Andre and Wendy: Mexico City walking tour and Lucha Libra

Feb 1,

Arrival in Mexico City much later than anticipated due to airline delays. I slept most of the flight (surprise), Andre took a few pictures of a city of 23 million from the air.

Uber to our AIRBNB for the next 11 nights, a quarter of the price compared to an airport taxi. A little weird at 11PM arrival with everything shut up for the night on our street, and no action at all. The driver even asked us if we were sure we had the right address. Backed up a little and I saw the security guard sitting inside, I knew there was security for our building. Got all checked in and up to our condo we go. This involves going in an elevator that the security guards must operate, no idea when it is from but you pull a little handle to go up and down. When you want to go back down you ring a bell and he comes up to get you in the elevator. Once we get off the elevator we need to climb one flight of stairs to our condo. We are in an historic building, it is very nice. We have a living room kitchen, and a separate bedroom with a huge closet. Looking forward to tomorrow to do some exploring

bull ring and stadium next door

Feb 2

17,950 steps

Andre is up and out to find water, coffee and something for breakfast. We have since found out that there is a tap in the laundry room for drinking water that goes through an osmosis machine, no need to purchase more drinking water for the apartment.

Next on the agenda is a walking tour that we signed up to start at 10:30 at the cathedral starting point. Got a little twisted as we still haven't sorted out wifi, but we made it fine. It is a 2.5 hour tour but not too much walking, a lot of standing around hearing about Mexico City and its history. It was a very good tour, I think there were only 12 of us so not too crowded. I felt sorry for the guide as it is Feb 2, a big holiday here for churches so the bells rang and rang and rang.

Some interesting things about Mexico City, it was actually build on a filled in lake. This has lead to the city actually sinking at an average of 40 cm a year. Sidewalks are a bit wavy, it is noticeable on some buildings outside where the balconies don't all line up. At the Bank they had to add stairs to get into the building as the road has sunk so much, incredible. The reason the bank is more staple is because they have a much deeper foundation as the have a hugh vault in the basement. Behind the cathedral there are some Aztec ruins that were discovered, this is very interesting. The ruins are actually rising and the buildings all around it are sinking.

A bit more walking around and like we saw in other big cities on our travels the cities seem to have all the shops for one thing lumped together. We walked down bridal street, some of the shops even had models outside.

Sunday is free for museums for Mexicans, so lots of line ups to get in. Monday all the museums are closed, so we will not be visiting a museum for a couple of days.

Walked by one square that our guide would not take us into, the square where you can buy illegal papers, interesting how it is all set up. Andre is thinking of going to get papers to get into museums free.

We ended our tour near the Palacio de Bella Artes, with an animal groups protest march going by. What a beautiful arts museum, lots of controversy when it was built as all the marble was imported from Carrara Italy at a time when Mexico was doing well financially but millions of people were starving, this led to the Mexican revolution.

Lots of good tips given on the tour, this is why we like these tours normally. Places to eat, places to visit, places not to go as tourists. Our guide was a university student studying philosophy, he graduates this year. He is hoping to be a professor, but for this he must teach some high school first and get his PHD. We had lunch with the guide at a little taqueria just down the street from the end of the tour at a place he recommended.

Back to the apartment for a much needed rest, but first find a woman selling fruit on the side of the street, so fresh mango it is for us, so delicious.

We are off to see the Lucha Libre, or Mexican wrestling tonight. A fun adventure. The Arena de Mexico is about a 2 km walk from our place, a little bit of rain but decided to do the walk anyway.

We had a great time, not sure if we would do it again but it was definitely a fun evening and worth going. The Mexicans sure love their wrestling, lots of fans young and old wearing masks in the audience, and when a wrestler saw their mask being worn they made sure to point at you. I think grandpa and grandson in front of us had backpack full of different masks that they kept pulling out when their wrestler came into the ring. So inexpensive compared to what we would pay at home, we splurged on seats in row 6 in front view and paid $30CDN for the 2 of us.

On the way home stopped for supper at another taqueria, I had delicious Aztec Soup, and had tacos again, along with chips and guac. Andres first XX beer and I had delicious Jamaica Juice, which is hibiscus flower juice, yummy.

A great show of fireworks that were visible from our balcony as well to finish off the night. Not sure what they were for, but they sure lasted a long time.

Tomorrow on the agenda is getting some groceries and exploring some other parts of the city.

On our way to the main plaza for our walking tour