5 days in Mexico City

Mexico City (or CDMX to the locals) has a reputation as a slightly crazy place, so it was a bit daunting planning a trip with the boys. One thing we've discovered so far in our few weeks of travel is that the boys (and us!) really need downtime every few days to just chill out. Being on the go constantly is hard work (even as an adult), and there is so much to take in when you're travelling to new places all the time that I think it can get a bit overwhelming at times.

So spending a few days in a notoriously crazy busy city might not seem like the most obvious way to chill out, but we definitely needed a few days where we did a bit less. I was really relieved when we checked in to our Airbnb in CDMX and discovered that it was a) lovely and big, b) had a fab roof terrace space and c) was pitch black at night and REALLY quiet (despite being right in the centre). The apartment turned out to be really good value for CDMX at £60 a night - it was easy to walk to most of the museums and sights in and around the Centro Historico and close to the Metro for when we wanted to travel a bit further afield.

We only really did a handful of things in our 5-6 days in CDMX (considering the ridiculous amount of stuff that we COULD have done - the list is endless). 

Lucha Libre

One of the things at the top of the list was a Lucha Libre bout at the Arena Mexico. We've been to a few local wrestling shows at home which the boys absolutely loved so we definitely wanted to get the full Lucha Libre experience. We arrived on a Tuesday and as they have shows on a Tuesday and Friday each week we opted to go that first evening. 

It was a LOT of fun! The Tuesday night shows are less popular than the Friday evening so we had a big choice of seats (which we were able to buy at the ticket counter on arrival). They were on the floor but not too close to the front so came in at £30 for all four of us. Even the floor seats are tiered at least a bit so the boys were fine in terms of a view.

We got there early so it was a bit quiet at the start. There were four bouts in all, and by the time we got to the third the place was about half full so the atmosphere was pretty good. There were a couple of tag team bouts, then a full blown Royal Rumble style one involving about 20-25 wrestlers, which was both a complete spectacle and hilarious. The gymnastics on display were just amazing - huge leaps out of the ring, some spectacular flips and all kinds of flinging each other around. There was of course also the whole good guy vs villain dynamics going on too so the crowd (including us!) were quickly involved in cheering/jeering/chanting. Although the boys got a bit tired by the headline bout (which was another tag team, but with what I assume were more famous wrestlers!) we had a brilliant time.

The Arena Mexico is in the Doctores area of CDMX which is notoriously dodgy, so we got an Uber there and back (which was a bit hectic trying to find at the end but still felt much safer than walking back to the Metro).

Museo del Arte Populare

We headed here as it had been recommended online by several different 'Mexico with kids' type blogs and it was definitely worth a visit. The exhibitions are really bright and colourful and take you through Mexican history, art and myths. I (obviously) loved the exhibition dedicated to the afterlife and Mexico's celebrations of Day of the Dead.

The boys really enjoyed the 'Fantasy' exhibit with it's sculptures of mythical creatures and artwork depicting the devil. It was also REALLY good value, coming in at £5.66 for all four of us.

Xochimilco

 seen lots of pictures of the colourful boats that cruise up and down the canals here (as well as the macabre Isla de Munecas with all the lost doll parts) and had stuck it on the list for CDMX months ago.

It was a bit of a trek from the Centro Historico where we were staying down to Xochimilco, taking about an hour on a Metro then an overland train (but only costing us £2.80 - return! - in the process. The Metro system in CDMX is one of the cheapest in the world). We headed in to the huge market when we arrived at Xolchimilco to stock up on lunch (as ever, the boys were hungry!).

The market here - as with some of the others we've wandered round in Mexico - was enormous and a bit overwhelming. It took a while to get our bearings and find our way around but we came out with some steaming corn-on-the-cob (complete with some unidentifiable sauce in the bottom of the bag - being Mexico, I assumed this would be hot!), a big bag of random sweets (as we can never get the boys past these stalls without capitulating), a stack of fruit and one giant cheese quesadilla (and I mean giant, it fed all four of us with plenty to spare)

It was about a ten minute walk from here down to the Embarcadero spot for the canal boats - there are signs everywhere so it's not difficult to find, and it you stop for a split second a helpful passerby will assume you are looking for the boats and point in the right direction!

