Jill Dupre

I had a big birthday this year. I usually like to celebrate my birthday with Josh and a crowd of many, but this year I decided that the next 50 would be spent traveling the world and what better time to start than in Mexico City. I have had this city callled DF, on my radar for a year or so, just hearing about the markets, hip hotels, the art screen, the architecture, the food.

So first the hotel. This one has had me for quite a few years now. The Condesa Df designed by India Mahdavi. A small, boutique hotel in the leafy, quite Condesa neighborhood. Love this hood. Parks and birds. All custom pieces throughout the spaces, very inspirational. We stayed in a terrace suite. Lovely with outside patio for coffee in the morning. (Rooms could use a little update, however.)

My cutie here in the patio.

The bar. Always love the Random light in groups.

This banquette is so good. Love the cutouts.

First stop, the murals. The Polyforum Siqueiros is a building with a mural all over it by David Siqueiros. Cool space inside with art installations, shopping, etc. Worth seeing if you hit the right day.

Loved this 3-D mural.

The markets on Saturday. Sabado was great.

Josh bought a hat from this little guy.

A purchase was also made here.

I had my fortune told by this little bird. It was in spanish but I am told I am living a long happy life. 🙂

My favorite giant pinata. 7 points for 7 deadly sins. I wanted.

The masks of Malvados. We left with 6.

The Frida Kahlo house/museum was quite a place. Very surprised by how extensive the collection was and how big the grounds were. Really lovely inside and out.

Some of her tiny paintings. Loved these the most.

The Frida and Diego studio museum was awesome too. Frida looking out for us.

Diego lived here and I danced with him.

Beautiful skeletons and perfect spaces.

The stairs were inspiring too.

I took a selfie with Frida. My first in a year of 50 firsts.

The balloon sellers were everywhere. They made me so happy!!

Common People was a great shop in the Polanco neighborhood. The fancy shop area. Very chic and architecture was awesome.

The living gate in Polanco.

We rode bikes with the rest of Mexico City on Sunday when they close off the Reforma boulevard for cycling. Really an amazing thing to do.

We happened upon a festival in a park near the Mercado Ciudedela.

We checked out the historic center and was blown away by the massive size of the Plaza Constitution.

The Downtown Mexico hotel (in the same GRUPOhabito umbrella as the Condesa) was a hip spot with lots of Mexican artists in the building. Lunch at the courtyard Azul restaurant was very classic and authentic with an extensive mezcal tasting cart. Josh partaking.

The courtyard of the Azul Historico was just lovely.

Cathedral entrance unbelievable.

Mexico city is pretty famous for it’s murals. Diego being the most famous to us. But at the San Iledfonso College the walls embody the work of important artists that marked the course of the twentieth century in Mexico including Diego Rivera, Jean Charlot, Fernando Leal, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Ramón Alva, Fermin Revueltas and José Clemente Orozco.

The building has some great sculpture as well.

What was so exciting was the exhibit in the gallery. British artist Michael Landy, had an interactive exhibit inspired by the stories of saints. Really interesting. You could throw a large boulder at a hanging head or watch as the cogs and wheels move to the surprising emotional self violence of a monk.

We ate some really great restaurants. My fav El Califa for amazingly simple tacos and chicken soup, Pujol, in the very swanky Polanco neighborhood was so good. With seven courses, the mini corn on a stick coming out of a smoking gourd with chili mayo was pretty amazing. Qunitonil was special because our friend, chef Kinch, knew the owner there and so we got a little personal touch. Here I have the Smoked crab toastada. Yum. Yum.

Our last day we booked a street food tour with Eat Mexico. We were very excited about this, as we have been doing food tours in lots of other cities and love being shown places that we would not normally go on our own. Especially Mexican street food. The tour was terrific. We started at 9:30am with the typical Mexican fast food. Breakfast tamales. I tried the sweet pink one. Not bad.

We hit a fruit stand and a juice stop too. Here I have pomegranate seeds with lime and chili. OMG!

The fruit guy was too cute!

We had quesadillas. I tried the mushroom and cheese. She made the tortillas by hand right on her little grill. So good.

Next stop the basket taco man. He was adorbs. Josh talked him up. I loved the wire rounds on the outside of the car, so you could put your drink down while you ate.