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After another breakfast at Don Toribio restaurant (we discovered this wonderful restaurant near our hotel the morning before), we got an Uber to the start of Reforma to make the most of car-free Sunday mornings and see the alibrijes on display along the street.  This time we had a far nicer Uber driver, who first complimented me on my Spanish and then chatted with me for the entire journey, dropping us off at the best spot to start our walk.

We didn’t realise just how many alibrijes there were on display!  So colourful and cute, lining both sides of the street.  In addition, for the first part of our walk there were giant Catrina models, followed by Mexicraneos (giant brightly painted skulls).   I took so many photos.

My original plan was to walk up to the Anthropology museum, mainly to find the stall where I purchased some delicious esquites last time.  (esquites are sweetcorn, off the cob and warmed in a broth of herbs and spices, served in a polystyrene cup and topped with mayonnaise and cheese. Delicious!)  However, instead we took the wrong route and ended up in Chapultepec Park.  Not a problem, it was a lovely day and we decided to spend some time in the park instead.  Firstly I dragged Rob onto the land train – this was a fun way to rest our feet whilst getting a quick tour of the park.   After this, we retraced some of the train route to the beautiful Fuente del Quijote and then on to the boating lakes.  I purchased some Dorilocos – had to be done, as I was too ill last time we were here to face this local snack (Not sure I will try it again! Doritos covered in chilli/chamoy sauce, peanuts, grated carrot, jicama and jelly sweets) and we sat next to the quiet lake enjoying the beautiful day and getting bothered by cute squirrels.

Finally made it to the Anthropology museum and just sat outside with esquites, watching the Voladores.  Didn’t do the museum itself as we had visited it last time we were here and just wanted to sit outside in the sunshine, knowing we were soon to return to cold, rainy UK.

Walked back up the Reforma to see the rest of the alibrijes and continued our walk to the Popular Art museum – a longer walk than we thought!  So glad we finally made it here though, as its probably my favourite museum that I have visited in Mexico, folk art, creativity and historic artefacts, right up my street.  Too tired to walk any more, we got an Uber back the short distance to our hotel.

That evening, we went back to Café Bizarro in Roma district.  It was a lot quieter than Friday night and for some reason they seemed to have run out of practically everything on the drinks menu, but the music was great and it was perfect to spend our last evening in our favourite place in CDMX.

Photos part 1 – Reforma, Chapultepec park and many alibrijes https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/11-06-Chapultepec-Reforma-and-Popular-Art-Museum

Part 2: Popular Art museum and Café Bizarro https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/11-06-Sun-part-2-Popular-Art-Museum-Cafe-Bizarro/

Another early start, as we met up with Tanya and Ralph from Go Well tours for a trip to Santiago Apoala.  Although we’ve only met once before, we’ve had a bit of communication online during the pandemic and we were warmly greeted as old friends.  It should have been a 2.5 drive to Apoala, but that didn’t factor in the road closures, so the final journey was more like 3.5 hours.  “No hay paso” became a very familiar term but it was fascinating to experience the rough country roads – if they could actually be called a road – and no idea how Ralph managed to get us there!

On arrival, we took a walk down many, many steps, through a beautiful ravine with the sound of the waterfall getting ever closer.  The first drop of the fall was a bit of a perilous clamber to get to but it was worth the peril.  A beautiful fall, dropping into an azure blue pool, with a way to swim into a little cave behind the waterfall.  The water was damn cold, and Rob was hesitant but determined to reprise a “Last of the Mohicans” moment, he braved it into the water and joined us in the cave.

There was another plunge pool a bit further down, so we clambered over the perilous rocky path, still in our swimming gear, where we got to have another swim.  Absolutely heavenly!  We also had the added bonus of an adorable little dog who followed us down to the pool and back up again.  After our swim, we headed back to the car, where we were taken to a nearby picnic spot at the entrance to the ravine. A beautiful peaceful spot, where we were accompanied by a couple more friendly dogs, and we tucked into a delicious picnic salad prepared by Tanya.

The journey back was less problematic, having been advised of a short cut – in exchange for a Squash which Tanya purchased from a passing lady as thanks for the directions – and we were dropped off back at our hotel looking forward to meeting with them again in a couple of days.

Spent the evening wandering around town, where I managed to buy myself a crazy big floral crown with a glittery skull – didn’t consider how I would fit that into my luggage later!

Photos: https://vampyresheep.smugmug.com/Holidays/2022-Mexico/10-29-Apoala-trip

The full gallery of pics here