Traveling from Nicaragua to Mexico City
Saturday, February 15, 2025: Our travel day on Saturday morning involved waking up at 3:00 a.m., showering, taking a 4:00 am shuttle to the Managua airport, flying on the 6:00 am 45-min Avianca flight to San Salvador, waiting 2+ hours at San Salvador and having coffee at Tapacun, then taking a 9:05 Avianca flight to Mexico City, arriving at 11:20. A driver, Hector, picked us up at the airport and drove us to our apartment in Roma Norte by 12:30. The flights weren’t that long but the day seemed super long on top of our trip from Ometepe to Managua the previous day. Getting to and from Ometepe is truly a trek that takes a lot out of us these days!
Roma Norte, Mexico City
We arrived at our apartment in Roma Norte, Mexico City by 12:30 on Saturday, but of course it was way too early to check in. We left our suitcases and headed out to the charming Tr3s Tonalá, a restaurant about a block from our house, and ate Sopa de Tortilla and CHILAQUILES (con salsa verde). The weather in Mexico City is fabulous: mid 70s & sunny – my perfect weather! We sat outdoors, enjoying a leisurely lunch and talking with a Dutch couple about the horrors of fascist-leaning governments, including the U.S.
Then we took a stroll through a small part of the quirky and lively Roma Norte, which we loved! We found colorful houses, funky trees, a mezcal place where we sampled & bought some mezcal, a pet grooming shop filled with small fancy-pants white dogs, a panadería where we bought a donut and a peach tart for Sunday breakfast, and the supermercado where we bought some food for the apartment (snacks and breakfast stuff). Then it was finally time to check in to our apartment.
Our third-floor apartment at Cuadra 134 on San Luis Potosí in Roma Norte, Mexico City, was roomy, modern, and had everything we needed for our six night stay.
Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico and it is also North America’s most populous city. It sits in the Valley of Mexico within the high Mexican central plateau at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,350 feet).
The 2020 population for the city proper was 9,209,944 in a land area of 1,495 square kilometers (577 sq mi). The population of Greater Mexico City is 21,804,515, which makes it the 6th largest metropolitan area in the world, the second largest urban agglomeration in the Western Hemisphere (behind São Paulo, Brazil), and the largest Spanish-speaking city (city proper) in the world. It is also the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of two founded by Indigenous people. With its GDP of $411 billion in 2011, it is one of the most productive areas in the world (Wikipedia: Mexico City).
Interestingly, the city was originally built on a group of islands in Lake Texcoco around 1325, under the name Tenochtitlan. It was almost completely destroyed in the 1521 siege of Tenochtitlan and subsequently redesigned and rebuilt to Spanish urban standards. Mexico City played a major role in the Spanish colonial empire as a political, administrative and financial center.
Steps: 8,547; Miles 3.62. Weather Mexico City: Hi 76°, Lo 51°. Mostly sunny.
Sunday, February 16: Sunday morning, we embarked on a self-guided walking tour of Roma Norte, also known as Colonial Roma, our trendy neighborhood in Mexico City. Mike found this tour in a blog called The Creative Adventurer and I have to say it was a good one. Roma Norte is delightful & charming, with lots of cute shops, street vendors, tree-shaded streets and cafés. We even found angel wings to try on.
When we travel, I usually plan the big picture stuff, like what countries and cities we will go to, with a list of things to see in each place, and I often figure out our accommodations (with Mike weighing in) and modes of transport. Mike often digs out the day-to-day details like places to go each day and restaurants in which to dine.
Two main architectural styles dominate this neighborhood: Porfirian Art Deco (French and Italian with Gothic and Moorish designs – named after President Porfirio Diaz) and Colonial Revival Style.
We walked in the pedestrian median of the Avenida Álvaro Obregón, considered the “main street” in Roma Norte. In the median are a number of sculptures from Greek and Roman mythology. We popped into El Parián, an Art Nouveau arcade.
