I clearly have not done a great job of keeping up my travel blog. As I plan my next big excursion, I realized I haven’t written a thing about my last handful of trips. So I’ll go back in time to tell you about them!

In 2022, I was desperate to get out on an adventure as the Covid Pandemic wound down (more or less). Fully vaccinated, I found myself suddenly interested in Oaxaca, Mexico, and since I had to fly through Mexico City anyways…well, I decided to spend some time there. My mom, ever the intrepid dreamer, had such envy that I decided to take her with me, which proved to be a great idea because I saw some things I definitely would not have known about without her knowledge!

I’ve become a big fan of hiring private guides for day tours where ever I am. It’s easy to find guides via toursbylocals.com and viator.com. Since Mexico City is so big and my mom wasn’t as mobile as I was, I decided this was the best way to see our key interest points.

Teotihuacan

Our first tour took us to the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon, more accurately called Teotihuacan, a pre-Columbia city that is now an archaeological site.

Floating Gardens of Xochimilco

Long before Mexico City was the sprawling metropolis that it is, it was actually a giant lake. The land around the lake that wasn’t mountains was already occupied, so when the Aztec’s showed up, rather than keep on moving to other lands, they decided to make their own lands on the lake itself. They built chinampas which are artificial islands that allowed them to grow crops on the lake. Over time, they built a massive network of this islands connected by canals where they lived and farmed. Today, you can visit some of the still standing islands where you can ride the trajinera boats (gondolas, essentially) and see many of the homes and gardens that are still thriving. This is where we took our second tour.

National Archaeology Museum

When I told a co-worker that I was going to Mexico City, he became very animated and insisted that I have to go visit the Archaeology Museum there. It did NOT disappoint. I need to caveat that it is MASSIVE. We spent hours there and only saw about half of what they have. But it’s so incredibly well organized and their collection is fantastic.

Around the city

One of my favorite parts of Mexico City was just wandering around. It’s such an interesting mix of old and new with a some really fun art, I could easily just spend days walking around the city. We ate way more pastries that we needed (they were amazing), saw dancing in the streets, ate the best street tacos ever, and just enjoyed each others’ company!