The sparkling new Terminal 2 at Mexico City’s Benito Juarez Airport provides a warm Mexican welcome, in a cool, minimalist way. It has a modern edge, an impressive mini-museum of anthropology, and lots of conveniences. After breezing through immigration, baggage and customs, I head straight for a strong dose of caffeine, having travelled across 8 time zones in 20+ hours. The Rompope Double Cappuccino is jolting, exactly what I needed to face the Megalopolis. So is the 20-peso ‘airport’ price (US$1.00 = MXN$14.00) - an indication of what a bargain it is to travel in Mexico these days. It is also safe for travelers, contrary to media exaggerations, and drug-related violent crime notwithstanding.  Mexico City tourism officials I met with proudly report that during the week-long visit of over 20,000 delegates to the 2008 World Aids Conference, there was not a single criminal incident. There would have been plenty of press coverage, of course. My personal lifetime experience attests to the security of exploring the corners and facets of this amazing city safely. 

This visit is an exercise in budget travel, appropriate for the times. I could not resist trying the Hotel Pontevedra, where for three nights I pay a fraction of the rate for one night at a similar hotel in any European capital.  It is friendly, spotless, air-conditioned (didn’t need it), and offers free wireless and computers in the lobby. Its Santa Maria la Ribera neighborhood was recently featured in the New York Times as the new Condesa, the artsy-bohemian area known as the So-Ho of Mexico. My suburban Mexican cousins think I am nuts for staying there. I find the blocks of Belle Époque houses and mid-20th Century apartments charming and potentially chic. Atmospheric cafes and shops surround the leafy plaza, which is dominated by a spectacular iron bandstand attributed to Gustave Eiffel. Across from the hotel stops the express Metro Bus, and around the corner is a Metro (subway) station, making travel around the city convenient, fast, and amazingly cheap. A metro ticket costs 2 pesos (about 14 cents).

I jump on the Metro for a quick ride to Alameda Park and the Sheraton Centro Historico, where I have tequila with Marlene Ehrenberg, one of Mexico’s foremost tour guides. The Sheraton is an imposing contemporary business and convention hotel with the expected comforts and amenities. Weekend rates can drop to about US$100 a night.  Marlene is in great spirits, having just returned from the Monarch butterfly sanctuary in Michoacán state, so we walk around the block to the recently opened Museo de Arte Popular, museum of popular/folk art.  The best examples of fine quality Mexican crafts are artfully displayed in a wonderfully restored Art Deco-Aztec masterpiece of the late 1920’s. It’s the last day of an exhibit of the most amazing piñatas. The museum shop stocks a huge array of Mexican treasures and prices are incredibly reasonable.

The next day I’m off to the Centro Historico, the historic heart of the city to meet Mojdeh Hojjati, another extraordinary tour guide. Mojdeh is of Iranian descent, has a U.S. education, global awareness, and a unique perspective on Mexico.  She introduces me to a high-tech cultural center and rooftop terrace bar overlooking Aztec ruins and colonial palaces.  Then we break for some of the freshest seafood at Marisquería Las Palmas, a downtown “secret” for 50 years. Their ceviches and cocteles are tangy and cervezas refreshing, and the bill comes to $15, but the secret is out! As we leave, Chicago celebrity chef Rick Bayless and crew arrive to shoot a scene for his TV program “Mexico: One Plate at a Time”.

Ben Gritzewsky

Frosch Travel Specialist