We also happened into an adorable bookstore/café, Cafebrería El Péndulo Roma, where we were serenaded by a violinist and singer while we wandered around. Sadly there was an hour-long wait list to get a table in the café, and we didn’t want to wait that long. I would have loved to linger over coffee and bask in the mellow music 🎶. What fabulous ambiance.
Down the historic Chihuahua Street, we found the Casa Prunes, one of the best examples of Art Nouveau architecture in Roma. Abandoned for years, this is now a cocktail bar.
We stopped for caramel latte, a cacao & a chocolate braid at a cute cafe, Fournier Rousseau.
We explored the Modo Museo Del Objeto where there was a “Nonsense Exhibition” inspired by Alice in Wonderland. Lots of mirrors were involved, which we found humorous as we kept bumping into walls of mirrors and images of ourselves. According to the exhibition notes:
One of the purposes of MODO is to provide reflective elements to help understand and enjoy reality, as a form of cultural growth. In the “Nonsense Exhibition,” the inspection of some aspects of nonsense literature and the Dada and Surrealist art movements serves to challenge some conventions between what is represented and what is real, exploring magical or extraordinary things in everyday life.
In his 1871 book “Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There,” mathematician Lewis Carroll explores the possibilities of a nonsensical universe through literature, where Alice has to grasp play as the primary means of navigation in an upside-down world, where to reach a destination, she must move away from it, or run rapidly to remain in the same spot.
Although nonsense literature and the Dada movement of 1916 emerged in different contexts and employed distinct forms of expression, they share a common thread in their embrace of absurdity, rejection of conventional logic, and playful subversion of meaning.
By doing so, both challenge the viewer or reader to reexamine the boundaries between sense and nonsense, reality and imagination. Humor and games challenge the pretensions of seriousness in art and society. Their elements have influenced later movements such as Surrealism and postmodernism.
In rooms full of mirrors, we were reminded of the myth of Narcissus, which tells the story of a young man of irresistible beauty and a heart of ice who scorned the love of the nymph Echo. She, in sorrow, withered away until she became a mournful voice, but before disappearing into the air, she asked that Narcissus also know an impossible love. One day, he bent down to drink from a river, saw himself in the waters, and fell in love with himself. Insensible to the rest of the world, he let himself die leaning over his reflection. In his place, a flower was born that bears his name.
We found a plethora of oddities from “The Nonsense Exhibition” at Museo del Objeto del Objeto. The regular collection displays items and practical objects dating back as far as 1810.
I especially liked the little themed shadow boxes and the Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin films, as well as the irons and the metronomes, which reminded me of my horrid days of piano lessons.
I also learned this:
If we hang two pendulum clocks in a room, they will end up swinging in sync.
The almost imperceptible vibrations each one transmits through the wall change the trajectory of its partner. Slowly but irresistibly, they adopt each other’s cadence until they swing together in unison.
Physics teaches us that when two nearby objects oscillate with a similar interval, they will tend to swing at the same time. It requires less energy to move in collaboration with another than against it.
All living beings are oscillating. We vibrate, we pulse, we embrace internal rhythms like the heartbeat.
Our bodies synchronize with the hours of daylight, with the seasons, with the moon; and with other bodies.” ~ Irene Vallejo
There are many designer boutiques in Roma Norte, all too expensive for our budget, but it was interesting to wander into some of them on Sunday afternoon. One such place was Golden Goose, a high-end custom-made shoe, handbag and clothing shop. The shoes we saw artistically displayed were made to order with sequins and other paraphernalia attached. The cost ranged anywhere from $700-1,300 USD! We were watched closely by security guards, but they were nice enough to let us wander through. When we asked what was upstairs, they said, rather stiffly: “Custom-made clothing for VIPs.” Knowing our place in the pecking order, we thanked them for letting us have a peek at the workshop and showroom and continued our wanderings through Roma Norte.
