vampyresheep

Friday

As we'd managed to visit so much in the area on Wednesday, we had time to visit Casa Azul this morning, conveniently located opposite our accommodation, having previously not relished the prospect of wasting half a day queuing to get in.

We packed early and asked Minerva if she could mind our luggage for the morning, then went to join the queue at 9am, an hour before opening, and we weren't the first there!

There were some friendly people in the queue though, so the time went quickly and it was fab to be amongst the first into the house before it got too busy.

So glad we decided to do it, as the house and grounds were so beautiful and captured so well as a period of time in Frida Kahlos life. The altar dedicated to her was still in the courtyard and beautiful to see. There was also a small exhibition of Frida's dresses and artefacts recently found in a locked room, the rest of which was at the time being exhibited in London's V&A museum.

It was difficult to leave this calm and beautiful place, so we sat a while in the courtyard until hunger called, as we'd not yet had breakfast!

We went to the market in search of Tostada's Coyoacan, now a known tourist spot, but still good! The stall was eyewateringly yellow, with bright photos of the tostadas on offer. A tostada is a small, crisp taco, piled high with meat, fish or salad of choice, covered in dressing and incredibly messy to eat! I had one prawn and one pork pibil - the prawn was my favorite, yum! - washed down with hibiscus agua fresca.

Rob wanted to return to the artesan market to find a lucha libre mask, and in doing so, I finally caved in and bought the fragile papier mache Grim Reaper statue I had my eye on. No idea how I was going to get that home!

Went back to collect our luggage and had an emotional farewell with Minerva, via use of a tablet and Google Translate! It was so sad to leave, and she waited with us until our Uber arrived and were safely on our way to our final stop, La Condesa.

La Condesa is the hipster district of CDMX, leafy and filled with art deco architecture. Our accommodation was a boutique art deco residence, for which we'd splashed out and booked their smallest, cheapest room instead of a big standard hotel. We were greeted by the owner, who apologised that the house manager wasn't there, and took us to our room - a massive suite with walk in wardrobe! I tried to explain this was not what I booked but he insisted it was and took us back down to their luxurious lounge to complete the paperwork and arrange payment. I first spotted the phone number was wrong, then the nationality being US not UK, and finally noticed the price was three times that which I had agreed. So I retrieved my email confirmation to prove it - we then noticed the guest name, and Alison Bauer. He guessed something was wrong and phoned Rocio, the house manager - turned out that the two of us booked at around the same time, Ms Bauer via Expedia so Rocio assumed that was me and cancelled my initial booking!

Our cheap room had since been let to someone else, so the only room left was the Master Suite! So we ended up with a £200 a night suite for under £70, result! And the room was amazing. Up on the top floor, decorated in an Oriental style with a massive king-size bed and statement peacock design headboard.

not bad, eh?
... and the communal areas of the house

This misunderstanding however did take up an hour of our afternoon, leaving it too late to explore too far afield, so we spent a couple of hours walking around Condesa, in the beautiful park and around the art deco streets.
(icecream shop next to our accommodation!)

lets face it, this isn't the image that comes to mind when one thinks of the metropolis that is Mexico City.

but the electricity cables! We were nervous about walking under some of these, particularly with all the loose cables dangling down so low too

From here we continued across a busy road to the more urban hipster Roma district, which didn't appeal to us as much. the central tree lined boulevard was nice enough but there was little either side which made us want to explore further, no doubt we missed all the better bits, which could have been resolved over a longer visit. We caught a hint of its more bohemian vibe, through quirky buildings and street art

We passed the Roma branch of the alt bar Cafe Bizarro, so we stopped there for a coffee and snack. So much nicer than the Coyoacan branch, with friendly staff and better ambience.

We'd been tipped off on Facebook to go to the goth club El Real Underground tonight as it was the pre-party to a big festival which was happening that weekend. The festival looked interesting too but it was all bands we'd seen before and we were here to see the city, so just the club would do!

Went back to our accommodation to have a drink on the balcony whilst the sun went down, then got ready go go clubbing. Wasn't sure how safe it would be to walk there but it was only 10 minutes away and we felt perfectly safe.
(never been this underdressed to go clubbing before!)

On the ground floor was a cafe bar called La Logia Negra (black lodge) and it was vaguely Twin Peaks themed. Outside was a massive queue for the band signings at the club and after a slight misunderstanding from the door staff, we were allowed into the bar for drinks and food. Yet another goth bar with great food, wish we had more of this at home! Had a delicious pizza and sweet potato roasted in whiskey and honey.
(a bit blurry but shows the obviously Twin Peaks inspired floor)

Still couldn't work out what the club scenario was, was it only for festival ticket holders? The doorstaff found someone who could speak English to help, who explained that the signings were happening first and once the queue had finished, we were allowed into the club, so to stay for more drinks in the bar! We got talking to an American couple who were there for the festival and invited them to join us at our table. Spent a couple of hours chatting and nearly didn't make it into the club but decided we really should check it out.

El Real Underground was just awesome! It felt like the best Halloween party in a deserted house, lots of little rooms with the doors removed and quirky decor all over. The music was fab too, lots of ebm/industrial however the dancefloors were so crowded we didn't get much chance to dance.

cool entrance to the ladies loos

Much as we were reluctant to leave early, we had a full day of sightseeing ahead, so called it a night around 1am.