Bienvendidos!

In our very first podcast episode on travel to Mexico City we reveal how we came up with the idea to start a travel podcast – while we squished in the back of a tiny cab in Mexico City at 1 AM.

Since this is where it all started, we’re kicking off this travel podcast by bringing you a three-day Mexico City travel guide.

In this episode we cover how to travel to Mexico City from the U.S. and break down the top things to do in Mexico City including visiting The Zocalo, rooftop bars in Mexico City, Teotihuacan Pyramids, and Xochimilco – which is one of the most fun things to do in Mexico City. You really cannot visit the city without that experience!

Where to Stay in Mexico City

We’ve stayed in Roma, Polanco, Coyoacon, and the Zocalo neighborhoods of Mexico City and would recommend them!

1. Ágata Hotel Boutique & Spa – Coyoacon
2. Hotel Luca – Roma Norte
3. Residence L´ Heritage Tennyson by BlueBay – Polanco
4. Le Meridien Mexico City – Zocalo

We hope by sharing our Mexico City vacation that you are also inspired to take a trip here. There is so much delicious Mexican food, cultural experiences, architecture, and fun to be mad that you will want to visit Mexico City over and over again.

 

Mexico City Travel Guide – Episode Transcription

(54s):
Thank you so much for listening to our very first episode of the Travel Squad podcast. We are pumped that you clicked play.

4 (1m 2s):
We have so many travel stories, destination guides, tips, hacks, and advice coming your way, every travel Tuesday.

5 (1m 10s):
This isn’t going to be your typical fucking travel podcast. We cuss

4 (1m 14s):
We’re not just a one man or a one woman show.

5 (1m 17s):
There’s four of us, the Travel Squad each with our own different personalities and viewpoints. We’ve created this podcast to share our travel freakouts chaos, the good times and laughter with you.

1 (1m 32s):
We came up with the idea of the Travel Squad Podcast in the back of a tiny cab at 1:00 AM and Mexico City on our second trip there. And for that reason, we found it very fitting in this episode to talk about our first trip to Mexico city, which was over a three day weekend.

3 (1m 49s):
So without further ado, vamanos Chico, Saturday, FFA

5 (1m 54s):
Bienvendidos Mexico City, Mexico City is a huge city with more than 20 million people living in the Metro area. It is larger than New York city. And one of the reasons why we visited Mexico city is because we have a good friend that lives there and she was able to take us around and show us the ropes.

4 (2m 14s):
I had no idea that it was that big. I, I didn’t think it was a big city. I didn’t even really understand that Mexico had big cities at that time, because that was only my third time ever out of the country.

3 (2m 28s):
All our good friend there is Nicole and we grew up, I grew up with her. I went to high school with her and this three-day weekend was my birthday weekend over labor day. And I was in Mexico city a few months earlier having dinner with Nicole while I was waiting for my flight to go back to Tijuana. And I told her, oh my goodness, I should bring Jamal, Brittany and Kim with me over my three-day birthday weekend. And we can have fun in Mexico City. And so

4 (2m 58s):
Coming off the heels of Peru, that

3 (2m 60s):
Is correct. Yeah, I wasn’t on your guys’s flight back home from Peru because I came home a few hours earlier than you. So I can have a long layover in Mexico City and have dinner with Nicole. And then that’s where I was like, oh my gosh, we should come and see her because it’s so cheap.

5 (3m 15s):
Yeah. We only went two months after Machu Picchu.

4 (3m 19s):
So for this trip we left on a Friday afternoon.

3 (3m 22s):
We live in San Diego and we’re right next to the border. So we bought a ticket from Tijuana to Mexico City. So it became a domestic flight and we have the sea Beck’s crossing station,

5 (3m 35s):
CBX cross border express.

3 (3m 38s):
Yes. And so it’s just for a small fee. You show your airplane ticket. You have to prove that you’re flying out that day within a few hours. And it’s basically an airport terminal built from San Diego to cross into the Tijuana airport. So it’s super convenient for us. It’s cheap. And this is labor day weekend. It’s a three-day weekend. It was my birthday weekend in Mexico. Doesn’t celebrate labor day. So we’re not paying any type of holiday prices.

4 (4m 6s):
Yeah, I think we got there a little bit early and because we were expecting crowds and we had tons of time to wait. We just enjoyed a few margaritas. I think they were like four bucks each already kicking off our holiday weekend.

1 (4m 19s):
Airport bar

5 (4m 21s):
Pretty inexpensive for drinks in the Mexico airport. That’s for sure.

4 (4m 25s):
Compared to the lounge access

5 (4m 27s):
Before we got the lounge access.

3 (4m 29s):
This is the beginning of our travel days.

