We left Lake Tahoe and drove to Reno, Nevada. We reserved a spot in someone's backyard to store our truck and RV while we flew to Mexico City. We found this place on Neighbor.com. That app is normally for monthly rentals but we only needed it for a week so the app's owner had to tweak things a bit to handle our request.
We arranged with the property owners to spend the night before our flight in the RV in their backyard and that worked out well.
The owners have quite a little business with 2 other RV's parked in their backyard.
Our flights from Reno to Mexico City with a layover in San Francisco went well.
Quico picked us up from the airport and brought us to his Mom's home where we surprised the birthday girl!
 |
Nancy with Aunt/Tia Eva
|
She speaks very little English and I speak very little Spanish but we find ways to communicate with a little help from Google Translate.
We spent time visiting with whoever was at the house and there is always someone at the house. Then we went out for tacos with Carlos.
 |
Carlos, Gloria, Heron, Nancy, and Al
|
The next morning we walked over to
La Esperanza Bakery to get some bolillos (rolls) and sweet breads.
Then we walked to a new park that was created since our last visit five years ago.
Then it was over to Irama's house to hang with some cousins (the kids) and their friends. "The kids" are Carlos and Irama's girls all now in their late 20's and early 30's. We've know these girls since they were in grade school.
 |
Denis, Elias, Karla, Miguel, Iramita, and Al in the kitchen
|
 |
Denis and her birds
|
We also ate our sweet breads. The pastries are so pretty it was hard to pick just one!
 |
Denis, Elias (friend), Iramita, Miguel (friend), Nancy, and Al enjoying breakfast
|
We went to Cabo for Christmas 2021 and I purchased a bowl from an artist at a stand. I wanted them to paint their name on the bottom so I paid for the bowl and they said it would be ready in a week. We tried to go back for it but the artists were not there so I ended up leaving Cabo without the bowl. Iramita and Miguel went another time to get it for me. Then in the summer of 2022 they brought the bowl to Mexico City because they thought we were going to be there and I could pick it up. Then at Christmas Iramita took the bowl back with her to Cabo. So, for the party, she brought it BACK to Mexico City so I was finally able to get the bowl! This bowl has a LOT of miles on it!
 |
Iramita and Nancy
|
Later, a bunch of us hoped into a van and went to pick up the girls' Aunt Edith and her son, Christian, and went to a HUGE market. They took us to the central market, La central de Abastos.
The Central de Abasto (also spelled Abastos; English for "Supply Center") is Mexico City's main wholesale market for produce and other foodstuffs run similarly to traditional public markets. It was constructed to be the meeting point for producers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers for the entire country. Located in the eastern borough of Iztapalapa, it is the most important commercial establishment in Mexico and the largest of its kind in the world. The market handles over 30,000 tons of merchandise daily, representing 80% of the consumption of the Mexico City metropolitan area. The market was established on former farmland to ease congestion in the historic center of Mexico City.
The Central de Abasto is one of the two large wholesale markets in Mexico City, along with the Nueva Viga market, which specializes in fish and seafood. The facility is located on a property that extends 328 hectares (810 acres), with more than 2,000 businesses that sell principally fruit, vegetables, meat and some processed foods in a main building that covers 85 hectares (210 acres). This and the Nueva Viga market are the two largest employers in Iztapalapa. The market generates 70,000 jobs directly and attends to more than 300,000 people per day.
Aunt Edith and Christian are necessary to show us around at the market because it is so huge and very easy to get lost! Plus, there are different areas for selling different types of foods (spices, candies, plastic ware, fruit and veggies, seafood, etc.) Christian stays with the van and drives us to the various sections where we all get in and out to do some shopping. We love the sights of these kinds of
markets and the displays of the fruits and vegetables.
We visited this same market on our last visit to Mexico City when the girls wanted Al to teach them how to make pesto. That time we went to the market to buy pine nuts.
 |
Front: Christian, Elias, Al, Back: Miguel, Iramita, and Edith
|
 |
Al bought some horchata drink mix.
|
We
went to the section where they sell smaller quantities of vegetables first (not restaurant quantities), then drove to the nuts
area, then drove to the candy area, then drove to the cheese and deli meats
area.
 |
Limes, bell peppers, mangoes, onion, tomatoes, etc
|
 |
Look at the papayas, cantaloupes, and watermelon displays.
|
 |
| Spices |
 |
| Dried Peppers |
 |
More spices including dried cheese
|
 |
A new fruit I learned was Mamey which is usually made into milkshakes and ice cream.
