Girl Trip 2024: Ciudad de México: Day 2

Sunday, November 17, 2024

Buenas Noches –

It was a very full day in Coyoacán today. We had a light breakfast at the hotel. By the way, I’d highly recommend H21 Hospedaje Hotel… it’s really great and very well located. Nine rooms; staff is young and very helpful. The hotel was renovated beautifully, rooms are spacious and very well appointed, and the landscaping (all interior courtyards) are delightful and well-tended.

After breakfast we walked around Coyoacán and stopped at the wonderful mercado which measures about two blocks by one block—chock full of taco stands and juice places and quesadilla stands and every kind of food imaginable—all surrounded by stands that sell spices, and fruits, vegetables, household goods (from washing bins to toilet paper), wonderful stalls with all sorts of skeletons and handmade trinkets. We strolled to every corner of the market, eventually leaving and walking around the main square and a brief look inside the big cathedral on the square— San Juan Bautista Church—which dates to about 1525.

Then we hopped into a taxi to get to our 2:00 (brunch) reservation at San Angel Inn. We sat outside in the fabulous courtyard. The hacienda dates back to the 1600s and changed hands many times and today this wonderful restaurant is housed at the Inn. We decided to focus on the starters and shared plates and skip the “main meals.” So we started with two different ceviches (one with scallops and shrimp and a vinegar-y salsa with mangoes; the other a fish ceviche in an Acapulco style). Both were wonderful and larger than we anticipated. Then we shared the duck tacos and the cochinita pibil, and the assorted quesadillas. Oh, all of this was preceded by wonderfully pure and classic margaritas (heavy on the tequila!). While the postres looked great, we opted to pass as we were totally stuffed. I would be remiss not to mention the high fashion sported by the women coming in and out of the Inn—all dressed to the nines; we were definitely under-dressed!

We then took a taxi to the Museo Trotsky, which is back in Coyoacán. It includes a museum, and the house Trotsky lived in when he was in exile in Mexico City. Apparently, the museum is administered by an organization that works to promote and protect political asylum. Trotsky lived in the house with his second wife for about a year and this is where he was murdered in 1940. It’s been kept intact since that day. The house is surrounded by lovely gardens and high walls which include a set of watchtowers. Trotsky left the Soviet Union in 1929 because of his criticism of Stalin. He and his wife moved to many countries and eventually wound up in Mexico. Visiting the Trotsky House ties into our Frida Kahlo theme since it was Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo who convinced the Mexican government under Cardenas to give Trotsky asylum. Upon coming to Mexico in 1937, Trotsky and his wife lived at Frida Kahlo’s house (La Casa Azul), located nearby. But there was a falling out between Trotsky and Rivera—some say it was ideological, and others say it was because Trotsky had an affair with Kahlo (or perhaps a combination of both). After this falling out, Trotsky moved to the house we visited. The Trotsky story of his time in Mexico and the assassination are complicated and interesting, but no time to discuss in this note. I will, however say, that the exhibit points to the importance of good preservation of photographs, which was definitely not done for preserving this part of history. And the exhibit only has intermittent English, so it was difficult to follow. My Spanish is definitely not good enough to read the various explanations of politics and political history that hung on the walls.

From there we decided to walk back to our hotel – a 30+ minute walk through Coyoacán’s lovely tree-lined streets. It was Sunday and very quiet.

We were supposed to go to an upscale restaurant for dinner, but we were all still full from lunch and opted to go to a nearby vegetarian-forward café where we just had homemade vegetable soup and shared a “small’ pizza.

That’s it for now for me
More tomorrow.
Fern