Cultural Sights in Mexico City

Buying Biotherm skincare products at the local pharmacies and duty free airport shops.

Quick Tips:

If you stay at a hotel that offers to pick you up at the aiport and provides "express" immigration service, by all means take advantage of it. The customs queue can be quite long.

Best Way To Get Around:

Taxis. The men I encountered while taking public transport were leerers and gropers.

This is the nicest hotel in Mexico City. Upon arrival, the lobby is beautiful with fresh flowers and of course, excellent service at reception. The hotel is designed in a wonderful courtyard style. The courtyard garden is maintained perfectly and can be seen from all of the guest rooms. I had an especially nice arrival night as it was raining. I opened the windows of my room and listened to the rain and watched it fall over the flora and fauna in the courtyard. It was the perfect sound to sleep to. The rooms at the FSMC are very tastefully done. There is plenty of closet space, cable TV, and the nicest part was the marble bathroom with a spacious marble shower and separate, generously oversized tub (complete with fluffy bathrobe and a loofah, too!) The restaurants in the hotel offer a wide variety of foods for vegans and vegetarians. The only disappointments were the overpriced, understocked gift shop, unavailability of Diet Coke (they offer yucky, cancerous Coke Light) and the lack of spa services.

The Teotihuacan pyramids are one of the greatest sights in Mexico. As I was in Mexico City alone, I went to see the pyramids on an arranged group tour for about $40 US. The tour bus picked me up at my hotel, and we were off on a 40-minute ride to the pyramids. Feeling very weak from the elevation and pollution, I sprawled across two bus seats and slept all the way there.

Upon arrival, I woke up to the magnificent sight of the pyramids. Unfortunately, they appeared to be a half mile or so away from the parking lot. Of course, like an idiot I had worn platform sandals, so I knew I was in for a painful afternoon. To get to the pyramids, you must navigate your way through the aggressive hawkers. I kept saying "no, gracias," and "no money," but this did not stop them. One hawker tried to trade me her T-shirts and hat for my sandals (which I would later wish I had done). The nice part was that I found a little canine companion who followed me the whole day. I bought her a bottle of water and a sandwich, and we were off to the pyramids.

We saw the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Citadel. These are similar large stone structures with steps up the middle. They are in a blocked off area so there is only the foot traffic of tourists. I only managed to climb partway up the pyramid, but the view was breathtaking. If you are planning to do some climbing alone, it is not a bad idea to befriend one of the many stray dogs on the site. They bound up the pyramid steps effortlessly. Mine helped me by showing me what path to take and also gave me friend to hang onto for steadiness. The tour guide told us that there is little knowledge of who built these magnificent pyramids or what happened to them.