It’s like you haven’t really lived in Mexico until you have had to take care of matters with the local police. We’ll tell you all about it, and about the lovely neighborhood of Coyoacán. This quiet neighborhood was home to Frida Khalo and where she would return to from jaunts with Diego Rivera. The hippie student vibe is perfect for walking around. Adventures in Mexico City with a baby in tow!
Our Encounter with the Law
Our first full day in Mexico City, we had some business to take care of and hopped in the car. It wasn’t 10 minutes, before we were stopped by a traffic cop. Foreign cars aren’t allowed to drive between 5-11 a.m. every morning so, he explained, we had one legal option: to get our car impounded and pay a huge fine to get it out.
Over and over he repeated that this was our only option until we suggested settling the matter on the spot (we had a 10 am appointment after all). He got 200 pesos, we got a “key” code in case we were stopped by another cop we could use it to say we had already paid our bribe of the day, and we were free to go.
Our business at the consulate was taken care of extremely well, and we were ready for some lunch. We strolled around in the vicinity, before coming upon an Emir Cafe (one of a local chain).
Our insanely-deprived-of-hummus-selves were extremely happy, even though neither our hummus nor baba ganoush were fantastic. But, something is better than nothing, our coffees were excellent and Little N also approved of the meal!
Next, we headed into Polanco, one of the nicest areas of the city, to find some groceries for Passover. We did a drive by of the nice shops, got our goods, and got back in the car.
Coyoacán
Little N finally fell asleep, which prompted us to decide to continue our drive, so we headed south towards Coyoacán. We made the mistake of getting on the pereferico (ring road), totally missing our turn off, and circling our destination multiple times until we finally got it right!
Leon Trotsky Museum
We were extremely happy to be out of the car, and popped right in to the Leon Trotsky Museum. We let Little N play on the grass before actually checking out the rest of the small museum, which included preserved rooms of his house, and various Soviet era memorabilia. While the museum was not on our original agenda, it was an interesting destination.
Frida Khalo’s Blue House
From there, we walked towards Frida Khalo’s Blue House. Obviously it is a huge tourist attraction, and it was packed! As a museum it was pretty disappointing with only a couple rooms with paintings, and mostly just the restored house. The visit was short and we were ready to find some lunch.
After finally eating at a small comida (set lunch menu) place and walking around this relatively quiet neighborhood, we were ready to get back to the apartment. This time we took smaller roads and navigated almost flawlessly back toward the Centro.
