report Toby! Oaxaca is one of my favorite cities in the world, and you have definitely illustrated why.

Mexican guests mixed in with the foreigners which I prefer to tourists only

I can assure you, the Mexican guests were tourists too! When I visited Oaxaca two years ago I met many tourists from all over Mexico. They love Oaxaca as much as foreign visitors do.

the gorgeous Templo Santo Domingo (for some reason cathedrals in Oaxaca are called templos)

I think this is one of the most beautiful churches I've seen anywhere. But it is not a cathedral. Templo refers to any sacred space. Typically in Mexico it is used for historical temples run by religious orders, differentiated from parroquía, which is often used for the main church of a local diocese. In Oaxaca, the cathedral faces the zócalo.

Museo de Arte Prehispánico de México Rufino Tamayo which was great

I loved this museum! I don't generally go for museums filled with ancient artifacts, but here the artifacts are presented as works of art, and they are fascinating, gorgeous, and deeply evocative.

The main mercado south of the Zocalo is busy and a little dirty, we went to the Mercado Merced on the east side, cleaner and quieter.

I have to disagree with you about the "main mercado" (Mercado Benito Juárez), which I loved wandering through. But it sounds like you missed Mercado Central de Abastos, which is the largest, most chaotic market in the city. Here's where you could really mix with locals, who come here to buy all there daily necessities.

Thanks again, Toby, for a great trip report!

Wow, great report, thank you. We leave for Mexico City in 11 days and you included some handy tidbits. I'm going to reread this a couple of times before we leave and make some notes and possibly get back to you with some questions.

but my wife said no and booked a tour. A bit of a contentious
decision, but a battle not worth fighting.

I lost this battle as well and we've booked a tour. I've been wanting to go to Teotihuacan for a long, long time and I hope a few hours will be enough-I think the tour info says we'll spend 3 hours on site. As a comparison we spent about 11 hours over 2 days at Pompeii.

Allan, hope this report helps you. I'd sent you the NY Times article about the forlorn grave of conquistador Hernan Cortes located just 3 blocks south of the zocalo. This area is interesting because it is the workaday downtown of the city, whereas the pedestrian mall west to Alameda Park is the posh downtown. Note that Google is wrong on the opening hours of the church. For the afternoon anyway it opens at 2:30.

I really enjoyed your trip report! My only trip to Mexico City was in 1966 with my Girl Scout troop. We visited a few of the same sites, and reading your words brought back some happy, if distant, memories.