the Legend of Mojito

I am not Mojito. I am his brother.

Tay landed yesterday afternoon, a little before 1pm. I got his text, still stuck at work, trying to finish some foam models. I raced to the airport via three metro lines. Actually, Line B, which I'd never traveled, was really interesting, partially a sky train with some kind of 90's high tech spacey stations.

After racing the length of the airport, I finally caught up with Tay and we picked up a taxi back to Del Valle. He dropped his stuff, and we took the metro the centro historico. I accidently grabbed the wrong train, so when we popped out at Pino Suarez, I was a little disoriented, but we followed my compass and the crowds, and they led us into the heart of the center, the Zocalo.

We took some photos and then went in search of some food. I suggested the Sanborns cafe in the Casa de Azuelos, because it's an in amazing old palace, its some place I've never eaten, and they would have decent tables and seating to get some space so you're not eating elbow to elbow.

The food was, sadly, much more mediocre than I was expecting. There are actually a few major chain restaurants of astounding mediocrity in Mexico, catering to the crowd seeking pseudo-American style comfort based on the Sizzler/Chilis/Denny's model. It's rare for me to find food in Mexico where I just say "meh" but this was it. At least I was able to try the seasonal speciality of Chiles en Nogada.

We walked around the historic center some more and then went up in the Torre Latinoamericano, up to the observation deck. The approaching afternoon rains were actually spectacular, and the air was clear enough to see Santa Fe, and all the ringing mountains and volcanoes around the city. We watched the rain for awhile and decided to make a run for the metro. It was still coming down when we left, so we bought two 10 peso plastic rain ponchos and made a crazy run to the metro station which was packed. We smashed into a Tokyo-crammed subway car and rode it until we could transfer to the metro bus and ride that back to the apartment.

We waited out the rain and rested at home. A few hours later, we ventured out again. We wandered by the lovely monument to the revolution and I called Tay's attention to the final resting place of Pancho Villa. Our goal was La Opera, an ancient and ornate restaurant in the historic center. It was great, beautiful, old interior with gilt wood and faded red velvet cushions, good food, not ridiculously expensive. They had a full bar but refused to serve Tay a mojito, (which became his namesake for the rest of the night and all of today), but they gave him a beer and me a shot of tequila. Afterwards, we hit up El Moro, and split a plate of churros and some hot chocolate.

This morning, we had a bowl of cereal at the apartment, Tay grabbed a Starbucks on our way to the metro, and we popped out in Coyoacan. We walked through the viveros where the aggressive black squirrels unnerved Tay and we watched the matadors practice with bulls wearing tennis shoes. We walked through Coyoacan and visited the Frida Kahlo museum. After the museum, we went back to a seafood restaurant at the market called El Jardin del Pulpo (The Octopus' Garden) and got some seafood dishes and beer for lunch. We also stopped by a taqueria so Tay could try a taco al pastor.

We walked and walked and walked some more to get to Chapultapec park, the metro jammed packed again. We wandered through the castle on the hill until we reached the upper exterior balconies, and basically collapsed on the benches up there until they closed the grounds. We walked to Condesa and the swanky modern Condesa DF hotel where we enjoyed cocktails on the roof deck overlooking Condesa. Made me realize how much I've missed gin and tonics. Tay did get his mojito. We walked back to the apartment since we were both wiped and Tay was showing the beginnings of the typical GI troubles that hit vistors here.

We stayed in tonight and I fixed some leftover rice, chicken, and salad for dinner. A very busy day and a half.