1 (4m 31s):
And I just want to give a little bit of background about how we found our hotel in Mexico City. So I had been talking with Nicole, our friend that lives there and Mexico City and asking her, where are the good places to stay in the city? We want to be close to you so that it’s easy to see you. And she was like, I don’t know if you really want to stay in my area. And I had found a hotel in the area that she lived and I sent her a screenshot of the hotel and she said, well, the hotel is good if you don’t mind the prostitutes. So

4 (5m 1s):
They were prostitutes, but they harmless.

1 (5m 4s):
Yeah. So we get

5 (5m 5s):
There to make a living ladies. No judgment.

3 (5m 8s):
Yeah, no, it was a, I mean I felt safe. I’ve been to Mexico City before and I always feel safe.

5 (5m 14s):
Well, it is legal there. So it’s not like it’s a seedy part of town and they’re doing something illegal. It is perfectly legal and Mexico City. So just in the area where our hotel was located, it’s known to be a congregating corner or area, but you know, didn’t intimidate us from enjoying our time in Mexico city. That’s,

3 (5m 34s):
It’s a three and a half hour flight from Tijuana, but they’re two hours ahead.

1 (5m 37s):
So by the time we landed, even though we left in the afternoon in San Diego, we landed in Mexico City, late at night. It was

4 (5m 44s):
A bit late. I remember it was dark. There wasn’t much, we were going to do that night except we needed to get water.

3 (5m 50s):
Yes. And so they have their convenience stores are and it’s kind of like a Starbucks. It is on every single corner.

5 (5m 58s):
So not like a Starbucks, like a seven 11.

3 (6m 1s):
There we go. It’s kind of like a seven

4 (6m 3s):
11,

5 (6m 3s):
But on the corner, like a Starbucks.

3 (6m 6s):
And there you go. Yes. Yes. Thank you Jamal, for that clarification. So we put our stuff down at the hotel and then we walked to the nearest Oxo. And because it’s so late, they don’t actually let you inside the store. So they just have an open, but there’s still 24 hours. They just have an open window and they bring you what you want. And then you exchange money at that window.

5 (6m 27s):
Like some gas stations here, you know, you know, if it’s late at night, some gas stations will have just the teller or worker at the window and exactly like that.

1 (6m 37s):
So our one goal from going to Oxo was to get water. And that’s typical of us. Whenever we go on any vacation, we stock up on water to refill our water bottles. And of course in Mexico you need it. So Zaina, and I are the two most fluent in Spanish in our travel group. And we’re trying to ask for the largest water, because typically when we get the water, it’s going to be like the big gallon waters. So we’re asking them like, or we’re telling

4 (7m 3s):
Day,

3 (7m 4s):
Right?

1 (7m 5s):
The biggest water that they have

3 (7m 8s):
Almost gone there.

5 (7m 9s):
And we’re thinking, you know, a gallon, two liters, that’s what’s going to be coming out.

3 (7m 13s):
Yeah, they, yeah. They kind of look at me like really? And I’m like CCC and he kinda like shakes his head and disappears into the back. And I’m like, oh my goodness, how hard is it to get? Like, and I think we asked for four because we each wanted one.

5 (7m 28s):
And he took a long time back there just as well too. Like he disappeared for a while and we’re like, where’d this dude go?

4 (7m 34s):
I think he comes back definitely with a grand day water, Five

1 (7m 39s):
Gallons of water.

3 (7m 41s):
And he was like carrying too. And he looked like he was sweating. And I realized, oh my goodness. Cause you know, like the most like the mosque ground day, the biggest water there in Mexico, because they don’t have,

4 (7m 53s):
You don’t drink the water there.

3 (7m 55s):
Yeah. So when you do ask for the biggest water, you have like the family size. And I forgot about that because you know, when I, I go to a seven 11 to get the biggest water, that’s not what I’m grabbing. And so I had to apologize and say, I’m so, so sorry. We just wanted

4 (8m 10s):
Like a big

3 (8m 12s):
It’s maybe the medium size size. Yeah. So that kicked off our entire vacation, getting the big waters.

4 (8m 20s):
That was fun. So we called it a night and then we woke up bright and early on Saturday to our favorite spot on this trip, which we ended up going to

1 (8m 27s):
Four times

3 (8m 28s):
And it was Casa. They lost abuela’s. So Nicole lives right across the street from Casa de Los Wales. And for all the times that I would go by myself to visit Nicole and hang out with her there. We always eat there because it’s super, super good. So before we went, I was telling the squad that, oh my goodness, we’ve got to eat at Casa de Los Muertos. So when we woke up that morning, Nicole and her boyfriend now husband came around the corner to our hotel to pick us up when Jamal had broke the safe. And so we needed someone to come fix the safe. Remember that?

5 (9m 1s):
I do. I think I locked my money in there, or wouldn’t open for me to put my money in there. I forgot what it was, but point being the safest permanently shot and we needed assistance.

3 (9m 12s):
So we fixed it.

