Girls Trip!!!

At the beginning of November three of my friends from Sayulita and I went on a girls trip to Mexico City to the Distrito Federal, aka, the D.F. I really thought that those words together in the same sentence would ever come out of my mouth. I am so grateful that I am now able to say them.

Kirsten, Gretchen and Lina on our first night in Mexico City

I want to start by saying that I know that not all of Mexico City is as wonderful as the areas that we visited. But here are a few thoughts about what I saw and experienced:
Mexico City is ginormous, (that would be slang for absolutely huge and then some), clean, cultural, artistic, wealthy, well educated, classy, friendly, architecturally beautiful.

The Metro is fast, easy, clean and safe. Establishments place fresh water and food out on the curb for dogs that are being walked by owners, the owners keep the pets on leash and clean up after them. I know that doesn't sound very spectacular but after living in Sayulita for a year it is. The people were well dressed, well groomed, happy, social, alive.

In all actuality Mexico City is just like all of the other large cities that I have visited. I will admit that I too fell under the spell of the American media and believed all of the bad press about Mexico City. I even believed flight attendants who said that is was dangerous and that you shouldn't leave your hotel. I hope they continue to believe that because I want those layovers.

For three days we walked a ton, covered what we thought was a lot of the city but hardly even touched it. We visited the Centro Histórico which focuses on the Zocalo, or main plaza, which is the second largest in the world behind Moscow's Red Square. Here we visited Mexico City's Cathedral, museums and took a ride to the top of the Torre Latinoamericana to get a view of the city.

View of the city, a very small slice of it, with Centro Histórico in background

Palacio de Bellas Artes

Beautiful mosaic building near the Centro Historico.

We spent another day in San Ángel. This area was beautiful. Old colorful buildings, cobblestone streets, and incredible street markets. We planned on going on the Frieda walking tour but after the few bottles of wine with yet another amazing meal and lots of shopping we ran out of time.

One of the many beautiful and large estate entrances in San Angel.

Which takes me to another part that I loved which was the restaurants. We never knew what we wanted or were really looking for but we always stumbled into a quaint restaurant that had the most delicious food and wine selections. We went all out for lunch and dinner for three days.

Gretchen, being a vegetarian, was not too impressed by these pigs legs

The group of girls were a perfect traveling match. We are all super mellow, so we made decisions quickly and easily as a group and everyone was happy. We were all on the same page. We even fell into the pattern of one person picking up the tab for lunch or dinner and taking turns that way, instead of nit picking the bill to see how much each person owed.

At our hotel, The Brick, in the Zona Rosa.

I cannot wait to go back and take another small bite of Mexico City. If you ever get the chance it would be well worth your time.

These adventures keep getting better and better. Wonder what will be next?