Day 11 : Mexico City – Chapultepec & Coyoacan

1st day in Mexico City.  Officially it isn’t my 1st time in Mexico, as was in Tijuana at the beginning of this year, when I joined Francis and his friends on a day trip from Los Angeles.  But at that time, we didn’t get our passports stamped as we were asked by one of the security guards at the immigration to just by past the lines, so we were illegally in Mexico!

My flight got into Mexico at 4am in the morning and only had a couple hours sleep on the plane, so it had been a very long day for me.  Stayed at the airport for a couple hours, as I was to be hosted by Juan from Couchsurfing, and didn’t want to be arriving at someone’s home at an awkward hour. 

And here’s my couch for the next 3 days!

It’s a Sunday and Juan was kind enough to spend the day with me and showed me around his city.  He calls this his standard walking tour for all Couchsurfers, including breakfast at Chapultepec. 

Experienced Mexico way of life by taking the metro.  It reminds me of the trains and stations in NYC.  Non-air-conditioned with no frills of any kind, the trains were constantly crowded.  It was good to know that there was also a section of carriages specifically for females and kids – reminds me of Japan. 

It was also fun to see vendors getting in and out of train carriages at each station, while they attempt to sell their wares in the train.  On occasion, there were also performers, hoping to get some loose change from the passengers.

I didn’t feel unsafe, but I did feel the need to be watching out for my belongings, and constantly checking that nothing goes missing, especially when it was very crowded.

Monumento a los Niños Heroes (Boy Heroes Monument)

1st stop, Chapultepec. 

We walked towards Monumento a los Niños Heroes, commemorating 6 Mexican teenage military cadets who died defending Mexico at the Chapultepec Castle from US forces in the 13 September 1847 Battle of Chapultepec during the Mexican-American War. 

According to legend, in an act of bravery, Juan Escutia wrapped the Mexican national flag around his body and jumped from the top of the castle in order to keep it from falling into the enemy's hands. The Niños Héroes are commemorated by a national holiday on September 13.

We were starving and headed over to a café near the Museums district for breakfast.  This was my 1st meal in Mexico city – Breakfast tacos!

Castillo de Chapultepec

The literal translation of Chapultepec is “Grasshopper”, and Castillo de Chapultepec is a palace located on the top of Chapultepec Hill.  The palace had since been converted to the National Museum of History, with part of the building still retaining the rooms and decor of the old palace.  It was previously also a Military Academy, Imperial Residence, Presidential Home and Observatory.

In Mexico city, all Museums are free on Sundays, and there was a super long queue just waiting to get into the Museum, many of which are locals.  Contrast to the museums we find in Singapore, even though admission for the museums are free for citizens and PRs, I don’t recall seeing as many locals visiting our Museums! 

Then again, Singapore is just a country of about 6 million people, and Mexico city alone has 9 million, excluding outer Mexico city.  Probably accounts for reason why my 1st impression of Mexico city is “a lot of people”!

I had visited a number of palaces over the last 1 week, and I least expected to find a palace here in Mexico too.  Compared to those in Germany that I had seen, this was a lot smaller and less grand.  However it was still interesting, as there were a good amount of art pieces within the History Museum. 

It was a pity that my Spanish isn’t up to par, as all the write up in the Museum was in Spanish and would had loved to be able to read and understand some of the history better.

Because of the location of the palace (located on top of the hill), there was a good view of the city skyline.

 

Angel de la Independencia (El Ángel)

Next stop… we took a long walk along Paseo de la Reforma, a major road in Mexico City, where many key office buildings are located. 

El Ángel, officially known as Monumento a la Independencia ("Monument to Independence"), is a victory column.  It was built in 1910 to commemorate the centennial of the beginning of Mexico's War of Independence. In later years it was made into a mausoleum for the most important heroes of that war.

Our next stop was Downtown Mexico, to see the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Catedral Metropolitana and Palacio Nacional, however most of the roads and buildings were blocked off, so we had to cut short the “tour”.

Coyoacan

Trip to Coyoacan was something additional and unplanned for from the standard Juan’s couchsurfing route, partially due to the fact that we ended our tour earlier, and we were going to meet up with his friend (Maurizio) also a host on Couchsurfing, along with the person he was hosting. 

Turns out that Maurizio had a special guest as a surfer – a dog!  Maurizio’s surfer is a Spanish lady, who had decided to travel with her dog for the last 1 year in Mexico and Guatemala.  Certainly not easy, as she shared some of her stories.

While waiting for Maurizio, we took a walk around Coyoacan.  Coyoacan was never designed to be part of Mexico city, but a small town governed on its own, with cobbled stone streets and plazas (public squares with gardens). 

However, the influx and growth of Mexico city, led to farms, former lakes and forests converted into developed areas, and it’s a good thing that it is still able to maintain it’s old town charm, which is the key draw why this is a popular place to visit on weekends.  It was extremely bustling when I was there, with numerous shops lining different corners of the area. 

Also ate a few local street food along the way – Churros and Elote. 

Elote is corn on the cob, barbecued over a grill.  Lime is then squeezed, and subsequently covered with a layer of mayonnaise, cheese and chilli powder. 

Sinful!

 

At Coyoacan, there was a nice section of restaurants with terraces and outdoor seating that made it felt like one was in Europe.  We chose one of the restaurants on this street for dinner, where I had Taco Arrachera (beef). 

It’s been a super long day and with all the walking, my feet is sore – would love a foot reflex now!

Had also struggled to keep my eyes open during dinner and will now need my well deserved sleep! Good night!