4 (9m 15s):
So that was the one on our first trip to Mexico city. We had to have them come fix our safe on our second trip where we mentioned the podcast was born. We also had to have the hotel. People come save us because Zaina dropped her diamond or what was it?

3 (9m 30s):
Tanzanite,

4 (9m 31s):
Tanzanite, earring down the bathroom sink. And the guy had to come with this like homemade contraption to try to pull it out and then like fix the sink. And he’s doing this in a suit too. That’s how Mexican people are. So like nicely dressed, but hard

3 (9m 48s):
Working friendly,

4 (9m 50s):
Very, very friendly

3 (9m 51s):
Creative to he, he broke a hanger in half and stuck sticky tape on the end. So he can fish out my tanzanite earring, which didn’t work. So we still had to get the pliers and do the sink while he’s doing that in his suit, I’m trying to help him. And he says, no, no, no, no, no. I was like, oh my goodness. Thank you so

4 (10m 9s):
Much, man. Yeah.

3 (10m 11s):
So

4 (10m 11s):
Dr. Casa de Los abuelos,

3 (10m 14s):
They had the best Lucido and puzzley

4 (10m 18s):
The Pensacola.

5 (10m 19s):
I loved both. I love the and Lucero. So basically if you’re a coffee lover, this one’s really, really good. I would almost equate it to almost their version of a latte, except not like foamy of some sorts. They come out with really high concentrations of coffee. And it’s just, I don’t want to say a little bit, but you know, not like your typical

4 (10m 41s):
Fifth of the cup way.

5 (10m 42s):
Right. And basically they’ll come out with the actual milk and what they’ll do is they’ll pour it really high and kind of like They lifted above their head and they’re able to dump the milk into the cup. And do they mix it back and forth? Yeah.

4 (10m 58s):
Oh, it just kind of foamed it films a little bit. And it’s just as beautiful show.

5 (11m 2s):
If any of you guys are familiar with kind of tea ceremonies in Morocco, where they lifted up and do the pouring back and forth and high that’s kind of how I would describe it, except they don’t do the back and forth, but they make making the coffee and actual show. And I love it. I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s honestly some of the best coffee that I’ve ever had. And on top of that, their was just to die for. I had that every morning for breakfast.

3 (11m 30s):
Well, you make me wish I started drinking coffee earlier than what I started to drink.

4 (11m 34s):
I had a great fruit cart that would come around the fruit and yogurt and granola to

5 (11m 39s):
Delicious.

3 (11m 42s):
Yeah. For the record LA Casa de Los abuelos. It’s not sponsoring this episode.

4 (11m 47s):
It really shouldn’t be

3 (11m 48s):
Though. We just really liked that restaurant

5 (11m 51s):
Go to Mexico city. Don’t miss

3 (11m 54s):
It. So from there we walked to the Zocalo and the Zocalo is kind of like the town square it’s in central Mexico city. And it has the sinking church. And you know why the

1 (12m 6s):
Church is thinking.

3 (12m 7s):
I was just about to ask our resident historian, Jamal, to give us a little bit of background.

5 (12m 14s):
Brittany’s asking like she has the answer.

1 (12m 16s):
So Mexico City is actually thinking, because it was built over a lake and the lake was called lake Texcoco

4 (12m 24s):
Ashes, GOCO.

3 (12m 26s):
Yeah. Church used to be pyramids, but the conquistador Doris came and tore it down and built a church over it. So you can still see remanence of the pyramid around there. And I don’t think we did this, but I did this on another trip with Nicole. You can pay not even 20 pesos, but it was super cheap and they give you a tour of the church and they’ll take you to the top and you can walk around the top of the church while they’re giving you a tour

5 (12m 59s):
Beyond that. It was actually before the colonial period, it was a gathering city area for the Aztecs as well.

3 (13m 5s):
Yeah. And Justin Bieber at one point did him and around the world tour for free. And he played in front of different landmarks all around the world. And he played in front of the church there. And I remember because Nicole didn’t have anyone to go with her and I’m like, I would totally go see him play in front of the church in Mexico City. Right. For free. Anyways, from there we went to, we had margaritas.

5 (13m 33s):
Yeah. I was about to say, I hope we’re not moving past the Zocalo yet because I would equate that restaurant to rooftop bar. And what would we say? Say if we passed the rooftop bar and I’m talking

1 (13m 46s):
About it tequila.

3 (13m 48s):
Yes. So

4 (13m 49s):
I’m not sure how to pronounce this Zina. You’ll have to do that.

3 (13m 52s):
six

4 (13m 54s):
Pesos for a delicious margarita. That’s that was about $3 and 33 cents. Amazing. You’re you’re not even going to get that kind of a deal at happy hour here in San Diego. So I was pumped on that. I think I had to, I was getting crazy. I had to,

5 (14m 13s):
But no. Yeah. So the, the restaurant that we actually had the drinks at for the rooftop bar access, if you will, it overlooked the Zocalo square. It was really, really nice because beyond just the sinking church, I believe the presidential palace is also in that area just as well. But it’s a big social area, lots of shops, lots of restaurants, lively entertainment, and from the rooftop, no better place to have drinks in that area.

