Our Family Trip to Mexico City

Mexico is such a fascinating country with a long history and rich culture. We were so thrilled with our recent 8-day vacation in and around Mexico City that I wrote a 3-part account of our trip there. This is the introduction, and it is followed by 2 different experiences in detail - the Monarch butterflies and the Mexican culture.

Getting to Mexico City

I know of Americans who drive from Texas to Mexico City. However, as the journey would take a long time, and we had 2 young boys, a 2 year old and a 5 year old, we decided to fly from Salt Lake City to Mexico City. We had a direct flight that lasted about 3.5 hours.

The international airport at Mexico City is spanking clean, with spotless toilets and directions/ instructions in many languages on large LCD screens. We saw Korean, Japanese, Chinese (simplified and traditional), English, French, Spanish, German and Italian languages, in the short time we were moving from the plane to the customs.

The staff at the airport were extremely helpful as well. We were at the end of a really long, snaking queue at the customs area when this official came up to us, removed the barriers and directed us to the side. Initially I thought they were subjecting us to additional security checks (like we were told by the Salt Lake City airport that we were "selected for security checks"), but was pleasantly surprised to find ourselves at the front of the queue now, at the customs officer's desk. He allowed us to skip the whole queue, possibly due to the 2 kids we had in tow. We didn't even have the chance to thank him, because he was off to help an elderly couple already.

Where did we stay?

The Holiday Inn Zocalo is right in the central historic district. Although some other travel reviewers said the noise from the streets was disturbing, we did not find it too bothersome and were able to sleep through the night very well. Traffic can be very heavy during peak hours, and we could hear them from the room. We were not irritated by that though. It was a very comfortable stay.

In fact, we enjoyed our room's location, which faced the street. We could hear the bells tolling every hour and the Aztec drummers as well. We liked being able to see the Medicine Men, and various other buskers from the comfort of our room. The kids were very entertained by the bustle on the streets and stood at the glass windows to watch performers for a long time.

Service was pleasant, rooms were very clean and spacious, and the staff were efficient and friendly. They will go out of their way to help us. Room service was prompt and we enjoyed the food. We spoke very little Spanish, but were able to get whatever we needed. Staff at the front desk and the concierge all spoke fluent English.

A little Mexican history

I read a step reader with my elder son recently, about how, when Christopher Columbus set sail to find Asia, he reached the New World instead. No one knew about the continent of America then. Yet the natives Mr Columbus met had already been inhabiting the land for a long time and he had thought they were Indians of Asia.

Similarly, the natives of Mexico have been here eons ago, and we also learnt a little about Mexican history during our trip.

There were the Toltecs but I did not find out too much about them. Then the Olmecs (1200 - 500 BC) were in the region along the Gulf of Mexico, where modern Veracruz is. After that, the impressive city of Teotihuacan was built and population flourished there. At 500 AD was its peak, when there were supposedly 200000 inhabitants. Teotihuacan was named by the Aztecs, and it means 'The Place where Gods are made'. The Aztecs arrived to see it in 1300 AD and it was already in ruins.

There were the Mayan people too, but we shall focus on Mexico City. Maya World is the region where Yucatan and Cancun are.

In 1345 AD, the Priest-King Tenoch had a vision and started building the temple of the God of War and also the grand city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City).

The great Aztec empire fell to the Spaniards in 1521. The Spanish had landed at the Yucatan Peninsula in 1517. By 1519, they had occupied the Veracruz region. When the Emperor Moctezuma II who was reigning in Tenochtitlan at that time, heard of the Spainiards, he mistook the leader for a god in a Mexican legend, and showered them with rich gifts and treasures.

When the Spaniards arrived at Tenochtitlan, they were amazed to find "a city grander than any in Spain". They saw the Templo Mayor (the great temple), the pyramids and the plaza, which the leader, Cortes, wrote about and sent descriptive notes to the King of Spain. They also brought the disease smallpox to Mexico, unfortunately, and it was small pox that killed the next ruler after Moctezuma II, Cuitlahuac. After Cuitlahuac's short 80-day reign, Cuauhtemoc was the next king. He fought valiantly against the Spanish intruders but was captured in August 1521. Cuauhtemoc is the most revered amongst the three in Mexico today.

Mexico was then under Spanish rule for 300 years. The rich landlords forced the natives to mine for silver and to work as slaves.

In 1810, a priest, Father Miguel Hidalgo urged the peasants to recover their lands. Many took heed, and united to fight for their freedom. Finally, in 1821, the Declaration of Independence took place.

From 1876 to 1910, President Porfirio Diaz ruled. He embarked on industrial development without social improvement though, and the lives of Mexicans were still unbearable. That culminated in a revolution that resulted in 1 million Mexican lives taken. After he was overthrown, several other Mexicans stood up to lead, and now, Mexico has a democratic government.

Mexican food

Typical Mexican food can be found all over the world, so dining choices were not much of a problem for our family here. Common Mexican food includes salsa and chips, tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas, tamales and chili. A lot of beans and corn is consumed in Mexico too. In fact, on the Delta airline flight we took to Mexico City, both the adult and child meals we had on board had corn prepared in various ways.

