10 random things I love about Mexico City

I swear, I do things besides eat (like send you gifts - details here!)

Now that I’m back in Mexico City, I’m remembering that it just feels like home. There are countless things I could share about why it’s the greatest city on earth - here are just a few.

I’m passionate about this city in a way I have never been passionate about any place - which is perhaps why after six years, no matter where I go (still looking for that perfect beach town!), I always seem to end up here.

Should I share more travel/international living content? Should I make this a regular feature? What would you like to see, specifically? Let me know in the comments!

1. The rainy season (which is from May/June to September/October/November, depending on who you ask). I admit, it took a couple of years for me to embrace it, but now I absolutely love the coziness of it (assuming I’m inside, of course!) Plus, everything becomes so green and lush.

2. The flowers. Strolling through the flower section of Mercado Jamaica. Watching the jamaica (hibiscus) bushes in my neighborhood explode with huge blooms during the rainy season. The pale purple jacaranda petals covering the streets in the spring.

3. Cheeseless quesadillas. This gets flack from the rest of the country, but quesadillas in Mexico City are cheeseless as a default. Yes, this is confusing. Yes, this makes no sense - isn’t queso (cheese) in the name? But as a vegan, I love it - I can always easily find an early breakfast or late night snack on the street. A fresh cheeseless quesadilla hot off the comal (griddle) filled with champiñones (mushrooms), nopales (cactus paddles), flores de calabaza (squash blossoms), or papas (potatoes)? Say less.

4. Churros. Nowhere does churros like Mexico City. Churros are traditionally - but not always - cheap and vegan, and the churros at Churreria el Moro specify that they are both! There are locations all over the city now, but nothing beats the original location in San Juan Letrán, which has been open since 1935.

5. Huaraches (the kinds you eat, not sandals, which are the kinds you wear) - these originated not only in Mexico City but in my OLD NEIGHBORHOOD (!!) and I miss them so, so much when I'm away. My favorite huarache eatery understands my specialty order of no meat, no cheese, grilled vegetables (onions and nopales) and avocado only, but still fried to the heavens please.

6. Women on side streets selling fresh herbs, coffee, and more. I can think “I need to buy coffee” and then walk by a woman selling organic coffee grown one state over, buy one of the brown paper bags out of her basket, and be on my way to wherever the evening was already taking me.

7. Shopping at the tianguis. A tianguis is an open-air market (kind of like a bazaar) held on a certain day each week, and almost every neighborhood has one (or several). During the holiday season, there is even a special holiday tianguis in our neighborhood! You can buy anything at the tianguis. Anything. ANYTHING. Fuck Walmart, shop at the tianguis!

8. I can go to a party and, at a minimum, hear Spanish (from several countries), English (also from several countries), Italian, and Russian being spoken. I love meeting people from all over Mexico and all over the world.

9. The public transportation system. I know some folks who are afraid of braving it, but they’re missing out. The Mexico City metro is perhaps the cleanest I have ever traveled on in the world (it is the second largest in North America, after only NYC, and unlike the NYC metro it actually gets cleaned) and the Metrobus system is modern and extensive. Oh, and the Mexico City metro costs 5 pesos ($0.28 USD), is free for elderly and physically disabled folks, and the price hasn’t gone up for TEN YEARS. That said, rush hour is absolute hell so you may want to avoid it then if you’re claustrophobic or sensitive to smells. 

10. That big-city feeling of anything, ANYTHING being possible.


And now, a special message for my paid subscribers - I want to mail you something!

I’m ready to send you a personalized note along with a gift chosen specifically for you right here in Mexico City - all I need is your address.