Mexico City 2025

Our last day in Mexico City was intentionally low effort. We had already packed the night before, so we only had to locate the stray socks and chargers that like to hide in hotel rooms. Late morning, we enjoyed a 90-minute massage, which put us in the calm, loose-limbed mood in which absolutely nothing seems urgent — except, apparently, tequila. I mentioned to the concierge that I couldn’t find  Jose Cuervo Reserva de la Familia Reposado  anywhere nearby. With the competence of someone who has solved this exact problem at least 200 times, she called another shop and confirmed they had it: 1250 pesos (about $68). I handed her 1500 pesos and she dispatched a tequila courier. By checkout, the bottle was bubble-wrapped like a newborn baby and waiting for me. Final trip task: complete. Felt like a victory. The hotel arranged a car to the airport, and we merged into Mexico City traffic — which is like watching a school of fish, except the fish are compact cars and nobody seems parti...

Grilled Squash with Rice Kale Salad Flowers for Sale along the Canal How did the Motorcycle get to the other side of a canal? The Canal is beautiful Freeway Pillars covered in Vines Can we start with a little geography and history? Mexico altitude is over 7300 feet. The air is much thinner, and it takes some getting used to. I wondered if my CPAP machine would work (I brought it with me). Luckily it somehow knows the altitude and automatically adjusts.   The land of Mexico City was once 5 lakes with no irrigatable land. The ancient Aztecs created islands floating on rafts in the lake and farmed them supplying food for the community. Over time the rafts were filled with mud and aquatic plants and became very fertile. Long story short - the Spanish eventually started to drain the lakes by sucking out a lot of the ground water, although there still is an area of floating islands and canals. We had always wanted to visit them but on our previous trips we never had time.   This are...

  Library at Pedro Reyes House Our new Skull Hanging library Stacks Guns into Shovels Guns become Guitars Nice Coyote French Toast soaked in Whisky The best Tequila I ever tasted We were picked up by our driver for the second day of our architectural tour. The traffic in Mexico City is very heavy. However, we have heard almost no car honking, and everyone seems to go with the flow. It just takes a while to go anywhere. We spent plenty of time in our vehicle looking out at the city. It is just amazingly green with trees and parks seemingly everywhere. It is far greener than Los Angeles.   Before we left, I had purchased a new iPhone and AirPod Pro. I knew they translated live, but I wanted to experience it. Since we were spending a lot of time with our driver who spoke very little (but enough) English this was the perfect test. I took out my hearing aids and popped in my AirPods. The driver would speak in Spanish, and I would in near real time hear the translation spoken in Eng...

  Lincoln Park Oposite Casa Polanco Typical Barragań interior Beautiful Cobble Stone Streets At Casa Polanco Today was a tour day. We started with the buffet at the hotel a beautiful selection of breakfast items and then I ordered Green Sauce Chilaquiles. I love this spicy Mexican dish. I did notice on the menu that they make French Toast with Sourdough brioche infused with Mexican whiskey and cinnamon, served with Papantla's vanilla creamy sauce and organic berries. I am sure I will try this! For years we have wanted to visit the Mexican Architect Luis Barragán’s Studio. We love his architecture, his use of light, color, space and greenery. He won the Pritzker Prize, the equivalent of the Nobel Prize but for Architecture. Tickets to visit his home and workshop are extremely hard to get. On every previous visit to Mexico City, I would get on my computer daily as the trip approached and attempt to get tickets I always failed. Visiting this site became an obsession for us. We made ou...

Celebrating Day of the Dead Tuna Tostada Alter in Lobby at Casa Polanco View of our private deck from our room All the free alcohol in our room! We finally got our Mexico City Trip. We were planning to go for Cathy’s Birthday but after having a pre-birthday Colonoscopy she was ill and we cancelled the trip. It took her 6 weeks to return to near normal. The Colonoscopy (which will be her last) was her birthday gift to me. Wasn’t that sweet? Lesson learned always be the first colonoscopy of the day.   Well 6 weeks later the delayed trip happened. I can’t overstate how messed up LAX is. I can’t believe the disaster it is. We wanted to minimize Cathy’s walking. It turns out you check in at one terminal and then needed to hike over to the International Terminal. Almost all the concourses do NOT have moving walkways. Luckily, I saw one of the golf carts driving by and I flagged him down. He took us to an area that had wheelchairs and wheelchair pushers who then took us to the gate. I gue...