The Mexicans cook corn kernels with lime to soften the hard husks. Masa (the dough used to make tamales or quesadillas), atole (a nutritious porridge-like drink) and tortilla came about this way. These were consumed as long ago as food staples of the Aztecs, Mayas and Olmecs. The Aztecs were also recorded by the Spaniards (in 1519) to be drinking hot chocolate in those times!

Besides corn, beans, and chili peppers, Mexicans love squash, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, avocadoes, papayas, guavas, prickly pears and amaranth.

The Spaniards introduced wheat, animal fats, olive oil, pork, beef, lamb, milk, dairy products, onion and garlic to the Mexicans, so today's Mexican cuisine is a successful blend of native and these introduced foods.

Our family usually ate tacos with grated cheese and cream, guacamole and beans for breakfast. We also enjoyed huevos a la mexicana a lot. That is eggs scrambled with tomatoes, onions and jalapeno chili. It was spicy but that provided the kick for us.

Lunch is big with Mexicans. It is usually a 3-4 course meal, starting with the appetizers, or entradas. Appetizers may take the form of marinated raw fish, melted cheese, sauteed wild mushrooms, rice or a soup.

The main dish, or plato fuerte, comes next. This may be a stew, fish, meat or poultry dish, accompanied by beans and rice. One special kind of stew is a mole, which can be made from more than 20 ingredients, including chili peppers, nuts, tomato and chocolate, served over chicken and sprinkled with sesame seeds. We did try a version of that in Angagueo, Michoacan. It was delicious!

There are many different kinds of stews though, across the various regions of Mexico. Other Mexican favorites include chili peppers stuffed with ground meat or cheese, mixiotes (meat, carrots, potatoes and chili sauce wrapped in maguey leaf and steamed) and pibil dishes (pork/ chicken and Yucatan spices wrapped in banana leaves and baked). A lot of lime juice is used on almost everything too, from soups to sauces. We first tried grilled cactus leaves at Sierra Chincua, at the foot of the mountain where the monarch butterfly sanctuary is. It has a unique taste, sweet and sour and mostly tangy. It did go very well with the beef and cheese quesadilla that we were served. After that, we had nopales (cactus leaves) again at a Mexican restaurant in Centro Historico, Mexico City.

Desserts that are traditionally popular include the flan, rice pudding, and crepes with syrup made from caramelized goat milk. We were at a lovely Mexican restaurant near the Holiday Inn Zocalo and were trying to decide on our dessert. We wanted to try the traditional flan but the waiter advised us not to! He said we probably would not like that as much as another item, which is what we ordered in the end. It was a slice of something like cornbread, with vanilla ice cream.

Mexicans drink a lot of coffee too, to end off the meal.

Since lunch can end in mid-afternoon, dinner is usually very light. Some Mexicans just eat a sweet roll, or tamales with coffee. We did see many busy people who had lunch on the go as well, in hectic downtown Mexico City.

Getting around Mexico City

We were with S&S Tours because of the monarch butterflies and they offered us a tour in and around Mexico City for the first 2 days. Thus, we had an English-speaking guide and his comfortable van to get around.

It is easy enough to get around Mexico City without a guided tour too, if you are armed with a good map and know some Spanish. Most people here are very friendly and helpful.

As we had 2 kids with us, we mainly took taxicabs on the other 3 days when we were on our own. We were charged 240 pesos, excluding tips, from the airport to Zocalo. We were told to only take authorized cabs and also have an agreed fare before setting off in the cab. From the same hotel to the airport though, it cost just 100 pesos, excluding tips, so we assumed there is some kind of surcharge for taking a cab from the airport.

Traffic can be very heavy in the central historic district and downtown. There were jams at peak hours and also at noon. Renting a car and driving around ourselves did not seem possible, to us. Since my husband wanted to snap as many photographs as he could, having someone else drive us around was a good idea. Also, all the cab drivers and the guide who brought us around drove with such skills that we could never master in a short time.

Safety in Mexico City

Tap water is not potable in Mexico City, which means bottled water must be purchased. Some travel sites had cautioned that even while brushing teeth, bottled water must be used. Both my husband and I forgot to do that, and nothing happened, so I guess the tap water is not that bad. The hotel we stayed in provided bottled water, so we did not have a lack of water to drink.

Before we came, we had been told by many people to be very careful because Mexico City has a high crime rate. One website even described it as the "kidnapping capital of the world". Of course, normal travel caution has to be exercised, like not wearing expensive watches or jewellery. Other than that, we did not see nor experience any crime. It was similar to other big cities we had been to, like Beijing, Shanghai, San Francisco, New York City, Chicago, London or Paris.

Sometimes the air quality may be poor, so bring along some eye lubricating drops and face masks if you prefer. We did too, but did not need to use them. We also brought our usual travel first aid kit that contained stuff like Pepto-bismol, Emergen-C, Airborne and Hyland's Sniffles and Sneezes for kids. That came in handy when my younger boy fell sick at the start of the trip. He was probably ill due to the change in climate and temperature.

We enjoyed the 8-day trip immensely and wished we had more time to see all the places we had highlighted but were unable to finish touring.

References:

1. Shemirani, S. [Ed.] (2008). Travelers Guide to Mexico 30^th edition.

2. Wikipedia.com