Girl Trip 2024: Ciudad de México: Day 5

Wednesday, November 20, 2024

El Quinto Dia — New Hotel, Anthropology, Rivera’s Dream of a Sunday Afternoon at the Alameda Central… and More

Greetings from Mexico City (Polanco)

While you are likely to get this message on the evening of November 21st, I am writing it on the 20th at the new hotel and finishing on the plane on the 21st. It’s late now (after midnight) so I already know I will likely not get it out before I go to bed.

Today was the first day with bad weather: rain. But we persevered and powered on. Before breakfast, we had decided to leave El Patio and head to a hotel in downtown. We had already researched possibilities and costs so we were ready to go. Once we all texted each other about how long it took to get hot water for the shower, we were quick to decide it was time to move. We booked rooms at the Hyatt Regency Mexico City—and off we went. Normally I hate staying in “chain” hotels and large hotels, preferring the unique personalities of local hotels. But we were rushed and figured we needed some kind of assurance we’d have hot showers and super clean rooms. As we entered the lobby of the 30-story Hyatt, we all laughed, and frankly treasured the brightness of the soaring atrium and the hospitable staff—a far cry from our dark, dingy, staffless El Patio with the difficult-to-navigate dimly lit stairwell. We dropped off our bags and headed out to walk about 20 minutes to Mexico’s wonderful Anthropology Museum, which one could spend weeks in…. and not feel they had seen enough. We were pressed for time, so we were only there for a few hours. We split up to go separate ways and meet at the museum’s restaurant. Interestingly we all found ourselves in the same section—the cultural and social exhibits, especially the fiestas section.

The museum was as wonderful as I had remembered. The exhibits are beautifully developed and displayed and their collection is amazing. The building itself is also quite interesting. We had a great lunch at the Sala Gastronomique— including ceviches, tamales, a vegetable salad (and soup for Carol). From there we walked to the Reforma and caught a taxi (in the rain—thank goodness we asked the hotel for our paraguas/umbrellas).

We headed to see the Diego Rivera mural, “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon at Alameda Park”—one of my favorites which includes Diego himself in the center (as an 8-year-old boy—who looks like a miniature Diego) standing in front of Frida and next to the Catarina. The mural is Rivera’s sense of four centuries of Mexican history combined with his own personal history. It all takes place in the Alameda Park in Mexico City, which was located near the hotel whose location witnessed all of the transcendental events of Mexican history which are depicted in the mural. There are more than 100 characters in the mural and about half have been identified. The story in the mural goes from the Conquest and the Holy Inquisition to the first half of the 20th century. The mural depicts various histories of Mexico from diverse political perspectives. It’s about 50 ft long and used to hang in one of Mexico City’s most prestigious hotels. But the mural was too heavy for the walls and the hotel needed some repairs, so it was relocated, just before the earthquake which would most likely have crushed the mural. Now it hangs in its own little building—perhaps a bit more precious than in the “public” lobby of a hotel, but preserved, nevertheless.

We had asked the taxi driver to return to pick us up in an hour and had high hopes he would appear, but alas we stood in the rain for about 15 minutes and then decided to find another taxi (no easy task on a rainy day during rush hour). We finally got a pretty rickety taxi with a cracked windshield, but driven by a really nice older Mexican who didn’t know where we were going but followed our GPS instructions to a T!.. We headed to FONArt… one of those government run craft stores that exist throughout Mexico. And where you can generally find the highest quality craft from throughout the country. It was located at the edge of the Condessa neighborhood. Because of the rain and the time, we asked this taxi driver to wait for us and said we’d pay for the time he’d be sitting there.

We found some unbelievable pieces at FONArt, but most were too large and/or too expensive for any of us. We did purchase a few small items, which we all hope will make it back in one piece. The taxi driver was waiting down the street and then we joined millions of Mexicans in the famous Mexico City traffic—taking about an hour to go 3 or 4 miles. “Atasco de trafico en la Ciudad de Mexico!” If it wasn’t raining we might have walked or at least figured out the bus or metro route. But we were happy to be in an enclosed car and not to face the rain (fortunately the taxi had one working windshield wiper, so we were in good shape)! By the time we reached our new little home at the Hyatt, we were almost ready to call it a night and just have dinner at the hotel. But we realized it would be a bummer to spend our last night eating in a restaurant that felt like we weren’t really in Mexico. So, we pushed our reservation at Fonico for an hour later and headed out at about 8 pm for a 8:30 reservation.