3 (14m 42s):
And then on our way there, we also pass the , which is like the fine arts palace, which is really nice. We didn’t go in, but it’s definitely worth taking pictures outside

5 (14m 53s):
Of, I was going to say, just taking a photo in front of it is a breathtaking in and of itself. It’s so pretty just from the outside.

3 (14m 59s):
Exactly.

4 (15m 0s):
So the next stop on our tour de Mexico City was the Toray Latino Americana building, which is about 600 feet tall. One of the tallest buildings in Mexico City, maybe the tallest and you can pay 90 pesos to go to the very top of the building, but we wouldn’t recommend that because one floor down, they have a bar with glass windows around the whole thing. And so you get 360 degree views of the city and that is free to go to you just have to buy a drink when you’re there, which is like the margarita at the previous bar cheaper. It’s about 60 pesos. So we definitely recommend doing that. And when you’re there go to the bathroom, because you’ll be sitting on the toilet, looking out on into glass walls and looking out at the city.

4 (15m 46s):
It’s really cool.

3 (15m 47s):
Yeah. We actually got the tip to go to the bathroom and check it out. And when we did, we’re thinking to ourselves, what’s going to be in the bathroom. Like it’s a bathroom, but no, it is worth checking out.

5 (15m 57s):
Yeah. Beyond the building, just being a good spot to go have a drink, you know, and see good 360 degree views of Mexico City. The building itself is quite famous at one time. I believe it was the tallest or one of the second tallest in Latin America. But on top of that, it’s actually recognized as being an engineering Marvel, because it was one of the first major skyscrapers built in an area where there’s major seismic activity. And it’s notably famous for withstanding the 8.1 magnitude earthquake Mexico City had in 1985. That

3 (16m 31s):
Is correct. September, 1985

5 (16m 33s):
Engineering, Marvel.

1 (16m 34s):
It was Mexico. City’s largest building for about 27 years.

3 (16m 37s):
Again, worth going to and going to the thought,

4 (16m 41s):
Does anyone remember those caramel churros? We got,

1 (16m 44s):
They were so

4 (16m 45s):
Good. Oh my God.

1 (16m 47s):
They were like Carmel. They had Carmel stuffed or they had chocolate stuffed

5 (16m 51s):
Churros. They were

1 (16m 52s):
On the street,

5 (16m 54s):
Outside the tower

4 (16m 55s):
Everywhere in Mexico City, out in the street. They have these little carts where you can get freshly made SROs and they stuff it with a different kind of sauce that you want. And they’re super cheap. Don’t you remember stuffing our faces with the,

5 (17m 7s):
I remember you eating some in Peru. I’m trying to remember specifically in Mexico. Not that I doubt

3 (17m 15s):
I was there. I was there cause I got the caramel. The, yeah, yeah. I was about to say, I definitely didn’t do chocolate would have been like the Carmel or the Dulce or something like that.

5 (17m 24s):
So

4 (17m 25s):
Good. Isn’t that how we ended that first night,

5 (17m 27s):
Bringing back all sorts of memories. Kevin, I’ll tell you that. I dunno.

3 (17m 33s):
I think that if we were in Mexico City right now and you were having it, you would have,

5 (17m 38s):
Well, I know they have them. I see them all the time and she wanna, I’m just trying to really recall that event. I don’t doubt it happened. I just, you know, Mexico City was so much fun and cheap booze. I mean, you know, sometimes we tend to forget a little thing.

3 (17m 51s):
Yes, we do. Moving on to the second day here at Mexico City.

1 (17m 57s):
So what we didn’t realize was that the main roads were closed to car traffic on Sundays. And so we actually had a walk down a really, really long road that was called LA Casa de LA Reforma in order to get to where we wanted to go. Didn’t we want to get to the castle that day. Yeah.

3 (18m 14s):
Yes we did. It was the chapel, the Peck castle, and the reason they closed down the streets is because it’s very family oriented. So they let people ride their bikes through the streets and whatnot. And we didn’t realize this. So we planned our entire day based on the public transportation. And of course the public transportation was not there. So we actually had to try to negotiate with a taxi. And I would say that when you are negotiating, don’t give up. They like to negotiate. They, they thrive on negotiations.

5 (18m 47s):
I just want to say it’s bad Juju to get an unregulated taxi where the is not preset in Mexico City.

3 (18m 55s):
And we have to negotiate that taxi. Remember because he wanted a certain amount. And I was telling you guys the amount and we’re like, no way. And then another taxi came and he wanted double and we’re like, whoa, we should have jumped in that first one.

1 (19m 7s):
And I think we just ended up walking all the way there

3 (19m 9s):
Probably. And I think it even rained a little bit.

