Mexican Travel Blog, Part 1
Mexico City, April 2-5, 2024
My trip to Mexico started off well enough. After an uneventful flight I arrived in Mexico City and took a taxi to the apartment I hired at Sinaloa 43, checked in and had some dinner, then went to bed to fight my jet lag.
As such, this first Travel Blog about Mexico will be mostly about food. Make no mistake, I like Mexican food. Or at least what I think is Mexican food. So let’s see.
Mexico City is huge, one of the most populous urban areas in the world. So I was never going to see all—or even much—of it. By necessity I limited myself to Roma Norte, the quarter I stayed in. This is supposedly a rather gentrified district, although in my experience that gentrification hasn’t quite completed yet (if it ever will). High-rise buildings interspersed with dilapidated houses, art nouveau residences close to upscale restaurants and coffeeshops, walls full of gig posters and graffiti, but also poorly maintained housings and street food stalls—in particular the ubiquitous taco stands—with a relative surplus of Italian restaurants1. Also, quite a lot of trees and greenery that provided well-needed shade and colour.
I love Mexican food—that is, what I’m supposed to believe is Mexican food in my necks of the woods—but found that the real thing2 was somewhat different than what I was used to. For example, when the evening receptionist of the apartment complex where I stayed advised me to try Casa de Toño—which he called ‘real Mexican food’—I found that you could order your taco/burrito/enchilada/tamale with all types of fillings (mostly meat) while you received (and could order extra) supplements like guacemole, red sauce, green sauce, chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, limes to add to your order.
This in contrast to the Mexican food I’m mostly used to which is probably Tex-Mex; that is, tacos/burritos/enchiladas/tamales filled or complemented with iceberg lettuce, chopped onoins and tomatoes, guacamole, shredded cheese and beans (meaning these are already included in the meal; that is, you can’t add them to your liking).
Another thing I found both in Mexico City and Mazatlan is that the restaurants I visited had trouble—or were completely unaware—of the concept of beginning with a starter before the main course. In most cases, I got both the starter and the main course at the same time, or I received the main course while I hadn’t quite finished the starter3. And an upscale restaurant in Mazatlan even forgot to serve me the starter I had ordered.
Hence my advice: if you wish to eat a starter before your main course, then only order the starter, finish it and order your main course after it4. Fill up the waiting time with extra beer of wine. Dessert works because I usually order that after the main course.
Things are different, of course, at the taco street food stalls, where you order a few tacos (or other wraps like burritos, quesadillas, etcetera), eat them and order more as needed. Those taco stalls are a lot cheaper than the restaurants, even though I’m not sure if these contributed to the mild food poisoning I experienced throughout my stay in Mexico.
It wasn’t bad, but rather a minor yet persistent upset stomach meaning I had a light diarrhea throughout my stay. Another thing that might have contributed was the junk food from the Oxxo’s. Because I stayed in apartments, my habit is to buy food in a local supermarket for brunch, which in my case is mostly sandwiches and yoghurt.
Thing is the most common local convenience stores in Mexico are a chain called Oxxo, which are stocked with about—and I mean this—about 95 to 100% junk food. It was only later that I found a few bakeries with decent bread and a few Yopla yoghurts that were reasonably edible. Otherwise both the food and the choice in those Oxxo’s was poor, while it wasn’t much different in the few 7-11’s and other convenience stores I checked.
Typically, I chanced upon a few rare nice food shops on my last days in Mazatlan (April 10) or Mexico City (April 13). Nice, but too late. They’re there, but not easy to find.
Another thing I always check out in cities are parks. I love to go to a park, find a seat in the shade, and then do some writing. There are plenty of parks in Roma Norte, all fine while I especially enjoyed Parque México, which had two brewpubs—DrunkenDog and Trappist—nearby and Plaza Rio de Janeiro, which had plenty of coffee shops and restaurants nearby.
Nevertheless, I didn’t have time to check out much more, as deep stress began to hit me on the day before I was flying to Mazatlan. I sent a message to the apartment that I had booked over there (via booking.com ), only to be told that the apartment was no longer available for rent. It would have been nice if they had told me that somewhat earlier in advance, but—as I was about to find out—the communication and co-operation between local Mexican accomodation suppliers and websites like hotels.com (basically Expedia in the USA) and booking.com was minimal to non-existent.
Let’s begin with the apartment complex where I rented an apartment in Mexico City on Calle de Sinalao 43. Originally I had booked a different apartment (via an accomodation supplier called Sonder), but was alerted that this was no longer available. So I rented this one, which was run by a company called ULIV. This actually worked well.
Problem came when I returned to Mexico City, at exactly the same apartment, but booked via Sonder. Naïvely, I thought two companies might be using the same apartment complex, but that was not so. My Sonder booking was invalid and I had to get an apartment directly at ULIV, which did work out, but was some 50 euros per night more expensive (it was late at night and I didn’t want to go searching for an alternative).
The apartment in Mazatlan I booked via hotels.com proved invalid. So the day before I took my domestic flight to Mazatlan, I spent a lot of time looking for accommodation in Mazatlan. There were still a few available, but they were expensive (that’s what an eclipse does: Mazatlan was almost fully booked). I found an apartment for $200/night (decided to not book another one right in the city centre that not only charged $400/night, but also had several recent reports of cockroach infestations. No thanks), and booked it. That went through and it looked alright.
So I went to Trappist to have a few beers. However, during my first beer, the accommodation renter in Mazatlan texted me to say that the apartment I booked was not available anymore (he claimed that he had ‘trouble with the hotels system’), but that he had a similar apartment available for the same price. Since I didn’t have much choice I took it.
But then came the next problem: they didn’t accept credit cards. Which was very strange to me since I could pay literally everywhere in Mexico City with my Visa card. Oxxo supermarkets, coffeeshops, restaurants, shops, everywhere. But not this business. So they wanted me to do a one day prepayment into their bank account via an Oxxo. So I finished my beer, went to the nearest Banco Santander to get the necessary cash, and then went to a nearby Oxxo to put that money into the account number they gave me.
Miraculously, despite my poor Spanish, this worked out. So I had accomodation in Mazatlan, again. But this was not the end of my troubles, as the next travel blog will explain. In any case, I slept a bit better, checked out at April 5, took a taxi to the airport (300 pesos, cheaper than when you take a taxi at the airport), and took a flight with Volaris to Mazatlan. Of which more in the next part of this Mexico travel blog.
Author’s note: Part 1 of the Mexico Travel blog, which means I must post the other 4 parts (there are 5 in total) in relative quick succession. . .
In other words, posting resumes at a higher pace. Welcome to another new subscriber, and many thanks for reading!
I suspect Roma Norte will have its fair share of Italian immigrants;
Or at least the local version in this particular district in Mexico City;
Admittedly, I’m a slow eater. On purpose, because I want to enjoy my food when I go dining out;
I’ve had the same thing happen to me in several restaurants in Sydney, Nova Scotia (Canada) and even in Cartagena, Spain (where I am now). Does the shortage of workers mean that there are now waiters everywhere who do not know that a main course should be served after the starter has been finished? Or am I now officially out of [something]? Sic transit gloria mundi…