|
 |
I love the pattern of the jalapeno display on the bottom left
|
 |
some kind of beans
|
 |
Want any grapes?
|
 |
Honey Pineapple
|
 |
Market from the outside where the trucks deliver the goods
|
 |
We're off to the next section of the market
|
 |
Bags of onions
|
 |
Look how they squeeze those trucks in to make deliveries!
|
 |
Barrels of dried peppers
|
 |
Dried shrimp in different sizes
|
 |
One stall had Roasted chicken
|
 |
Cinnamon sticks
|
 |
| Candies |
 |
Hungry for some cheese puffs? Which bag did Al buy?
|
 |
So many flavors of Tajin that we've never seen before
|
 |
One bag of some caramel candies we bought
|
 |
Miguel, Iramita, and Elias
|
 |
Type of chili peppers (imported (imp.) or Mexican (Nacional))
|
After all the goodies we bought at the market, we stopped off for ice cream at a favorite place near Aunt Edith's house.
 |
Denis, Al, and Iramita enjoying their ice cream
|
 |
Passion Fruit Ice Cream
|
We took Aunt Edith, and Christian back
home and next went looking for a restaurant that sells Pozole. Tia Eva took us to this place on one of our previous trips to Mexico City and it's her favorite Pozole place. They sell white Pozole and it is served with tostados, avocado, creama and salt along with oregano, radish, lime, and cabbage.
 |
Denis, Elias, Miguel, Iramita, Nancy, and Al
|
 |
Toppings: Avocado, limes, cabbage, and onion
|
 |
Everyone garnishes their pozole as they like.
|
Well we certainly had enough to eat for one day! It is all about family and food when we're in Mexico!
The next day we went with Carlos and the kids to a taqueria.
 |
Carlos, Denis, Elias, Miguel, Karla, Iramita, and Nancy
|
 |
A new sign for the neighborhood where Aunt Eva lives in Mexico City
|
Later we went downtown with Denis who was looking for shoes for the upcoming party. She took us on the subway which was a first for us in Mexico City. Once we arrived in the downtown, we passed by the beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes building.
 |
Palacio de Bellas Artes |
 |
Madero Street for shopping
|
Al and I wandered over to the Zocolo while Denis continued shopping. This is where the giant Mexican flag flies.
The Zocolo (square) is surrounded by government buildings and a church.
 |
There was a protest going on at this building.
|
On the way back to the subway we passed by this bakery and had to go inside and look around at all the beautiful pastries. Well then we had to buy some because they looked so good. I barely eat pastries but something about being in Mexico!
 |
Our order being wrapped up by the lady.
|
 |
We even walked through Chinatown.
|
Then we cheated and took an Uber home instead of the subway.
 |
| mushroom quesadillas |
 |
Iramita, Miguel, Denis, and Fernando
|
 |
| Tostado |
 |
Denis, Fernando, Nancy, Karla, Al, Iramita, and Miguel
|
We stopped off in Cournevaca, Mexico to drop off our luggage and laptops at cousin, Anna Lelia and Bertin's house. We were coming back to spend the night at their house. Then we continued on to Mil Cascades arriving around 12:30 pm'ish.
We paid an entrance fee and also hired a guide. We didn't pack water shoes so we bought a pair that fit Al but there weren't any that fit me so I wore Al's flip flops.
First the guide took us into a cave where Fernando, Iramita, and Karla jumped into the
water in the dark.
Then we went to the outside falls
where Al made 4 of the jumps from the top of the various size falls.
I didn’t jump.
I did swim over to an area with a hidden
waterfall.
Once we got to the bottom of
all the falls, we climbed back up and through the various height falls.
It was crazy!
Almost like getting water boarded in some spots. I can’t believe I did it as it was slippery in some spots.
Denis, Fernando, Iramita, Miguel, Karla, Al, and I, along with 2 dogs were the
group for the day.
 |
Al, Nancy, Karla, Miguel, Itamita, Denis, and Fernando
|
We hired a guide to take us through the series of waterfalls. We were provided with life jackets and headlamps. The first place our guide took us was to a cave. We waded through some water to get to the cave entrance.
At the entrance to the cave we had to climb down to get into it.
 |
| It is prohibited to bring food, drinks, dig, graffiti and enter without guide. |
There was water on the floor of the cave so we needed to wade through that as we went deeper and deeper into the cave. Luckily it was only about 2 feet deep so not bad.
What an amazing last minute trip for us. Thank you to all the family in Mexico for making it such an amazing trip.
ReplyDelete