1 (19m 11s):
It sure did.

3 (19m 14s):
What do you do?

5 (19m 15s):
It always rains in Mexico City.

3 (19m 17s):
It does. It does. And then it disappears the next minute,

1 (19m 20s):
But getting to the castle, it was on a hill. And then once you get to the hill and the main entrance, there was a nice lookout to the city. Do you guys remember that?

3 (19m 28s):
I did. I did. Yeah. So first off, when you get to the castle, you will have to pay 60 pesos and then you go in and you have the nice view of the entire city.

1 (19m 38s):
And this part of the day we actually did without Nicole. So this part was alone and she actually met, she picked us up from the castle. And from there we went to Sochi Malco

4 (19m 49s):
this was one of the highlights. I would say this was like the number one. This was the number one. It was my

1 (19m 56s):
Favorite thing.

5 (19m 58s):
It was so much

4 (19m 59s):
Fun.

3 (19m 59s):
Yes. This is Jamal’s picture on the front of our website.

4 (20m 4s):
You’ll notice.

5 (20m 6s):
I love that photo. Just not as a profile.

4 (20m 8s):
Okay. So what is it? Tell them what it is.

5 (20m 10s):
So Sochi Milko is chaos, but good chaos. Every color you can imagine in Mexico, the vibrant, bright colors. Imagine them painted on boats that you ride through canals. And as you’re riding on these boats through the canals, there’s Mary Gotzsche bands playing, trying to hop on your boat. There’s vendors trying to sell you, roasted corn. There’s people selling you to cut de cut. Rono all around Sochi, Malco. Crazy. I love it.

3 (20m 40s):
It was amazing. It was amazing. Yeah. In fact, speaking of the September, 1985 earthquake in Mexico city, they had another one in September, 2017. And you can go on line on YouTube and people were posting the footage of themselves on the boats while the earthquake was happening. And it’s so crazy because the waves are just like rocking the boats like crazy.

1 (21m 1s):
And there was six of us that got, that rented the boat that we were on. But total it can fit about 15 people on each boat,

4 (21m 7s):
Which you have a real party on that boat,

3 (21m 9s):
Which is why the mariachis try to jump onto your boat so they can sing to you pro

4 (21m 14s):
Tip By the song That’s Jamal’s Africa.

5 (21m 21s):
Yes. I wish we did. What, what did you want them to sing? Felice Navi. Dodd Kim.

4 (21m 26s):
That’s my favorite song

3 (21m 27s):
For the record. When Kim says that’s Jamal’s Africa, we went to Africa and Kim did not go, which is a huge regret. So we always say,

4 (21m 35s):
Yeah,

3 (21m 36s):
We refer to that as a regret. Right? That’s my Africa, because that’s our regret because Kim didn’t go. So Jamal’s Africa is the fact that we didn’t get the mariachis. Yeah.

5 (21m 46s):
Yeah. Because they’re not set prices, you know, they’ll come on board and you tell them what you want to play for, how long. And then they’ll tell you kind of a price and you know, it’s Mexico. We felt like we could haggle and whatnot. And they told us that it was going to be $5,

3 (22m 2s):
Which was a hundred pesos, which

5 (22m 3s):
Was a hundred pesos. And we all scoffed at the idea. I’m paying $5 for the mariachi band to play like a song for one minute. But

3 (22m 14s):
Shit, in

5 (22m 15s):
Hindsight, we should have

1 (22m 17s):
To rent to rent. The boat was only 300 paces to begin with. So the a hundred paces for the mariachi band really wasn’t a lot in hindsight. And it was Zeno’s birthday weekend. And we really wanted the mariachi to sing her Felice in Spanish, but Kim got her Spanish, a little mixed up and she asked, she said, shouldn’t they play you Felicia Navi dot.

4 (22m 41s):
So now it’s a joke every year on our birthdays, Dana and I text each other, these Navidad,

3 (22m 47s):
The study died. It was so cute. Yeah. So, but you know, it’s so funny because you’re on these boats and the boats are crossing each other. So they start to slow down so that the leader of the mariachi can jump onto our boat and start to negotiate with us. And here we are in the middle of September and now we think, how cool would it have been if we paid $5 and had them seeing Felice Navi that to me in the middle of September on the canals. And it was

1 (23m 13s):
Even $5 a person, it was $5 as a group. And there were six of us on that boat.

3 (23m 20s):
It’s that sad when we stop and think about that,

4 (23m 22s):
It can mess with your mind a little bit. If you’re trying to convert currency in your head, a hundred pesos can seem like a lot,

5 (23m 30s):
Very good valid point. But I think a lot of it, what happened for me in that moment, not that I was the decision maker because you ladies could have jumped in and said, Jamal, you’re being stupid. But I just think when you’re in Mexico, you’re under the, that a lot of things are cheap, which they are, if you’re comparing like beer, transportation costs, things like that. So when I heard $5, just for like a minute for somebody to play like a song, it was almost like, Ooh, I feel like I’m being shafted right now, which is not the case. $5 would have been variable spending on that

3 (24m 5s):
Great steal. Exactly. Yeah. So, you know, as we said, there’s vendors on the canal with you. So people are selling huge. The exactly. Yeah. So there you are on the canal, drinking your beers. And what do you do when you’ve have to break the seal?

