Girl Trip 2024: Ciudad de México: Day 3

Monday, November 18, 2024

Greetings from Coyoacán!

Following breakfast at the little vegetarian place near the hotel, we set out for Xochimilko—a section of Mexico City that I had never really been to. Like Coyoacán, Xochimilko was once an independent municipality on the shores of Lake Xochimilko. It’s in the southern part of the city and has its own distinct history and identity. Many consider it a gritty part of the city and indeed there is a lot of small industry and the area is definitely on the lower end of the economic scale from Coyoacán. It is well known for its canals. Historically, what is now Mexico City had a complex lake and canal system. Today the canal system in Xochimilko is filled with colorful gondola-like boats called “trajineras.” The canal system prompted Xochimilko to become a UN World Heritage site. It’s a bit touristy, but we had lots of fun. We rented our own boat with its own “el capitan”…. And trolled the canals for about an hour. Along the way, even smaller boats come close to our boat; they offered tequila, beer, flowers, and snacks for purchase. Along the way, we got off the boat to sit in a little outdoor patio where we had quesadillas and beer… and then got back into the boat.

We hadn’t planned to go to Xochimilko, so we didn’t fully figure out what was possible. As we approached, we remembered that this was where the Island of the Dead Dolls is located, and asked to get a boat to take us there. But alas the time needed to get there and back was too long, so we just travelled through one section of the canals. Next time, Island of the Dead Dolls! We also tried to get pesos at a bank near the boat area, but the ATM was out of money.

We then headed to the main market in Xochimilko which again reflects the working class nature of the area as compared to Coyoacán and other more upscale parts of the city. We strolled the market and at one point noticed an Israeli flag hanging above one of the fish stalls. So, we approached and suddenly a woman at the stall started talking to us in a combination of Hebrew and Yiddish, mixed with Spanish. Of the three languages, Spanish was my strongest…. Anyway, we asked a few questions and said “Shalom!” and went on our way.

We taxied back to Coyoacán (would have taken the metro but it turned out to take more than twice as much time and required both metro and bus) but told the driver to take us to Viveros Park instead of going back to the hotel. Viveros Park is a combination tree nursery and beautifully maintained park that is about 100 acres. It’s really popular for joggers and those who just like to stroll. It was a delightful walk in the park. From there we walked back to the hotel and also to find an ATM with cash!

And then we were off to dinner at Hiyoko. While flying to Mexico City, I watched the Eva Longoria film on her favorite eating places in Mexico City. She had a lot of interesting places but many were either extremely high-end or too far away. This one stuck out. It is located in the Little Tokyo section of the city, and is absolutely beautifully appointed with just one very long wooden counter that seats about 25 people. Carol, Adrienne, and I studied the menu which was one of those menus that had some words that are not possible to translate and was a combination of Japanese food terms mixed with Spanish words. Eventually, the waitress found an English version.

Every dish was perfect ….and a little work of art. In addition to mouth-watering sashimi, the restaurant serves little mini-yakitori style items. We had a huge variety of these very small plates including (each skewer has about three little morsels) edamame with a wonderful dressing; little one-item skewers with duck, shishito peppers, zucchini (which they called pumpkin on the English menu), mushrooms, chicken, cherry tomatoes wrapped in pancetta, pancetta rolls with amazing spices and tidbits of fruit inside, and a few other items I don’t remember. And we had wonderful sake, so smooth you could hardly sense the alcohol content. Of course we needed to end the dinner with dessert so we ordered three of the four options: matcha tiramusu served in a perfect wooden cube, something called fawa fawa (a pudding made with lychee and matcha and some other ingredients and served in a little jar, and a scoop of lychee ice cream sitting atop a strawberry puree.

From there we set out to find a taxi which required walking to a very large Sheraton Hotel… and with that we headed back to the hotel. We leave the delightful Coyoacán and the charming H21 Hospedaje tomorrow and head for another hotel in the Polanco neighborhood, But before we leave Coyoacán, we will walk to Casa Azul (Frida Kahlo’s house and museum) and Diego Rivera’s house/museum…. I’ve seen them both before but happy to go again. Once settled in Polanco, we’ll go to the Museum of Anthropology and then head to see the very large Diego Rivera mural “Dreams of Alameda Park” and stroll the historic district… And just like that Thursday will come and we will be heading back to the states.

More tomorrow,
Fern