We continued our walk through Roma Norte, walking through the Plaza Río de Janeiro (or Rio de Janeiro Square); it was originally named Plaza Roma but it was renamed in 1922. In the center of its ebullient fountain is a replica of Michelangelo‘s David.
The most important house bordering the east side of the park is the Edificio Rio de Janeiro. It is identifiable by the large green awning and art deco lettering at its entrance. It has a street-level exterior covered in wrought iron and art deco elements added in the 1930s. The original castle-inspired red-brick building was built in 1908. The house was once called the La Casa de las Brujas (The Witch’s House) due to the pointed tower resembling a pointed witch’s hat located in the corner of the building.
We had a delicious lunch at Cafe Toscano. I enjoyed a SMOKED SALMON TOAST with Ricotta cheese, scrambled egg, avocado, and capers. Mike had КЕТО: Eggs with avocado and cashew sauce, parmigiano and gorgonzola cheese, with green leaves and pumpkin seeds. It was delicious and the cafe was lively and charming. Melody Gardot sang “Your Heart Is as Black as Night” in her sultry voice.
After lunch, we walked by Iglesia de la Sagrada Familia, but sadly it was closed. This was the first church in Colonial Roma in 1910. Then we walked back toward our apartment and relaxed for a while before dinner.
We topped off Sunday night with dinner at La Chicha Roma, toasting our first full day with Axolote Imperial beers. I had three tacos 🌮: Cochinita pilil: Slow-cooked marinated pork, with refried beans and nipec salsa (purple onion). Mike had the most delectable wrapped jalapeños: Jalapeño peppers, stuffed with mix of cheeses and seeds, wrapped in crispy serrano ham and bathed in a light sugarloaf syrup. We decided we’d have to come another time for a repeat of those!
Steps: 9,982; Miles 4.23. Weather: Hi 75°, Lo 49°. Mostly sunny.
Teotihuacán
Monday, February 17: Monday morning we went by Uber about 1 1/2 hours to Teotihuacán, once the largest city in ancient Mexico. It was known for its impressive pyramids and mosaics, and served as the capital of a pre-Hispanic empire. It was a hub of migration, with multi-ethnic groups living in segregated neighborhoods, which possibly led to its downfall, with studies in 2015 suggesting that it was cultural and class tensions that caused the city’s collapse.
The city of Teotihuacan is located in the Northeast of the Basin of Mexico.Its natural environment, with the presence of springs, nearby rivers and forest resources, in addition to proximity to Lake Texcoco, permitted the Teotihuacáns access to a variety of natural resources which they used in their daily lives.
The Ciudadela and the Templo de Quetzalcóatl (Temple of the Plumed Serpent)
We started at the Ciudadela and the Templo de Quetzalcóatl (Temple of the Plumed Serpent). The Ciudadela, or Citadel, was the administrative nerve center of the City of Teotihuacán. From the Ciudadela, a broad avenue runs out in an east-west direction. Together with the Avenue of the Dead, it divides the City into four sectors related to the cosmos as viewed in the Teotihuacan mind.
The avenue extending westward from the Ciudadela divides a huge square platform known as the Great Buildings Complex while at the same time forming one of the entrances to the city’s Ceremonial Center. The middle of this complex consists of a spacious plaza, believed to be the location of the city’s main marketplace, where production and local and external commercial or trading activities, were carried out. It is likely that the temples located atop the great platform were either administrative facilities or Teotihuacan’s seat of power.
We climbed the very steep steps up the Plataforma Adosada (attached platform), a four-story pyramid that is part of Templo de Quetzalcóatl. The platform was once painted only red, the “Teotihuacán red” and without sculptures. Recent archeological explorations have found some remains of serpent heads that formed one of the four faces of one building.
The Enterramientos
We found the Enterramientos, (human burials), dating between 150 and 250 A.D., near the Templo de Quetzalcóatl. The graves, which are parallel to the walls and symmetrical in respect to the center and axis lines of the building, are rectangular, excavated out of rock and covered with stones and dirt. The burials are significant within the two different types of calendars, the sun – Xiuhpohualli – of 365 days, and the count calendar – tonalpohualli – of 260 days; the number of individuals who were supposedly sacrificed were 260.
