Thursday, July 29, 2010

Mexico City - Part 2

After our overnight bus trip and a fabulous meal and some visiting with Cinthia's family, we started our first day with some sight-seeing in Coyoacan.

Coyoacán was home to Dolores del Río, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera (famous artists), and also to Leon Trotsky, and the houses they lived in are now both museums. It is a trendy and tranquil residential area in the southwest part of the city, with parks, squares, and cobblestone streets, and is now a favourite spot for university students, tourists and artsy visitors.

We went to Coyoacan on a Sunday, and the streets were bustling with locals walking their dogs (their pets all decked out in fancy sweaters and doggie clothes), artsy types, along with some tourists.



There is so much to see and do in this area so we decided to spend our first day walking around, eating all the lovely food, and going to the local artisan markets. We decided to save the museums and the home of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo for another day.

Cinthia's childhood friend Berenice,her boyfriend Jesus (Chucho) and Cinthia. We stopped to have some drinks at this outdoor cafe and watch the world go by!



Coyoacan is well known for it's coffee and there is a famous coffee shop called "Cafe El Jarocho" that was recommended to me by many of my friends in MZO from Mexico City. This place is definitely somewhat of an "institution" which was evidenced by the lineup all the way down the block. The coffee was absolutely delicious and we paired it with a "churro" from next door which was a match made in heaven! Churros are a fried pastry that is then sprinkled with sugar. You can then have it topped with melted chocolate, strawberry, etc.



Our eating frenzy had only just begun. I had told Cinthia that I wanted to try as many as the local foods as I could. Our next stop was to try "Elote". Elote is the spanish word for corn and is a very popular street food in Mexico. It is basically corn on the cob, Mexican style. They take regular corn on the cob and then lather it in mayonnaise,grated cheese and of course, sprinkle it with CHILE. It is definitely an interesting flavour combination and I was a little skeptical at first but was pleasantly surprised. Definitely a flavorful snack!

One thing that surprised me about Mexico City was the sheer number of beautiful parks and green spaces.



For those of you who may visit Coyoacan, definitely plan for at least 2 days MINIMUM. There is so much to see and do. After a lovely day eating and wandering around, we decided to go back later in the week and tackle the museums.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i just read your story about the adoption of the adorable puppy.
we just adopted a litle dog from san carlos, mexico (also heard about her through a blog).
we had to wait a little while because of heat restrictions. she was taken to tucson and flown unaccompanied to boston., massachusetts.
i do not know if canada has different rules. but double check.
and little fe is living a life of happiness with us.

tineke

New Beginnings said...

Tineke - that is wonderful! I will definitely look into that. Thanks for sharing your story. I am so happy to hear that your adopted puppy is doing well in her new home.

Anonymous said...

did things work out for the pup to go to calgary? i sure hope so.

just thought i'd let you know that cynthia and mike came for lunch yesterday and did a little post on their visit. since i don't have my own blog but comment on a lot, i thought i'd let those blogers know about the post in case they'd like to put a face to this commenter. just google cynthia and mike and look for the august 15post.

have a great week!

teresa in lake stevens

New Beginnings said...

Hi Teresa. No, unfortunately, things did not work out for the pup to go to Calgary :((( But, today, I have a friend that is meeting the puppy that is interested in adopting so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Thanks for the info Teresa!