The months are going by in such a blur. I can’t believe it’s the first week of November; that Day of the Dead has come and gone and that there are Christmas decorations at the grocery store.
This month I stayed put in Mexico City and enjoyed new food, new experiences, and of course, I revisited my favorite bars and restaurants on the weekends, too.
Favorite Recent Mexico City Eats
This month Luke and I celebrated 10 years together (!), so we made reservations at a place called Pehüa. It’s an upscale restaurant that uses Mexican ingredients in a creative way. We opted for the tasting menu and it was so delicious. Some of the stand-out dishes were the barbacoa taco and the tostada! They also made seriously delicious cocktails – especially the mezcal-based one!
Delicious barbacoa tacos from Pehüa
Another new-to-me place that I tried in October was the restaurant Terraza Cha-Cha-Cha. It’s a rooftop bar right next to the Revolution Monument, so you get a great view and the food is really top quality. It’s mostly Mexican dishes done it a slightly elevated way, but it’s not crazy expensive. I recommend the Chamorro (pork shank). They also make nice tostadas. If you want to sit on the balcony, be sure to bring sunglasses and some sunscreen. It gets hot up there!
It’s also just a nice place to head for a few drinks. You don’t have to eat, you can simply enjoy a few beers or one of their cocktails instead. But I do recommend trying at least some of the food. Most of the menu is designed to share.
This is the delicious spread we had at Terraza Cha-Cha-Cha
Favorite Recent Mexico City Activities
Last week I went on a press trip to Central de Abastos, the largest market in Mexico City and actually the largest distribution market in the world. It was enormous. It truly felt like a city.
We had to go through what looked like a land border crossing before landing ourselves in a parking lot. We were then taken to the flower section which is larger than my weekly tianguis where I buy all of my fruit and veg. It was packed with marigolds for Day of the Dead. Trucks full of flowers were pulling in by the hundreds!
This is a truly unique experience. I recommend visiting with a tour guide as it is SO huge you will likely get lost. It’s like a city with a school, road names, and lots of big trucks (with no sidewalks)
I made a video about my experience which you can have a peek at here:
Favorite Travel Reads
I’ve been doing my best to make more time for reading and this month I made my way through three really excellent books.
Lifelines: New Writings from Bangladesh – This book was unlike any that I’ve ever read. It’s a collection of essays and stories from female Bangladeshi writers. Some are jarring and sad others are beautiful and made me laugh so hard. I really know very little about Bangladesh as a country and what it is like culturally. It was really eye-opening. Buy lifelines on Amazon here.
Terra Nullius by Claire G. Coleman – I don’t want to give too much away about this book, but it is a fascinating examination of what colonization has done to countries around the world – their culture, their psyche, their population. It’s a fictional novel, but there are a lot of similarities to be drawn especially with the way that the indigenous Australians were treated by the colonizing British. Buy Terra Nullius on Amazon here.
To Shake the Sleeping Self by Jedidiah Jenkins – This is one of the best travel memoirs I’ve read in a long time. Jedidiah traveled by bicycle from Oregon to Patagonia and I was so inspired reading about his journey and observations. I especially liked the retelling of his time through Mexico. He is a true storyteller and boy has it made me want to go on a serious adventure! Buy To Shake the Sleeping Self on Amazon here.
Best Blog Posts This Month
Thanks to being based on Mexico City all month, I got a ton of work done! These are some of the best of the bunch.
Thoughts on 8 Years of Life Abroad & What Home Means: This blog post is the most personal post I’ve written in a long while. It was sparked by a recent conversation I had for a podcast called Strangers Abroad. It’s my musings on what strange and interesting turns life has taken in the past 8 years and what I think about the question, “Where is home?”
Mexico City for Foodies: The Best Restaurants in Mexico City Right Now: I don’t often write posts about restaurants in Mexico City because I have a huge list in my guidebook and because the hottest restaurants change almost weekly! However, I’m constantly getting questions about my personal favorites, so I put this handy guide together.
Christmas in Mexico City: Traditions and Things to Do: Christmas in Mexico is a unique experience if you’ve never experienced it before. This is another common question I get as it’s such a popular time to visit the city, so I hope those of you coming at this time of year find it helpful!
Upcoming Travel Plans
This weekend I was away on a trip to Tepotzlan, which I’ll definitely be writing more about. Towards the end of the month, I’m off to Guadalajara for the first time which I’m super excited about. I’ve never been to Mexico’s second largest city and I’ve heard such amazing things about the food and entertainment.
December is packed full of adventures too with my parents visiting and two trips booked to new-t0-me destinations: Puerto Vallarta and Baja (road trip!).
As always, keep up to date with my travels in real time by hanging out with me on Instagram. It’s where I post daily stories and photos of where I am in the moment versus my blog or Facebook which are always a little bit behind.
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