Fonico is a pretty special place and by the time we ended our meal we were clear we had made the right decision—about the restaurant and about not just staying at the hotel. I don’t know the whole history of Fonico but it is a narrow, somewhat non-descript, mid-block building on the outside (located on a street with several old buildings). Once you enter the space you are confronted with an overly elaborate, ornate, and unbelievably exquisite spiral staircase -–metal and wood with all sorts of decorative elements. Apparently, the staircase leads to a disco on the second floor (Rayo) which seems quite popular. But Fonico’s specialness goes beyond the staircase and into the food. It’s truly a special place for dinner. If I can remember all the dishes, it will be a stroke of genius.

We started with a series of raw oysters from Japan and a set of roasted oysters. Both were presented on wooden boxes with a layer of stones under the oysters (the raw ones sat on cold stones; the roasted or grilled oysters sat on hot stones). All of the oysters had some kind of mignonette vinegar with spices and hints of chili. We also had a ceviche (mahi mahi, I think) served with a spicy lemon foam, and we had a roasted vegetable salad. Then we had a risotto with shrimp and herbs and some kind of salsa that just melted in your mouth. I think there was another dish but cannot remember. And then we had one main course—the mahi mahi which was perfectly poached or roasted served with some vegetables and spices. Naturally we needed to end the meal with something sweet so we opted for a chocolate thing and a sort of decomposed tres leches cake. Good wine throughout.. and we were happy campers.

We got back to the hotel at around 11:30 and agreed to meet up at the hotel restaurant for breakfast at 8:30 am.

Thursday, November 21, 2024:

Following a nice breakfast including wonderful fruit platters, we headed to the airport in a taxi called by the airport. We really just wanted to go out onto the street to hail a taxi but it was difficult with the luggage. Naturally, Hyatt uses what they call “tourist taxis”—costing about the same as regular taxis but more “luxurious” and driven by those who speak the language of the passengers. Since language was not much of a problem, we chatted for a while. While he didn’t say it, I’m pretty sure he was a Mexican Trumper. He was also normally a tour guide so he regaled us with what he would have shown us had we hired him to be our guide over these past few days. I’m ever more convinced that traveling independently and seeing things the way and when you want to see them is perfect for me. He was rather shocked to learn we didn’t have any guides for our trip and assured us that next time we should contact him to show us around. His list of places read like a tour book with museum after museum and monument after monument. No thanks. I did manage to ask him how he felt about Mexico’s new Jewish female president. He said something to the effect of “the verdict’s out.”

So now I am sitting on my flight back to San Francisco on United Airlines and my seatmate is an extremely nice guy (who was in a wheelchair on boarding and who was stopped for a secondary check at the gate boarding). He was a bit frazzled by this additional review of his bags (as I would be). We joked that he must have a terrorist profile. Turns out he is the manager/executive director (?) of the Oakland Gay Men’s Choir. So we chatted a bit, before our food arrived about the organization and its efforts to raise funds and to plan for the future. His background has nothing to do with nonprofit leadership but it sounds like he’s doing a good job. I’ll have to get tickets for their holiday or spring performances.

And several good conversations with the purser about the airlines, and United in particular… and the industry as a whole. Mmmmmm……

So now it’s time for me to end this rather long note to all of you, as the plane is beginning its descent and the weather in the Bay Area is wet and windy so they are expecting a possibly rocky landing.

It’s been another great girls trip; we are already talking about next year (Copenhagen? Brooklyn? Someplace in Georgia that is famous for its quilts? Guatemala?) We shall see.

Hasta Luego-
Fern

PS Hope to see many of you on December 4 at the Book Launch Party.