5 (24m 23s):
There’s no bathrooms on the boat. So other than standing along the side and just going,

3 (24m 29s):
Which you cannot do, what

5 (24m 31s):
You cannot do. There are certain spots along the very vast canals where they actually have little small bathrooms and they are bathrooms that you have to pay five to 10 pesos to use. So definitely have extra coins and small money for that. Because those vendors who tend to the restrooms, they’re not going to take your big bills.

3 (24m 53s):
You don’t know they won’t.

4 (24m 54s):
And you’ll actually find that across Mexico in general, where they charge you a small fee to use the restroom. So have loose small change on you. If you think you’re going to need to use a public restroom.

1 (25m 5s):
And sometimes you have to grab the toilet paper from them when you pay, before you go into the stall.

3 (25m 9s):
So grab a little extra

4 (25m 11s):
Plan accordingly.

3 (25m 14s):
Yes. But you know, they will stop this, the boat on the side of the canal. So you can jump off, use the restroom and we’re not talking for seasoned restrooms, you know, be prepared to squat. Sometimes they don’t have seats again, just be prepared to squat,

5 (25m 29s):
Be prepared to potentially hold it as well, because there’s so many, no, there’s so many boats on the canals that honestly the short distance, it may be two. It can take a long time trying to navigate because there’s so much cross traffic of boats going in different directions that you can be really slowed down. So you don’t even really get a lot of ground covered in the canals. Because if you go during a busy time, there’s just a lot of traffic from

3 (25m 55s):
Yeah. So whatever you do, make sure you hit up Sochi, Milko, great place to be great place to have fun, great place for pictures. Okay.

4 (26m 2s):
So at this point in our trip, we’ve already done so much. We’ve walked around the city. We’ve seen different parts of the city. We’ve taken a million pictures, we’ve eaten probably 400 tacos. And now we’re moving into our last day of the trip and we have another jam packed day. And what you should know about our trip and especially our trip planner, Brittany, is that there are no easy days on our vacations. If, when we say an easy day, you can guarantee it will be a hard day, hard day of traveling and eating and exploring and laughing and having fun, of course, but on our trips, we jam pack as much as we can into it because we only had three days in the city. And like we said earlier, this is a city bigger than New York city.

4 (26m 46s):
So there’s a lot to see and do.

3 (26m 48s):
So T O to walk-on pyramids. I,

4 (26m 54s):
I love pyramids. I love ancient ruins. They really get me going.

1 (26m 59s):
And this was our last day in Mexico City. And this was another day that we were by ourselves because Nicole, I think, had to work this day. So we were having to figure out the transportation on our own, which was a whole fiasco in itself.

3 (27m 14s):
Getting there

4 (27m 15s):
That was easy. We navigated the subway like prose

3 (27m 19s):
And for the record this day was Monday and it was my birthday.

1 (27m 23s):
So we have to take a subway line three to India’s birthdays, took it to the very last stop. And then from there, you actually have to get on a bus and pro tip, make sure to buy round trip tickets on the bus, because on your way back, we made that mistake ourselves. And we had to negotiate our fare back on the bus, getting back to the city,

4 (27m 45s):
Okay. Brittany, your, our resident navigators. So tell the audience what you do when you get off of the subway line. So

1 (27m 52s):
When you get off the subway line, you have to exit the subway and turn left and walk down to the very last exit. And there are going to be a ton of white buses looking to take you to the pyramid is supposedly there’s a direct bus, but it’s never been found.

5 (28m 10s):
And

1 (28m 12s):
We haven’t found it’s

4 (28m 14s):
Legend.

3 (28m 15s):
Yeah. And I think Nicole told us too, that it was a legend. So it’s not just us not finding it.

1 (28m 20s):
So you’ll, you’ll be able to find the buses that are labeled to take you to the pyramids. And so the bus ride there cost 44 pesos and it takes about an hour to get all the way out there. And the bus ride back cost us 46 pesos, but it was direct. So it was only 30 minutes to get back to the city,

3 (28m 38s):
Which by the way, if you find the supposedly direct bus there, let us know, shout out to us.

4 (28m 45s):
Yeah. Comment on our Instagram, let us know, like take a picture and let us know where you found it, how you got it and let us know what’s real. Because at this point it’s like fallen Goliath to us.

3 (28m 60s):
It’s the Lockness

4 (29m 0s):
Mill here about that one on our Sequoia and Kings canyon, national park episode,

3 (29m 7s):
We were told to be prepared to walk and still you can’t be prepared enough for how much walking.