After a bit of negotiation (as the initial price they quoted was a LOT more than we were expecting) we managed to get a boat for £23.50. It was only us on board so it was quite nice to have so much space to ourselves. The initial part of the canal cruise was a quiet drift along, then we seemed to join the bigger main canal which was pretty full of boats. Initially I was a bit put off by how busy it was, but after a few minutes I actually really enjoying the sights and sounds of the other boats - some had full mariachi bands on board playing music, others were birthday parties/hen parties with music blaring out, then there were smaller boats selling everything from cocktails to cooked food and souvenirs. I know this sounds very touristy but it was a really fun atmosphere and most of the boats seemed to be occupied by locals rather than tourists (we'd been told by our Mexico City native friend that the canal boats were where groups of friends would go down to on a Friday after school/university/work to have a few drinks).

The cruise lasted about an hour, and although we didn't get to the weird Isla De Munecas we did see a lot of random doll parts decorating parts of the canal, so I was happy. No axolotl spottings though for Angus (there are very endangered now so we didn't really expect to see any!)

Mistu Cat Cafe

Mistu Cat Cafe was the unexpected star attraction of our visit to CDMX (at least for Griff and Angus anyway). Steve likes to have a google of local attractions near to each place we stay and this came up - we went on the day we arrived in CDMX and the boys loved it so much we had to go back again later in the week! They have 19 rescue cats in total, ranging in age from quite small kittens to older cats (most of the older ones like to perch on the shelves high up and adopt that disdainful air that cats do so well). 

 

They do tasty burritos and snack food and some lovely hot chocolates, as well as a whole heap of cat-related bits and pieces for sale. Lots of the cats were really playful (especially the kittens) and they had lots of cat toys that you could tempt them with. 

Although they were all up for adoption we had to explain to the boys how impossible this was (even though they were desperate to take one home!). We took their maths workbooks and used the cafe as a base for home-schooling one afternoon (on the basis that they had to do their maths before they got to play with any cats!). 

Coyoacan

I'd read that this was a lovely district to wander round, especially on the weekends when the main plaza is full of people/balloons/candyfloss. Which it really was - however, our main reason for visiting (along with lots of other people's!) was a visit to Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's home which has been turned in to a museum. 

In the end, due to my reliance on an outdated Lonely Planet I managed to miss the ticket sales for Casa Azul and they were completely sold out for the next three weeks! Fortunately Steve did a bit of scurrying around online and managed to get me on a bike tour of Coyoacan that included admission to Casa Azul. As there was only space for me, this meant a delicious whole afternoon to myself :)

And actually, the bike tour was brilliant - a (very) leisurely cycle round the little hidden plazas of Coyoacan, churros and tacos in the market before ending at Casa Azul. I then got to spend a good 90mins in Frida's former abode, which was a wonderful mix of information and personal effects. 

Being there - especially in the beautiful courtyard garden - really evoked a sense of Frida and Diego's lives together. 

Meanwhile, Steve took the boys to Casa Leon Trotsky for a bit of a whirlwind education on the Russian revolution and the roles of Trotsky, Stalin and Lenin. Griff could reel off a whole load of facts about this when we met in Plaza Hidalgo at the end of the day, so it must have been interesting (definite points for Steve here for some excellent random home schooling).

Yes, Mexico City is MASSIVE and overwhelming, and chaotic, and the traffic is insane. But there is also a huge wealth of things to do and see, and whilst we stuck to dipping our toes in to just a tiny amount of what the city has to offer we really enjoyed our time there and I would definitely love to come back again to dig a bit deeper!