When we first received our assignment to Guatemala and started thinking about regional travel, Misha said to me that if we were going to visit Mexico, she didn’t want to go anywhere she’d already been. Well, much like James Taylor, I’d never really been but I sure wanted to go. We haven’t been able to take advantage of the regional travel as much as we originally thought due to Misha’s cancer treatment, but after traveling to Mexico City on my own in February, I had to go back. Misha had never been to Oaxaca, widely considered one of the premiere culinary destinations of the Western Hemisphere, so that’s how we spent our extended Memorial Day Weekend.
On my trip to Mexico City, I stayed with friends from Misha’s A-100 class. We’ve been lucky to remain close with a number of people from Misha’s entry class, so it was a pleasure to be able to catch up once again. Anyone who knows me will be able to guess my priority while in the city: eat as many tacos as possible. I averaged 4 tacos a day but was still able to try several other Mexican specialties, all washed down with plenty of mezcal and tequila. In the pictures below, you’ll see tacos al pastor, carne asada, cochinita pibil, birria, carnitas, and a few with an Asian twist.
As far as tourism, my first stop was the National Anthropology Museum, an absolute must-visit when on your first trip to Mexico City. You start on the right side and move counterclockwise through a chronological tour of Central Mexican cultures. The exhibitions culminate with the enormous Sun Stone, a Mexican (Aztec) calendar. The left side of the museum features an equally impressive collection of artifacts and recreations from Oaxacan and Mayan cultures, along with an exhibit on Teotihuacan, which I visited the next day. All told, the museum boasts over 600,000 artifacts and pieces of art.
Teotihuacan is roughly an hour outside the city, and worth the trip if you have the time and it’s not too hot. The campus is gigantic and there isn’t much shade, so sunscreen is important. While I expected the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon to be huge (the Pyramid of the Sun is shorter than Giza’s three main pyramids but has a base side length only 8 meters less than that of Khufu, Giza’s tallest pyramid), what surprised me the most was just how many structures there were. The whole main “Avenue of the Dead” is lined with temples, plazas, and pyramids in addition to over 2,000 single story apartment compounds.
After visiting the ancient city and returning home for a rest, we concluded our Saturday with another Mexican must: Lucha Libre! Arena Mexico is the biggest venue for wrestling in the city, but I really enjoyed Arena Coliseo. It’s still plenty big, but every seat felt close to the action. We couldn’t stop laughing the whole time.
I finished up my first trip to Mexico wandering around Constitution Plaza, more commonly known as the Zocalo. It appeared that I had just missed some sort of festival as the city’s main square was filled with tent skeletons and moving crews, so it wasn’t as wide open as it usually is.
Three months later, Misha and I returned to the city for a night on our way to Oaxaca. Our early morning flight ended up being delayed by a teachers’ strike, blocking the airport and causing us to sit around for 10 hours awaiting our departure. You can see their temporary tent quarters taking up many of the streets around the markets in the photos below. We learned that first night that Oaxacans really like to party, as evidenced by the huge crowd of people outside of el Templo de Santo Domingo de Guzman. I asked around, and the event was likely a wedding or a graduation. The following morning, we were off at 8am on a Get Your Guide tour that featured a lesson with a traditional Zapotec weaver, a trip to the petrified waterfall and natural springs at Hierve el Agua, a big Oaxacan lunch buffet, and a tasting and tour at a mezcal distillery, one of the hundred or so we passed on our scenic drive through the state of Oaxaca.
Our culinary tour of the city was partially inspired by the show Somebody Feed Phil, as we had a delicious dinner at Casa Oaxaca featuring rabbit tetelas, venison in yellow mole, and nopales, as well as cocktails at Sabina Sabe, one of the top 50 ranked bars in North America. We also did a food tour of Oaxaca’s two main markets, Mercado Benito Juarez and Mercado 20 de Noviembre. We tried crickets, a variety of moles, Oaxacan cheese, chocolate, traditional pastries, and my personal favorite, tlayudas. Misha had been on the hunt for some huaraches, and of course Mercado Benito Juarez was the place the shop.
These two trips have convinced me that we need to do a tour in Mexico City if we get the chance. The travel within the country is very easy, and the places to visit seem endless. The food is incredible, the people friendly, and of course the proximity to the US are all motivating factors. It’ll be years before we go through the bidding process again, but I encourage anyone who hasn’t been to book your trip ASAP.
Beer and Diplomacy 
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