We made it!

Hola!  

 

We are now in our wonderful junior suite at the Hilton La Reforma in downtown Mexico City!  We have had a really l-o-n-g day, but quite lovely!  So, to begin from Tucson yesterday!

 

Up about 5 and heading to sister Kitty’s by 6 am.  Emmy, our GPS, advised that we take the 8 freeway to San Diego and then head north on the 5 along the coast.  We were a bit skeptical, but honestly, it’s the quickest we’ve ever gotten there ever, just under 8 hours!!  We did stop for some lunch at Carl’s Junior, and then back on the road and to Kitty’s in plenty of time for me to even get a nap before dinner!

 

We took Kitty out to the Silver Palace Chinese restaurant in Whittier, and it was absolutely fabulous!  R as a rule isn’t into Chinese food, but this was wonderful – only problem was that we needed at least 5 or 6 friends to share it with, as Kitty now has leftovers for at least a week, and she’s heading to Dallas tomorrow to visit friends!  Oh well!  There’s always the freezer!

 

So … up this morning about 3:30 am (who needs an alarm?  I just woke up!) and out the door about 4:25 am and heading to the airport.  We are leaving our car at Kitty’s and she is driving us to LAX.  WAZE came through yet again with a great route – 91 west to 605 north to 105 west – and voila, we were there!  In fact, Kitty texted that she was back in bed and falling asleep by 5:49 am!  

 

As we are carry-on people, we got to TSA and through security in less than five minutes.  Then on to gate 46 A (which, as R predicted, was at the very end of the concourse) giving us lots of time before our flight.  The Airport is making constant announcements about wearing masks, so eventually we did put ours on.  We had planned on flying in masks anyway, and we did.  No problems at all!  We actually left about 20 minutes early, and the flight, while almost full, was fine.  It was also about 30 minutes early landing, which was very nice.  As I still cannot figure out how to get movies on my phone with my blue tooth headphones, I basically read or colored (great app!) 

 

Immigration was a bit crazy – but almost everybody in the airport was masked.  Obviously, they are taking Covid very seriously here.  It took about half-an-hour to get through, and voila, out of the airport.

 

Once you exit immigration and customs, you find yourself in a large hall with lots going on.  The booth to by “authorized” taxi tickets (taxi fares are pre-paid, so there is no question about being taken for a ride by the cab driver) is on the right-hand side, and it costs about $14.00 to our hotel in the city center.  I truly thought we were going to experience Death by Taxi when our driver took off almost into the side of a bus, but somehow, miraculously, we made it!  Traffic around the airport was horrible, but eventually we broke loose on Reforma and were able to make good time to the Hilton.

 

We had stayed here on our last trip, and absolutely LOVED it!  It has the best Executive Lounge on the planet, we are convinced.  (Not that we’ve been in every one, but of those we have visited, this one takes the prize!). We are in room 2015, which is a lovely junior suite.  HUGE bathtub AND shower, as well as two televisions and a wealth of other things.  My first objective is always to get unpacked, and there were plenty of drawers at our disposal, which was lovely!  R set up the computer, and eventually everything fell into place.  

 

View from our room!

Bellas Artes at the top right

Junior Suite 2015

Then, I wanted to go down to the lobby and have a glass of wine – it was approaching 4 pm and I was getting tired!  Oh!  But first, I remembered that there had been an ATM VERY close to the hotel – and we found it!  Out the back door, out to the street, turn left and voila – a Santander ATM.  We’re rich!  At least we have more than enough pesos to get us through the next few days!  (We had been advised to use either Santander or Inbursa (which is just down the street) rather than HSBC, which apparently has a much larger service fee.). We had two glasses of lovely Baja California Sauvignon Blanc, and discussed our plans for the evening.  

 

I really needed to take a walk and get some air, but first, turns out, that the 16^th of September is Mexican Independence Day!  Who knew?!  (The first time we came here, I realized about three days before departure that we were arriving on Day of the Dead, so that was a surprise)!   Apparently, after Day of the Dead, this is the biggest holiday on the calendar – and our hotel is hosting a Fiesta!  Buffet dinner, drinks (oh boy…) and entertainment – mariachi, ballet folklorico, AND Lucha Libre!  

 

Now for anyone who doesn’t know about Luca Libra, it’s a form of Mexican wresting, where the participants wear colorful masks, and it’s very dramatic!  I had asked R before he left if he wanted to see it, and was told in no uncertain terms:  NO!  However, we’re going to see it now, and I am very excited about it!  It’ll be fun!  Apparently, though, if I understand the gal who booked our tickets for dinner – it starts at 7 pm and ends at 3 am.  I find that VERY hard to believe – except for getting up for airplanes, I don’t think I’ve ever actually been “UP” for anything at that time of the morning!  Well, we’ll see!!  Ah, Fiesta!!

 

I then – finally – took my walk.  Not a very long one – but long enough to stop in a Sanborns and get some additional toothpaste and see some lively sights along the street!  Some beautiful statuary in the park, and lots of people.  It was really cooling down by this time – blue jeans felt really good!

 

Found R in the lobby then, and we went into El Cardinal – my FAVORITE Mexico City restaurant!  (There are about 6 or 7 of them in the city, but the one in the Hilton Hotel is fabulous!  As it was only 5:30 pm by this time, we were giving the LUNCH menu!  Turns out, you don’t get dinner until at least 7:30 pm at the earliest!

 

In place of many U.S. restaurants providing chips and salsa, El Cardinal provided a mocejete(ancient container – well, ours was porcelain, but based on an ancient container…) with fresh avocado and cheese in a spicy chili sauce.  Wow!  What a way to begin!  And that wasn’t even dinner!

 

First wine photo of the trip!

So … I started with a pasta with poblano chiles; fabulous! R had their tortilla soup – also just incredible!  From there, he moved to a chili relleno – cheese-stuffed poblano chili in sauce, which he very much enjoyed.  I had their pollo with mole poblano – John Spiller, this was for you!!  It was incredible!  I have dreamed of that mole during the Covid days, and, just like France, never thought we’d be back!  It was WONDERFUL!  All washed down with a bottle of Chenin Blanc from Baja California – again, exceptional!  They make very good wine here!

 

My very black mole with chicken somewhere there!

R's chili Relleno

R's wonderful tortilla soup

My pasta with peppers

Mocajete with cheese, avocado & sauce

However, there was absolutely NO room for dessert – we couldn’t even finish our entrees, but enjoyed every single bite!  

 

We had planned on stopping at the Executive Lounge on the 26^th floor, but only had the energy to make it back to our room, and we are now in for then night!  We’ll have to make our debut there tomorrow for breakfast!

 

So, Friends – adios and more tomorrow!

Much love,

m

xxx