5 (29m 14s):
No easy

3 (29m 14s):
Days. No.

1 (29m 15s):
And you guys, I know this is our first episode. So we haven’t really said it, but I love to hike and I love to make the whole group hike. Even when we say it’s going to be an easy day. When I say it’s going to be an easy day, that means we’re probably going to put in like a minimum of four miles walking or hiking in. And so when we get to the pyramids, it’s just vast open space that you have to walk between each of the pyramids. And then of course you want to climb the pyramids. So then we’re hiking up the pyramids to get the best view out and to take of course, iconic photos,

4 (29m 50s):
Lots of photos. There’s two big pyramids and you have to climb both of them. They’re both cool. And, but there’s a lot of smaller ones that you’ll have the opportunity to climb and hang out and walk around. There’s also people selling stuff. We got a couple of obsidian necklaces, and there’s plenty of ceramic penises. If you’re into that too, for some reason in Mexico, they sell ceramic penises everywhere. I saw them in Puerto Vallarta to

3 (30m 18s):
Just in case you’re into that and to touch base on obsidian. Obsidian is a wonderful Juul that keeps away negative energy. I have one by my nightstand to keep away the evil spirits at night and at my desk at work. So I don’t get stressed. One thing that I really loved about Teotihuacan was that one Jamal had the best camera on his phone. So Jamal was taking all of our pictures throughout the entire trip.

4 (30m 46s):
The photos were good and I I’m a loyal apple user, but I got to say the galaxy photos rule, all

3 (30m 55s):
I know, right? Cause I’m an apple user too, but Jamal’s photos were just coming out prime. So is just our, our photographer

4 (31m 2s):
Usually is on our trips. He is our photographer.

5 (31m 5s):
’cause, I’m still the only one with a galaxy to know you guys like the photos. But anyway, no, to sum up what Zaina was saying, yes, I was the photographer taking everybody’s photos and we went to what they walk on the day we were actually leaving because it was on a Monday and we were flying back that evening to be at home. So we could obviously all go to work on Tuesday. And so I was taking the photos and everyone was loving them. We were looking at them, making sure they were coming out just great

3 (31m 35s):
Quickly though. The, the, the one thing that I really appreciate is the fact that we got our one group picture there at the top of one of the pyramids. And it’s a really good picture of all four of us. And

5 (31m 48s):
That’s lost to time now. No, I

3 (31m 50s):
Have that one.

5 (31m 51s):
I thought that one was lost.

3 (31m 52s):
No, because remember, so basically spoiler alert Jamal’s phone got stolen. We’ll go into that story. But before it was stolen, he sent, it was such a good picture of us for that Jamal like sent it to one of us or he posted it on Facebook. So over the entire trip, the only picture that we have, like us together on a really good quality camera and a quality picture is that one of us at the very top of the Teotihuacan Pyramids with your camera,

5 (32m 21s):
I don’t remember sharing that because I don’t remember having wifi before I got taken. Cause I don’t know, just getting back to the hotel and then leave it, trying to leave for the airport. But to sum up, yes, my phone got stolen from me as we were trying to go to the airport on the subway. It got pickpocketed from me.

3 (32m 39s):
Does anyone have any more comments about our trip before we move on to the tip section?

4 (32m 44s):
No, I think we covered so much in three days, right? There’s obviously so much more that you can do in Mexico City. You could visit time and time again. There’s museums and attractions and events and so much more to do, but we only had three days and we did a lot in those three days.

1 (33m 1s):
All right, guys, we’re going to tell you about some of the tips that we have for Mexico City. And my biggest tip would be to not take the subway during rush hour traffic during rush hour traffic. They pretty much everyone pushes and shoves each other on and off. And it’s very chaotic and very stressful. And when you’re trying to leave to get to the airport in rush hour traffic, it’s just very frantic. Like you don’t know if you’re going to actually even get on the subway. You don’t

4 (33m 29s):
Know couldn’t get on.

1 (33m 30s):
And there was four of us. So it was, we not only did we have ourselves, we also had our luggage. And so we were afraid of being broken up as a group because everyone is just pushing and shoving that it’s not guaranteed. That we’re all going to make it on in the same cart.

3 (33m 48s):
In fact, Jamal got pushed ahead of us. Like all of a sudden, like we’re all standing there to gather. And the next thing you know, Jamal’s at the, almost on the subway and like you’re getting pushed on, even if you’re trying not to, because you’re a sardine in a sea of people. And before we went down there, cause I know a lot of people who’ve had their phones stolen on the subway. Right. So if you have a backpack, don’t leave it behind your back. Right. Make sure that it’s up against your stomach.

4 (34m 13s):
You were telling us, watch your stuff, the zip up your purses, have it in front of you.

