On day 3 in CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico = Mexico City), we hit up a bunch of places that were within the city limit but pretty far apart from one another.
Palacio Postal
Because I had a few postcards to send to the family, and because the hotel had no stamps (what kind of hotel couldn’t handle basic mailing for its guests?), I headed out early to find a post office.
It just happened that the closest post office was Palacio Postal, the grand postal headquarter from the early 20th century that CDMX travel guides raved about. The building was full of marble and ornate brass furnishing, far more like a museum than an administrative office. It was unquestionably cool… although the bloggers who made it sound like a one-of-a-kind marvel must not have lived in a real American city, where some century-old grand buildings still provide functional services.
I proudly commanded a couple new vocab words from Google Translate and purchased some stamps. As I tried to figure out where to deposit the postcards, the lady behind the window pointed and told me to see the “policeman”. I was confused, but the kind guard motioned me to follow, moved aside some fencing, and led me to the mail chute. At that moment, I realized that half of this postal palace had been barricaded off, and was told no when I asked to snap a few pictures.
It wasn’t clear why the prettiest part was off limits on that Monday morning, but when Phil and I returned a couple days later, everything was accessible like the Internet promised. There was even a whole museum section to the side showcasing the history of Mexico’s postal service!
Biblioteca Vasconcelos
Where did we go after a unique post office? An extraordinary library, of course! We took a quick subway ride to Biblioteca Vasconcelos and – while already having known what it looked like inside – were blown away.
The futuristic design of this library featured mesmerizing “floating” bookshelves on the interior. The lobby also had a whale skeleton on display. People went there on this quiet morning to study and do research, while the two of us ran around like crazy tourist monkeys.
Walmart
A couple blocks from the library was a Walmart. We made a stop there to get some medicine and ended up walking out with several kilos of candy.
Mercado de Coyoacan
After Walmart, we spent 40 minutes in a car to get to Coyoacan, and visited what I had thought was the best market in the city. By “best”, I mean the largest among the best-known markets, and also a bit distant from city center which hopefully meant more locals-oriented. The reality turned out somewhat different.
While we enjoyed traversing vendors selling vegetables, fruits, meat, crafts, random wares, and food, the market was not as expansive as I had imagined. It was also rather empty, perhaps due to the day and time of our visit. In addition, all the food stalls were heavy on marketing to tourists. We sat down at a bar for a couple quesadillas, and later grabbed a table to try some soup. Both were positive experiences with delicious food, but neither felt like where local aunties would grab a bite on their grocery trips.
After the market, we walked around the neighborhood to see the Fountain of Coyotes and the exterior of the Frida Kahlo Museum. Watching families play in the park or hang out at the ice cream parlor was perhaps the most enjoyable part of this side quest.
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The Palace of Fine Arts was the most recognizable symbol of CDMX, and I’m not saying this as a inflammatory personal opinion. All the tourism organizations including Wikitravel, Hotels.com, and Aeromexico used a picture of this art museum as their banner image of Mexico City. Even if you don’t know anything else about this city, you gotta recognize Palacio de Bella Artes!
Spend five minutes googling and you’d find everyone offering the same travel hack – cross the street into the Sears department store, go up to the 8th floor, and buy a coffee at Finca Don Porfirio so you can enjoy unparalleled view of this beautiful art museum from above. Expect a line though, as any tourist taking any travel blogger’s advice eventually would end up here.
I had no qualms about buying a slightly overpriced drink in order to get a few extra likes on my nonexistent Instagram account. However, I was also a professional who people pay to solve problems. I came up with a hack to that travel hack and I will generously share my secret for free…
You could just go to the furniture department on the 7th floor for some unobstructed view…
Alternatively, you could go to the tools department on the 9th floor to be even higher up than the cafe goers…
And that’s exactly what I did the day before. To make the trip complete, though, Phil and I still ended up at Finca Don Porfirio. We got there during the rainy evening, half hour before closing time. The staff gently suggested that no space was available and asked us to return on another day, but we negotiated a spot on the balcony with an umbrella. It worked out great! We sipped our chocolates in the chilly rain and admired the view of every CDMX Instagrammer’s dream.
La Casa de Tono
For dinner, we went to this chain restaurant’s location near our hotel. The entrance threw us off as some super high end establishment, with the first floor lobby having nothing but some beautiful decors, a podium, and a hostess who told us no outside drinks were allowed (but our chocolate!). Once we got to the third floor, the vibe changed: still a very nicely put together restaurant, but it was a large open floor plan that looked like a dining hall. There was full table service but everyone looked casual and relaxed.
As I understood, this restaurant was all about comfort food. We each got a posole, which was a delicious, nutritious bowl of soup. Phil ordered a vegetarian version while I got a pork assortment option. It was just the perfect thing to end a cold, rainy evening with.
At one point, a song came through the speakers and the entire dining hall cheered. Diners and waiters both clapped and some sang along. The song was Las Mananitas by Vincente Fernandez. We had no clue of its significance, but the ambience was priceless.
CDMX 2022 Trip Index
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