Charming Mexico City

I’ve often said I could eat Mexican food every day and never tire of it.  I think I’m going to give that thought a chance to prove its truth.  The fragrance of just patted-out corn tortillas cooking in a big pan on a gas-fired cart on the street is heavenly.  The flavor of roasted corn is so inviting!  I want to eat a taco from every cart.  Each cart has an array of salsas, lime quarters, cilantro, and queso to liven up the choice of taco fillings like asada, pollo, and cerdo.  Tacos here are small, only about 4 inches across. In restaurants, an additional taco choice is pastor – spiced pork cooked long and slow on a vertical spit and shaved onto a tortilla.  I’ve tasted it.  While it’s good, I think I prefer asada.

We’ve only had two meals here so far and they both have been some of the best-tasting food we have had in months – except for the ceviche I had on Tamarindo Beach in Costa Rica. and the lobster we cooked at home in Playa Lagarto.

Our apartment here is lovely.  We have a wall of beautiful windows in the front which looks out onto the second level of a parking garage and another in bedrooms that have a better view.  We have two nice bedrooms each with a private bath in case anyone wants to join us for a short stay.  Three nights is your max.

I am so excited about this city; it is magnificent, beautiful, madly modern, filled with friendly but brainy-looking people, and a pure pleasure to see and walk around so far. 

Our apartment is just a block from one of the most famous, park-lined, museum-lined streets in the city, Paseo de la Reforma.  We are only blocks from Parque Chapultepec, one of the largest, and I will add, most beautiful parks in the Western Hemisphere.  Walking there we encountered the tall and striking Angel of Independence statue. We took helped a destination-wedding party of seven guys here from California and Nevada, get a group photo in front of the monument.   They took one of us too.

Stan and I call this grand wide boulevard, “fancy hotel and big bank row”.  They all are here like the Four Seasons, the Ritz Carlton, the 31-story St. Regis, and more.  The Paseo de la Reforma was created along with the design of the Champs de Elysse in Paris.  La Reforma may have outdone the grand Paris landmark.  It is something to behold!  Restaurants with outdoor tables are not found on this street.  It is much too classy for that but in addition to the grand hotels, the American Embassy is on this street.

I find it curious how many of us form an impression of a place in our minds before we even step foot there.  My impression two days ago was nothing like what I have seen so far.  As of today, I am blown away by this city, and we have not even stepped foot in the old town or seen any of the amazing ruins at all yet.

Stay with us on this, I think this going to be good.