Argentina

MEXICO CITY – CIUDAD DE MÉXICO

Before you begin… this post is written in two languages, English and Spanish, to help you learn Spanish ahead of your trip to Mexico! Try to read and understand as much as you can in Spanish (green text), using the English section to help with out with those words you don’t know. Enjoy!

1. MEXICO CITY IS THE PERFECT TRAVEL DESTINATION TO START YOUR MEXICAN ADVENTURE.

From climbing ancient Aztec pyramids to cheering on Mexican wrestlers flying through mid-air, there are so many ways to experience Mexico’s rich culture, with plenty of opportunities to practice your Spanish along the way. Read on for my top travel tips and itinerary inspiration for making the most of your travel and language-learning experience whilst in Mexico City

As one of the most visited places in Mexico, make sure not to miss out on visiting this UNESCO World Heritage site whilst in Mexico City. Teotihuacán (pronounced as teh-oh-tee-wah-kahn), meaning origin of the gods, is the perfect day trip at only an hour outside of the city.

Feel like a king or queen when you climb to the top of these Teotihuacan pyramids, overlooking what used to be a Mesoamerican city, home to hundreds of thousands of people. Historians are not certain as to why, but this location was deserted before the Aztecs later came across the city in the 1400s.

When you first enter the site, straight ahead of you is the impressive 5-tiered ‘Pyramid of the Sun’ which you can walk all the way to the top of. It is a challenging climb but rewarding when get there. Once you have climbed to the top and back down again, head along the ‘Avenue of the Dead’ to climb the second largest pyramid, ‘Pyramid of the Moon’. You can not walk all the way to the top of here due to the condition of this pyramid, it needs to be preserved. This is the best place to get a picture of the full avenue with the Pyramid of the Sun.

There is no shade at the site so take a hat and lots of sun-cream with you. Its also very windy and dusty so I’d advise wearing trousers rather than a dress or skirt otherwise your legs will end up looking like mine covered in dust. Between holding down my hat in one hand, and my skirt with the other, it made for a challenging walk up the pyramids as some parts are pretty steep!

If you are toying with the idea of ​​going here or not if you already have plans to visit Chichen Itza, I rated these pyramids most highly having visited both. This is because you can actually walk to the top of these making it a much different experience to the busy tourist site of Chichen Itza.

How do I get to the Teotihuacán pyramids?

The pyramids are approximately 30 miles / 50km outside of Mexico City. If you are happy to spend the money then take a taxi (approx. 45 mins) but if you are on more of a budget or traveling for a longer period of time and want to save the pennies then it’s easy enough to head take a bus there.

Getting the bus

Given that it’s a tourist attraction, the bus is mainly made up of tourists anyway, with a nice big comfortable bus to travel in. It takes approximately 1hr to reach the pyramids from the northern bus terminal (Terminal del Norte). Buses go every 20 minutes and take you all the way to the pyramid entrance. Cost is $ 50 MXN pesos each way (€ 2 EUR / $ 2.50 USD)as at Jan 2020. When you arrive at the bus terminal, you will see a big queue from a tiny stand “Autobuses Teotihuacan”, it has a blue pyramid logo with a sun behind it. Don’t worry the queue will go down quickly. Ask for “un bolleto por favor” (one ticket please) or “dos bolletos” (two tickets). They will ask “ida o ida y returned” single or return, so respond with “Ida” if you just want one way and plan to take a taxi back. I would advise getting a return “Ida y Vuelta” and then you can just hop on the bus back. When you want to head back, the bus departs from the same place you were dropped off and they come every 20 mins.

2. ANTHROPOLOGY NATIONAL MUSEUM NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY

A very modern style museum, with an impressive water feature in the central courtyard, the National Museum of Anthropology is nothing like a traditional dusty museum with everything nestled safely behind glass screens set along the walls. It is all extremely well laid out with every inch of the museum, both in and outdoors, crammed full of Aztec artefacts to discover. Many of the objects are placed in the center of the room, which allows you to take a full 360-degree view of them.

Unlike other museums I have visited around the world, there is a big portion of the artefacts outside (I’m sure mainly due to the weather!), Which makes it much more enjoyable to wander around. It felt as though I was part of an Indiana Jones or Tomb Raider film scene with the temples set in amongst green jungle like leaves! Outside the museum you will also find a miniature scale model of the full Teotihuacan pyramids site, showing the grand layout of the pyramids. If you are planning to visit the real ones in your time in Mexico, read more about it here.

Split between two levels, the majority of the collections focus on pre-Hispanic artefacts with items from the Mayans, Aztecs, Zapotecs and Toltecs. Impressive items : such as the Aztec emperor Moctezuma ceremonial headdress of the Aztec calendar stone and from the 14 th century are on display.

The museum highlights Mayan traditions such as the traditional Mayan ball game called Pok-A-Tok, displaying the hoops from the game. The aim of the game is to get the ball through the stone hoop, however it is not easy given they aren’t able to use their hands or feet to do so. The style of play is to bounce the ball of the hip, dipping down to the ground and swiveling the hips to do so.

