Trip to Mexico with photos, tips and info

In April of 2011 Jayne and I flew from Portland, Oregon to Mexico City. It was a business trip for me, but we wanted to explore the city and the area together. It turned out that the machines I was supposed to install were stuck in customs. Therefore it was like a week of vacation, until my boss finally ordered me back. We visited several quarters of Mexico City, did day trips to Teotihuacan and Cholula/Puebla. Later I came back alone, again for business, for 3 weeks and visited more sites on the weekends, like Tula de Allende, Cuicuilco and Xochicalco.

Mexico? I thought I was in Mexico! (The locals say Mexico when they mean the city)

General Info

Mexico City is a huge city, for the city alone one should plan on at lest 3-4 days. It is worth a trip at any time of the year. One can't see everything in 3-4 days, there is just so much to see. Just for the anthropologic museum one needs a full day.

Spring is the best time to visit Mexico in my opinion. April and May are the hottest month, but summer is the rain season, and in winter it gets cold even in Mexico (the city is above 2500 m / 7000 feet).

Travel guide: Lonely Planet Mexico

Getting there:
Nearly all large airlines fly to Mexico City. From the airport one can take a taxi for about 150 Pesos/15 USD to downtown. For a taxi one first has to by a ticket at a booth outside the airport building, then one hands the ticket to the taxi driver. He doesn't get any money other than a tip.

Safety:
As in all tourist places one has to be aware of pickpockets, other than that Mexico City is quite safe. The 'drug war' happens mostly at the border region to the USA.

Language:
Mexico is tourist oriented, but by far not everybody speaks English, especially outside the city. The locals are very friendly and try to be helpful, therefore one usually ca get by with hand signals if one doesn't speak Spanish.

The Monument of the Revolution was just reopened after a complete renovation.

Many monuments here look somehow Russian, or at least communist.

The court yard of the Anthropological Museums has a water fall, which lowers the temperature a little.

The Anthropological Museum has many excellent exhibition objects.

There are also some models and reproductions at the Anthropological Museum. They make it easier to imagine what the pyramids and ruins used to look like.

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