It is believed that the individuals were sacrificed and given in offering at the beginning of the construction of the temple, due to their kneeling position, with their hands tied behind their backs. The majority are men aged 13 to 55, with some displaying cranial deformities, mutilation and dental inlays. Part of the funeral costume and offering included large collars made from actual pieces of human jawbones and dog fangs, as well as with shell imitations. Other offerings included small prismatic knives, blades and obsidian arrowheads; sea shells; ear pieces and shell disks; slate disks or texcacuitiapillis, worn at the back of the waist, in addition to figurines, cones, collars and ear and nose rings of green stone.
Calzada de los Muertos, or The Avenue of the Dead
We left Ciudadela and began walking up the Avenue of the Dead, the main roadway in the city of Teotihuacan. Early in the morning, we saw hot air balloons floating overhead.
For 2km heading north, the Avenue of the Dead is flanked by the former palaces of Teotihuacán’s elite and other major structures, such as the Pirámide del Sol. The Pirámide de la Luna looms large at the north end. Its southernmost end has not yet been explored. It has an overall length of more than two miles. Forming a right angle with it at the center of the city, the East-West Avenue divides the city into four sectors.
The Nahua people of the l6th century called it Miccaotli, a Nahua word meaning “avenue of the dead,” because they mistakenly thought that the ruins they saw on the sides and along the road were burial mounds.
Partially visible today, this 50 m wide and almost 5 km long road in a north-south direction, with a deviation of 15 degrees east of the magnetic north, also served as a backbone that structured the rest of the streets, squares and multi-family condominiums along it. The local population and visitors walked along this path; also, being a political, economic and religious center of great importance, it was possibly a pilgrimage and procession route for the surrounding towns.
The groups of buildings that line both sides of the Avenue of the Dead belong to palace and temple complexes designed specifically for the Teotihuacan state’s different political-administrative and civic-religious activities, as well as to dwelling areas for the society’s top-level hierarchy, consisting mainly of priests.
We veered off to the right to visit the Museo del Sitio, getting glimpses of the Pirámide del Sol across a field.
The Museo del Sitio
The Museo del Sitio at Teotihuacan introduces the city’s ancient history and displays ancient artifacts (including reproductions of human sacrifices) discovered at the site. We got a glimpse of the daily lives and cultural practices of the Teotihuacán people.
One of the principal materials used by the Teotihuacán society for the manufacture of commonly used tools was obsidian, a glass of volcanic origin brought from deposits located in the State of Hidalgo, and nearby from Otumba, State of Mexico. The fragments obtained from the carving of obsidian were used for the manufacture of instruments such as projectile points for hunting and fishing; knives for the cleaning of animals, agricultural labors, basketry, textiles and domestic work; and scrapers for work upon skins and vegetable fibers. Obsidian was also used in the manufacture of ornamental objects such as necklace beads or sculptural incrustations, as well as for anthropomorphic and zoomorphic pieces, and prismatic knives for ritual use or as offerings in human burials.
Other materials besides obsidian such as flint, quartzite and basalt were also used for the elaboration of tools, but in lesser quantities.
In the Museo del Sitio we saw a model of all of Teotihuacán along the Avenue of the Dead.
Pirámide del Sol
We approached the Pirámide del Sol from the backside since we had visited the Museo de Sitio first. Because it was early morning the sun was behind us so the pictures were best from this angle. When we got to the side facing the Avenue of the Dead, the sun was behind the pyramid so it was difficult to get any decent shots.
Strangely, there were a lot of workers balancing precariously on the sides of the pyramid, pulling weeds from the structure.
