Mexico City on a Shoestring: The Student's Guide to Not Starving
just landed in this concrete jungle after a 12-hour bus ride that smelled like regret and cheese puffs. hostel? $8 a night with bed bugs that might actually be my new pets. food situation? real bad right now - found a $2 taco stand thatâs basically a hole in the wall serving something that might be meat. i just checked the weather and itâs basically sweater weather, so if youâre packing flip-flops youâre gonna be that person shivering on the metro.
heard from this drunk guy at a taco stand that the free museum days are actually free but only on tuesdays and theyâre packed with school kids. also said to avoid the âauthenticâ tourist markets unless you wanna pay $50 for a painted sombrero.
*chapultepec park is saving my life right now though. itâs this massive green lung where iâve been napping on benches like a stray cat. saw a guy feeding squirrels stale bread - basically my spiritual twin. el centro histĂłrico is cool but feels like walking through a postcard. the cathedral is impressive but holy crap, the stone work took centuries and i can barely assemble ikea furniture in an hour.
overheard two locals arguing about the best tacos al pastor. one said itâs the stand near the zĂłcalo, the other swore by some dude selling them off a bike in doctores. no consensus, so you just gotta risk it.
if you run out of excuses to not shower, puebla and cuernavaca are like a bus ride away and way less intense. cuernavaca has these gardens that look like they were designed by someone who really hated straight lines. also heard someone whisper that the botanical garden in coyoacĂĄn has a cactus thatâs older than my great-grandmaâs secret chili recipe.
seriously though, my stomach is making sounds that could be mistaken for a dying animal. found this place called el moro that sells churros so cheap theyâre practically giving them away. check their yelp - itâs got decent reviews but mostly from tourists who think using a fork for churros is normal. also found this hostel called the yellow house thatâs supposedly clean and has free coffee. their tripadvisor page says the staff is cool but the wifiâs slower than a snail in molasses.
also, someone told me the palacio de bellas artes is free on sundays, but you gotta line up at 8am to get a spot. otherwise youâre stuck watching people take selfies for hours. which is fine because i have nothing better to do. also heard the zĂłcalo* at night is sketchy but the street performers are kinda lit if you ignore the guys trying to sell you fake designer bags.
anyway, gonna go beg for some tap water. peace out, broke travelers.
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