If you are visiting Merida during your time in Mexico, there is a weekly show every Friday night at Plaza Grande with locals playing the traditional game. It brings a crowd and there is a big cheer when someone scores given the pin-point accuracy and coordination required to do so!

How do I get to the Museo National de Antropolgía?

You can find it nestled within the huge Chapultepec forest, along Reforma Avenue (Avenue Paseo de la Reforma). It is positioned opposite the Chapultec lake (Lago de Chapultec).

How much does it cost to enter the Museo National de Antropolgía?

At only 80 MXN pesos entry, £3 GDP / $4 USD, (price as at Jan 2020) it is well worth a visit. There was a bit of a queue when we visited but it went down quickly enough, around 5 minutes.

When can I visit the Museo National de Antropolgía?

Its open 9am-7pm every day of the week, apart from Monday when it is closed.

How much time will I need to visit Museo National de Antropolgía?

With over 20 exhibition rooms, and a number of artefacts to explore in their outdoor gardens, you can easily spend a full day here and not see everything! Equally, if you only have an hour or half a day to fill, then I would still recommend visiting. We stayed there for around 2-3 hours.

3. WRESTLING MATCH WRESTLING

Exhilarating, bizarre, and entertaining all at once, Mexican wrestling is a fun evening activity while in Mexico City. There are lots of different characters that you can get behind – the goodies, or the baddies such as “The Destroyer” that you can boo at like a pantomime! It was a lot of fun and actually the show was much more professional than I originally thought it would be. The wrestlers (wrestlers) are very agile athletes and carry out impressive moves flying at each other at high heights. They often work together in teams of three (trios) and tag team fighting the opponents.

You don’t need to know much Spanish to watch this as most of it is theatrical, with even the referee getting involved and revving up the crowd!

What is Lucha Libre and Luchadores?

Lucha libre literally means “free fight” however its essentially professional wrestling similar to WWF but with colorful masks and costumes! A luchador is a wrestler, and not all luchadores wear masks despite the preconception that they all do. The mask is however a significant part of the match, and in a ‘betting match’ a luchador can bet his mask against an opponent. The loser of the match has to be “de-masked” which is seen as a huge insult and can damage the career of the fighter. Although you may think all the lucha libre wrestlers start with a mask, some choose not to and have been successful without one.

Before you go into the arena, there are lots of vendors outside selling luchadores masks to wear during the show! It’s a bit of fun and something to take home as a souvenir. We paid $ 350 MXN for 4 masks (€ 3.50 EUR / $ 4.50 USD per mask), which we bartered down from $ 100 each per mask by using a little Spanish “too expensive” which means too expensive.

When are the shows and which one should I go to?

There are shows every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday night so you should be able to see one during your stay in Mexico City! If you want to get interactive, be sure to buy a front row seat. For the Tuesday and Friday shows, they get the crowd going and even throw their fellow fighters into the front row! If you are looking for a more family oriented show with less aggression, then the Sunday show is for you.

How much does a Lucha Libre show cost?

We paid $ 100 MXN (€ 4 EUR / $ 5 USD) per ticket on the door. This was just as the show was set to start (7.30pm). See below on how to get a good price if buying at the show.

How do I buy a ticket for the Lucha Libre show?

Buying tickets at the show There will be lots of people trying to sell tickets outside. I am unsure as to how legitimate, cost effective, or safe these are. We went for the safe option and bought at the official ticket office where the queues are.

Ask for how many tickets you want eg “I would like 3 tickets please” and then check the price “How much is it?”. If you are happy with the price then make sure you check where the seats are before you hand money over “Where are the seats? Can you show me on the map? They will point to where the seats are on a seating map and then if you are happy you can hand the money over.

Buying tickets before the show: Freedom Lucha Libre vs the Tuesday / Friday / Sunday popular?
If you are a planner and want to sort your ticket before the show, you can purchase them at Ticketmaster, for approximately $ 200 pesos so double the price that I paid, but still not too expensive! There are 2 options on there, the Freedom Lucha libre, and the popular Tuesday, Friday or Sunday. The Freedom tickets are c $ 400 and you sit up in a box at the top for a good view, however I thought the tickets we got on the ground were just as good and actually closer to the ring.

I’m a solo traveler: what is the best ticket option?
If you are traveling solo but you still want to enjoy a Lucha Libre show with a few fellow travelers, you can book onto Lucha Libre tours where they purchase your ticket. You all meet at a bar beforehand and have a couple of shots of tequila, get a Mexican mask included, and some of them even have a mariachi band.

These tours, such as the Get Your Guide one, work out to about € 35 EUR / $ 45 USD all in, which is a lot more expensive than buying just the ticket yourself. Whilst I cannot recommend specific tours, I wanted to show you the type of options available. The reason being, if you are traveling alone, this activity did seem a lot more fun as a group experience than by yourself. Although we were in a couple we still looked into joining a group tour, but luckily found out our friends were traveling in Mexico City at the same time and went along with them!

What time should I arrive for the Mexican Wrestling show?

We arrived a bit later than planned and by the time we queued up for tickets and got through the barriers, it was 7.30pm which was the official starting time. Our seats were about halfway between the wrestling ring and the back of the arena so we had a good view, and there were plenty of seats still available.