Thursday, October 21, 2021

How to plan a trip to Mexico

 Mexico is a vast and varied country with a rich history and culture. We had a 15 day vacation in Mexico Sep 22 to Oct 6 and 10 days at Yellowstone, Teton Oct 8 to 19. 

Starting on the Mexico part now.

INTRODUCTION:

For logistic reasons we chose Mexico city for a 14 day stay. Son flew down from Houston on Sep 22 noon and worked on his office laptop as he waited at the airport Benito Juarez Mexico city. I arrived at 7 pm after more than 24 hour flights. Mexico provided a convenient and entertaining stay prior to entering the US.

The respite was beautiful with engaging visits to museums, palaces, churches, ancient ruins, colorful towns and parks.

Here are a few pics:












































This is the google map we used. You can zoom in on the bubbles and see the details

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1FrhXrc9SVgKRpKKbPDbYHOAeoodfrdS3&usp=sharing

Mexico City (Ciudad de México), capital of the country, lies at an altitude of more than 2,200 meters in the Anáhuac Valley, surrounded by mighty mountain ranges. The city's location is breathtaking - two magnificent snow-covered volcanoes, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, tower above it at heights of more than 5,000 meters. The city preserves countless reminders of its past, though pre-Columbian art and architecture exist only in isolated fragments and museum reproductions since the Spanish Conquistadors built their new city on the ruins of the old Aztec metropolis of Tenochtitlán. A number of the splendid Baroque churches and palaces built during this early colonial period survive.


ACCOMODATIONS:

 We had 15 nights at Caravansaro Horacio in the posh locality of Polanco in Mexico City. 











Suites La Concordia at Puebla Centro:

In between, we double booked 3 nights at Puebla 






and visited the colorful towns of Puebla, Cholula and Atlixco.

FOOD

We are vegetarians and self catered. Superama was right across the road in Mexico city and OXXO next door at Puebla.


























TRANSPORT


Bought a metro card at the airport, loaded it with 100 pesos and used the metro . METRO: 12 Lines, 5 MXN, boleta. METROBUS: 6 MXN

You can buy a paper ticket at the ticket booth inside the station or a smart card (tarjeta) for 10 pesos. The card can be recharged with up to 120 pesos at a time and can be used for multiple people traveling together. Then, you will need to tap the card or feed your ticket into the barrier to enter. You do not need to tap again to exit.

In the metro map below, I've  circled all necessary stations. 
Our hotel was less than 2 km from metro station Polanco. 
. 
We also used uber, 40 pesos to the metro station  [20 pesos=1USD]  Sometimes we used uber for the whole trip, as for instance to go to TAPA for taking the bus to Puebla. Or to go to Zocalo or Tacuba for COVID TEST ETC




COVID TEST BEFORE BOARDING US FLIGHT


As recommended on Tripadvisor, we booked appointment on Sald Digna site and went to their Tacuba branch. 260 pesos for RAPID ANTIGEN test per person [20 pesos=1USD]. Results are sent to our email in 2 hours. We did not get ours, should have emailed them, but we panicked, went there in person and got our certificates

ITINERARY:


DAY 1 SEP 23, THURSDAY:
National Museum of Anthropology

DAY 2 SEP 24, FRIDAY
Castilla de Chapultepec 1a Sección Museo Nacional de Historia,, Bosque de Chapultepec, Presidential Palace- Los Pinos  


DAY 3 SEP 25, SATURDAY
Zocalo, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Casa de los Azulejos, Church of San Francisco and Torre Latinoamericana.

DAY 4 SEP 26, SUNDAY
Roman Catholic Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe)

DAY 5 SEP 27, MONDAY
Museo Soumaya

DAY 6 SEP 28, TUESDAY
Teotehuacan and Basilica in the evening on the way back. 

DAY 7 SEP 29, WEDNESDAY
The Metropolitan Cathedral, and the Templo Mayor

DAY 8 SEP 30, THURSDAY
Bus trip to Puebla for a 3-night stay.

DAY 9 OCT 1, FRIDAY
Day trip to Cholula.

DAY 10 OCT 2, SATURDAY
Day trip to Atlixco.

DAY 11 OCT 3, SUNDAY
Puebla Zocalo and Rosary Chapel, Back to Mexico City
[Oct 4 & 5: Too busy with office work. Covid test at Salud Digna on Oct 5.].


DAY 12 OCT 6, WEDNESDAY
 The National Palace,
Received an email from our airline saying our Oct 7 evening flight @ 6:30pm was cancelled and that we were being offered 6:30am flight on Oct 7 morning. We accepted and had a mad scramble packing up.

DAY 13 OCT 7, THURSDAY
Got up at 2am, caught the pre-booked Uber at 3am, reached airport at 3:30am and boarded our 6:30am flight. Reached Houston by 9am. The next day (Oct 8), we set off on our adventure in our own car to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks...but that's another story! 

VIDEOS LINK

There are 4 albums. Links are as follows

WHOLE ALBUM, MEXICO VIDEOS [I'll keep adding videos as I process them]: 


Mexico city videos are at: MEXICO VIDEOS [Basilica Guadalupe, Soumaya museum, National Anthropology museum, National History museum, Los Pinos]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/r4MkAoV9VWhia4Lz9


MEXICO VIDEOS 2: PUEBLA Parque Paseo de los Gigantes

https://photos.app.goo.gl/UvsUkusc45UgZ6Nf9


MEXICO VIDEOS 4 NATIONAL PALACE

https://photos.app.goo.gl/J2T4qenRyKbGQkc1A


MEXICO VIDEOS 3 PUEBLA, CHOLULA, ATLIXCO

https://photos.app.goo.gl/khFSRMNP7HbnYr3b7


Detailed report of Day 1 with pics and videos continues here :






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