The world’s third-largest pyramid – surpassed in size only by Egypt’s Cheops (which is also a tomb, unlike the temples here) and the pyramid of Cholula – overshadows the east side of the Avenue of the Dead. When Teotihuacán was at its height (between 375 and 500 CE), the pyramid’s plaster was painted bright red, which must have been a glowing sight at sunset. The pyramid has 248 uneven steps, leading to an amazing view over the complex. Unfortunately, in order to preserve the structures, it is no longer possible to climb the pyramid.
About midway along the Avenue is Mural del Puma, a mysterious mural of a puma (or jaguar) 🐆, on a wall between the pyramids.
Plaza de la Luna & the Pirámide de la Luna
The majestic Plaza de la Luna, or Plaza of the Moon, closes Calzada de los Muertos with its crown jewel, the Pirámide de la Luna. Eleven smaller temples are arranged symmetrically around the plaza. In its center can be found a temple with four steps.
Pirámide de la Luna (The Pyramid of the Moon) is smaller than the Pirámide del Sol, but more gracefully proportioned. Completed around 300 CE, its tip is nearly the same height as the Pirámide del Sol because it’s built on higher ground, and it’s worth climbing for a perspective on the dominance of the larger pyramid.
I climbed the Pyramid of the Moon in 2007 when I was at Teotihuacán, but it was blocked off on Monday. I don’t know if it’s now always blocked or if it was only blocked on that particular day.
Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl, the Palace of the Quetzal Butterfly
Southwest of Pirámide de la Luna is Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl, the Palace of the Quetzal Butterfly, which is thought to have been the home of a high priest. The remains of bears, armadillos and other exotic animals were discovered here, showing that the area was used by the elite for cooking and rituals.
The Palace of Quetzalpapalotl is one of the most beautiful and emblematic spaces in Teotihuacán, since the reconstruction work carried out on the site during the 1960s was intended to give visitors a more complete visual idea of the splendor and reality of what these constructions were like in the past. Named by archaeologists, Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl consists of a large hall whose massive pillars and pilasters support a wide roof that clearly exemplifies how they were built at the time. Each of the pillars, located around a sunken, quadrangular courtyard, is decorated with beautifully carved images of hybrid animals. It is precisely these figures with butterfly wings, papálotl in the Nahuatl language, and the heads of a bird called quetzal, that give the structure the name of the Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl.
The Palacio de los Jaguares (Jaguar Palace) and Templo de los Caracoles Emplumados (Temple of the Plumed Conch Shells)
The Palacio de los Jaguares (Jaguar Palace) and Templo de los Caracoles Emplumados (Temple of the Plumed Conch Shells) are behind and below the Palacio de Quetzalpapálotl. The lower walls of several chambers off the patio of the Jaguar Palace display parts of murals showing the jaguar god blowing conch shells and praying to the rain god Tláloc.
Here is a short video of our visit to the Teotihuacán complex.
Back to Roma Norte
After our day at Teotihuacán, we returned 1 hour 10 minutes by Uber (a guy who drove at times up to 80mph) to our apartment, where we ate a late lunch at the Counterculture Cafe in the courtyard of the apartment building. I had a classic Bagel sandwich (THE CLASSIC: Turkey ham, three cheese mix, green leaves mix, cucumber, roasted tomato with honey mustard dressing) and Mike a Salmon Lover salad (SALMON LOVER: Mix of green leaves, grilled salmon slices, roasted tomatoes, goat cheese, sesame seeds, ginger with lime dressing); we shared both.
We were exhausted, so we relaxed in our cozy apartment until dinner time, when we returned to Tr3s Tonalá for a delicious dinner of Tortilla Soup, Cauliflor roast izado, and a set of 3 pescado estilo baja tacos. I enjoyed two Vodka Collins and Mike 2 Cosmopolitans because we were there at happy hour and we got two drinks for the price of one.
Two and a half days in, and we were LOVING Mexico City!
Steps: 9,684; Miles 4.11. Weather: Hi 74°, Lo 49°. Partly cloudy.
~ wander.essence ~ 
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