I Have One Day

Mexico City: Walk Like an Azteca

by Jeralyn Gerba
Teotihuacan. Photo: An En Alain / Flickr

Not sure which direction to go in sprawling Mexico City? Why not walk like an Azteca?

Teotihuacan
Carretera Mexico Teotihuacan Km 46
Take a taxi or bus just 30 miles outside the city to the huge and holy pyramid complex built by Mesoamericans 500-1000 years before the Aztecs.

Xochimilco
Guadalupe I. Ramírez No. 4, Barrio el Rosario
Taxi an hour south of the city center to see the spectacle of the Aztec canals. Board a brightly painted wooden trajinera or flat-bottomed boat. When the mood strikes, buy a snack of grilled corn on the cob from a nearby food canoe, and enjoy your own floating picnic. Request a song from the mariachi as you pass by. 

Templo Mayor
Seminario 8, Centro; +52-55-4040-5600
Pyramids, animal carvings, shrines, figurines, skulls, and giant sculpture of the moon goddess can be found in the middle of Zocalo, the town square at the heart of the city.

El Cardenal
Av. De La Paz 32‎, San Angel; +52-55-5550-0293
Adventure out with pre-Hispanic cuisine (ant larva, maguey worms with homemade tortillas) at this celebrated breakfast and lunch spot. Temper the meal with sweet breakfast rolls, called conchae, made daily by hand. 

Museo Diego Rivera–Anahuacalli
Museo 150, Coyoacán; +52-55-5617-4310
This volcanic stone building designed by Diego Rivera houses thousands of items from his personal collection of pre-Hispanic art.

Camino Real Polanco
700 Mariano Escobedo, Polanco; +52-55-5263-8888
Architect Ricardo Legorreta showcased pre-Hispanic pyramidal references along with influences from Luis Barragan (the god-father of Mexico modernist architecture) when he constructed the structure in time for the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. 

Pulqueria Insurgentes
Insurgentes Sur 226, Roma; +52-55-5207-0917
Finish off the day with a refreshing glass of pulque, a milky 2,000-year-old Aztec drink made from fermented sap from the agave plant.

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