MEXICO: Mexico City, Puebla & Oaxaca

My best friend from college Gaby now lives in Chicago and we don’t see each other very often. I met up with Gaby & co in Mexico City where we visited the neighborhood Coyoacan, Frida Kahlo’s house, and Xochimilco canal. Perfect timing put us in Mexico just in time for Dia de los Muertos, Mexico’s “Day of the Dead”, where loved ones and ancestors are paid their respect and celebrated in the most colorful way. From Mexico City we embarked on a road trip to her home city Puebla and then several hours south to Oaxaca, home to Oaxacan cuising and mezcal (delicious smoked tequila). The entire trip we ate our hearts out (Gaby is a personal chef and is amazing at scouting out the best local eats).

Mexico City

Xochimilco where we took a cruise through the canals while drinking michealadas, and tried out my newly purchased bootleg Simpsons masks.

TEOTIHUACAN

We stopped for dinner at the restaurant called “La Gruta” which means “the cave”. La Gruta is built within an open air cave in to the ground, and actually served really good authentic food for being such a tourist attraction.

PUEBLA

Buried under this church is the largest pyramid (and the largest monument) in the world. This 1500+ year old Aztec pyramid called Tlachihualtepetl is only partially excavated at its base, because the church (Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios… — Buried under this church is the largest pyramid (and the largest monument) in the world. This 1500+ year old Aztec pyramid called Tlachihualtepetl is only partially excavated at its base, because the church (Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios) built 400 years ago continues to be an important landmark and place of worship for Catholics today.

Sharing the preview of the drone footage I had just captured with Gaby and a new friend[:)]

OAXACA and DIA DE LOS MUERTOS

Cacti cover the hillside as we climb in elevation on the highway to Oaxaca

HIERVE EL AGUA (OAXACA)

We made a rugged off road journey to high elevation to Hierve El Agua (Spanish for “the water boils”). A lukewarm spring of water saturated with calcium carbonate and other minerals spills over the hillside creating rock formations that resemble a petrified waterfall. Walls have been built into the slope to catch the water and create pools for swimming.