5 (34m 17s):
Yeah, because we had written the Metro on the subway, you know, the other days, but the other days were weekends and in Mexico city, since it’s the Capitol, a lot of people kind of live more on outskirts, not in the main central area where we were. So we heard all those stories about the subway, potential dangers of pickpocketing. You hear all the other stuff and tourist tips, but we wrote them on the weekends when there’s not a lot of people in the city. And I didn’t think that that stuff wasn’t true. I just thought, oh, it’s just not as bad as people are saying, they’re, over-blowing the story because it’s Mexico. And, but no, you know, we were trying to push our way onto the subway to go to the airport and it just got pulled from my pocket.

5 (35m 0s):
I didn’t even feel it. And as a matter of fact, after that attempt where we knew we weren’t going to get on, I said, okay guys, let’s just get out and take the cab and instinctually, whenever I leave the house or do anything, I always give myself a little pat down and got my phone, got my wallet, got my keys, gave myself the pat down and I realized and 10 seconds, my phone was out of my pocket and I have no clue who did it. Didn’t even feel it happening because you’re so trapped down there. So really, really, really, if you can, it’s so much substantially cheaper to take the Metro, but do not do not take it during rush hour times on the weekdays.

3 (35m 38s):
And if you do be mindful of your phone in your pocket,

1 (35m 42s):
Well, on a better note, what about those Kono de Oreos

3 (35m 48s):
Yes, yes. Yes. So they do have Oreo cones at McDonald’s and they love their ice cream. So you know, here in the United States, when you go into McDonald’s you just order whatever you want behind the counter. But in Mexico city, they have a specific line just for ice cream, because it’s so popular. And then if you want anything else, they have another line for that. And the corner, the Oreos are 13 pesos. So what is, that’s like Less than a dollar. Yeah. You can’t

4 (36m 17s):
Even steal

3 (36m 18s):
So good. Don’t go to Mexico City without the Kona. Oreo.

4 (36m 22s):
That’s the one thing we always get when we go to Mexico, another tip is that they don’t have changed. So if you go to the ATM, you’re likely going to get bills in 500, 200 and a lot of businesses don’t want to break those bills. So if you’re buying something on the lower end of pricing, they’re going to look at you with a 500 and say no. So,

3 (36m 42s):
But still anytime you have an opportunity to break a bill, try it, see what they say, because you never know when you’re going to get lucky,

5 (36m 48s):
But it’s so counterintuitive because when you want cash out of the ATM, they give you the big bills. And even in big stores, they don’t want to take it. So if you can break your bills anywhere you can, because more often than not somebody else’s not going to do it for you.

3 (37m 6s):
I remember a super hot day and I needed water. So bad water was what like 20 pesos, maybe less. And in any case, the only thing that I had was a $500 bill and no one was breaking my 500,

5 (37m 19s):
500 pesos,

3 (37m 20s):
500 pesos bill. Yes, yes. I needed water. It was so hot. I went to several Octos. I went to several circle K’s and I couldn’t get a water. And I’m thinking to myself, I am going to die on the street because I am so dehydrated. So get that change.

5 (37m 36s):
And one thing I want to say too, maybe as the last kind of major tip, when you arrive at the airport, doesn’t matter what terminal you arrive in in Mexico City, there will be authorized cab stations. And what you want to do is you want to go there, tell them exactly where you’re going and you pay up front. They give you a receipt and then you go to the cabs and somebody will put you into a cab. These are the regulated cabs. You never want to get in an unregulated cab and Mexico City. So that would be one piece of advice is when you get out or when you get to the airport, definitely don’t go outside and try to find a taxi.

5 (38m 20s):
You need to secure yourself a regulated taxi within the airport. They’re the cheapest and safest taxis in Mexico City.

3 (38m 27s):
Yes, they do have Uber and Mexico City though.

5 (38m 30s):
Yes, I do.

3 (38m 31s):
Plenty of Uber is cheap

5 (38m 33s):
Too. Absolutely. But just for, if you don’t have data to use their internet access, the taxi will be the one.

3 (38m 39s):
If you don’t have data, if you’re landing at 12 or one in the morning,

4 (38m 43s):
Go with the organized taxi,

3 (38m 45s):
Then the extra money be safe. It’s better than being scared.

5 (38m 50s):
And you will see a lot of taxis in the street and it is also recommended not to hail them down, walk into any hotel or a store and have somebody call a regulated taxi for you.

4 (39m 2s):
All right. Thank you so much for listening to our very first episode. I hope you enjoyed traveling to Mexico city with us, and I hope that you’re inspired to take this trip for yourself.

5 (39m 13s):
Please subscribe to our podcast, leave a review and tell us what you like and tune in every travel Tuesday for new episodes.

3 (39m 20s):
And if you aren’t already be sure to follow us on Instagram and Twitter at Travel Squad Podcast,

1 (39m 25s):
Make sure to pack your bags, grab a Mai Tai and relax. Because next episode we are taking you to Hawaii.