I am often asked where I will go after visiting every country, and the answer for me is easy: “Everywhere I liked, and everywhere I haven’t been!” Just because I have been to “every sovereign nation”, it by no means draws a line in the sand of “seeing the world”, and unfortunately (or rather fortunately) none of us will ever see the world even in a lifetime dedicated to travelling, as culture, art and food are always changing and adapting, but that is great for us with severe wanderlust. Even “old” destinations have new experiences, and I have always maintained the philosophy that memories are best when shared, and with that comes ever evolving nostalgia with those we share our moments, our travels, our stories.
-James Asquith
The Mexico City Adventure Begins
I was always sure one of the countries I wanted to return to soon after visiting every country in the world would be Mexico. I was desperate for another Mexico City adventure. This seems to be the place to visit in 2017 and boy was I excited. I chose to let the people at Urban Adventures and their sister company Bamba Experience show me around the city the day after I arrived. If I had to summarise these “guides” in one word then it would be ‘AWESOME’. I say guides in inverted commas because within 5 minutes of meeting our first guide Pili, this felt more like a day hanging out with friends rather than a typical regimented tour. We travelled all over the city using Ubers, walking and taking the metro (subway), eating Mexico City’s street food within minutes of the tour beginning, and what can I say, I felt like a local already!
La Catedral in the Historic District
Our first stop in my Mexico City adventure was La Catedral on the Plaza de la Constitución. This area around the historic district was the perfect introduction to the city, and the view from the outside became even more magnificent when we went inside. After this, we continued to stroll through the centre of the city, witnessing the bustling daily life in this metropolis that is home to 25 million people and taking in the fantastic architecture. All this walking got us hungry so we visited one of the cities many lovely and colourful food markets. Within no time Pili was ordering away showing us local specialities from cactus to copious amounts of tropical fruits, and incredible pork scratching with meat, which I had never seen before, let alone tried. We later stopped at other food markets, which is a fantastic and highly recommended tour in itself, with an abundance of delicious tropical fruits to try and their complementing bright rainbow colours.
Markets, Food, Piñatas, and Lucha Libre!
The next stop in my Mexico City adventure was walking through the city’s most bustling shopping streets which have some of the coolest and truly unique piñatas on display. Want to smash sweets out of Peppa Pig? They have that! More local food? There was time to stop and sample tacos and ceviche in another fantastic food market! In no time we were at the Frida Kahlo museum, which is where she lived through what was an incredible story to understand whilst taking in the surroundings of impeccably kept grounds in her Blue House. By this point I was hooked on this city and after taking in the magnificent Palacio de Bellas Artes, it was on to the evening’s entertainment, which was Lucha Libre at the Arena Mexico. What a fun night out and tour this was! Starting with a shot of tequila and our guide handing us a Mexican Wrestling mask to choose from, I could already tell that this was going to be fun! This tour is a must do whilst you’re here, and the atmosphere in the arena is electric.
The Sun and Moon Pyramids in Teotihuacan
A bit of bar hopping in the swanky Polanco district followed but we needed to make sure we rested as the next day would be an early start. I was hoping our guide for the next day would be half as good as Pili who showed us a great time, and Urban Adventures and Bamba just seem to have an incredible bunch, as we met our new guide for the day, Rodrigo who was equally as good as Pili from the day before (exactly! No favouritism here!). He met us bright and early at the hotel and we drove out of Mexico City for about an hour to reach the incredible ruins of the Teotihuacan pyramids . Why were we here so early? Bamba took us on a Hot Air Balloon Day Tour for sunrise over the pyramids, and What. An. Amazing. Experience. Everything from the welcome breakfast to seeing the Temple of the Sun at sunrise was perfectly handled by Bamba. These sights were a truly unique experience I will always treasure, peacefully gliding over the sun drenched Unesco World Heritage Site with the golden rays of the morning sun shining off this Mesoamerican architecture. We cracked open the champagne on the hot air balloon as we slowly drifted down and calmly landed next to a cactus field which was a masterpiece of flying it seemed!
After seeing these ruins from the sky’s above, it was time to experience their grandeur on the ground with our guide Rodrigo. Now not only was he incredibly knowledgeable about everything pertaining to Teotihuacan and Mexico in general, but this guy had me in stitches of laughter. Similar to with Pili the day before, Bamba and Urban Adventure guides really are local and are so great to get along with. Before exploring the ruins up-close and personal on my daring Mexico City adventure, we were off to meet and eat some brunch with a local family. Another great addition to the tour, this family was lovely. They welcomed us into their beautiful home (where I spent probably way too long playing with their adorable dog in the yard) and made some delicious local food, including wrapped chicken with cactus which was incredibly tasty. We would need the energy from the food, because boy was there a lot of walking to do at Teotihuacan. You can do as much or as little exercise as you want when you visit the site, but we chose to walk and climb up as many ruins as possible. That is what made this trip so incredible, the fact that you can still climb to the top of the Temple of the Sun where one can feel the positive energy entering your being.
The End of Another Spectacular Mexico City Adventure
Urban Adventures that accompanied me around for my Mexico City adventure. Thanks for being fun and informative, and can’t wait to see you again soon – Hasta la proxima
Check out @BambaExperience, @UrbanAdventures, @JamesAsquithTravel and on Instagram to see more cool pictures and inspiration for your next trip.
In 2013, James Asquith became the youngest person in history to travel to all 196 nations in the world. To find out more about how he did it, and the adventures he had along the way, you can check out his book Breaking Borders.
