Citizens of the World: A Stoic Podcast for Curious Travelers - Exploring Mexico City with the World Wanderers

Episode Date: May 17, 2019

Amanda Kingsmith and Ryan Ferguson are a Canadian couple who travel full time, but they do it slowly, often staying in one place for weeks or months at a time. Over the last year, they fell in love with Mexico City and its incredible food and culture scene. Did you know that Mexico City has more than 40,000 restaurants and the second-highest number of museums after Paris?    Amanda and Ryan, who co-host the World Wanderers podcast, joined me on the Postcard Academy to talk about their location independent life and all their best travel recommendations for Mexico City.   Links to all the best places to eat, drink, see, and do in Mexico City and beyond can be found at postcardacademy.co   I’m your host, Sarah Mikutel. Did you know I host another show called Podcasting Step by Step? Check it out if you’ve been wanting to start a podcast. Every week, I break down ‘how to podcast’ with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams.   Ready to travel? Sign up for my newsletter and get your free guide to cheap airfare.    Thank you so much for listening to the Postcard Academy travel podcast. I know you’re busy and have many listening options, so it means a lot to me that you’re here. You are the best.   This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet? Postcard Academy listeners can get a FREE audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via audibletrial.com/postcard   This podcast is also brought to you by World Nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance? Get a cost estimate from World Nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.co/insuranceDo you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Welcome to the Postcard Academy. I'm your host, Sarah Micatel. And today I am talking to Amanda Kingsmith and Ryan Ferguson from the World Wanderers podcast. I was a guest on their show a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed speaking with them so much that I invited them onto the Postcard Academy to talk about their location independent life and especially their time in Mexico City. Amanda and Ryan are a Canadian couple who travel full time, but they like to do it slowly. often staying in one place for weeks or months at a time. Over the last year, they really fell in love with Mexico City, and its incredible food scene and cultural offerings. Did you know that Mexico City has more than 40,000 restaurants and the second highest number of museums after Paris? Of course, Mexico's a much cheaper vacation than Paris, usually. Mexico City has 20 million people,

and there's something for everyone. Mexico gets a lot of people. bad press for its drug wars and that's real, but Lonely Planet says Mexico City has largely been able to distance itself from that and describes the nation's capital as a safe haven of sorts for travelers. I know I'm intrigued. Mexico City is definitely on my travel list, and in this episode, Amanda and Ryan share some of their favorite food and culture recommendations. You'll find links to all of these places on postcardacademy.com. This podcast is brought to you by Audible. Not a member yet. Postcard Academy listeners can get a free

audiobook and a 30-day free trial if you sign up via the link, audibletrial.com slash postcard. This podcast is also brought to you by world nomads. Need simple and flexible travel insurance. Get a cost estimate from world nomads using their handy calculator at postcardacademy.com slash insurance. Now into my conversation with Amanda and Ryan. So welcome Amanda and Ryan. Thank you so much for talking to me today. Yeah, thanks for having us. Yeah, thank you.

We're super excited. So you guys have been wandering the world for a while now. How did this all get started? Yeah, so we took our first backpacking trip together when we graduated from university in 2011. And we were very much like, let's just go travel the world and have a cool experience and take a break before we dive into real life.

And we went around the world for six months. And then we came home and we got full-time jobs and moved in together. And we were kind of like, oh, is this like it? Like we're 22, 23. And it feels like our lives have just come to a sudden halt. And we were kind of thinking about, you know, what could we do next? And so what we knew to be like a sense of freedom or a sense of enjoyment or purposefulness was travel. So we started saving for our next big backpacking trip.

And two years after we got home from our first one, we quit our jobs, sold our stuff, and went to South America for six months. And along that journey, we were kind of like, okay, so it doesn't make sense to work jobs that we don't necessarily love, hustle our faces off to save, save, save, and then quit our jobs and use up all of our savings. Like, it's just not going to be sustainable in the long run. So we came back to Canada, but we moved to a little mountain town, and we both got jobs. that were less time-consuming. So I worked in retail. Ryan worked at a restaurant as a brist and a chef and a server. And it gave us time to kind of decide what we wanted to do outside of work, I guess,

or trying to figure out what we wanted to do for work that would feel more purposeful. And at that point, we started the World Wanderers, which was Ryan's idea. I did my yoga teacher training. Ryan got some other interests. And we just started kind of like building a life. that we loved. And then from there, we pretty much just continued building on that. So Ryan took a job in Atlanta, Georgia. We moved to the States for a year. We came back home. We transitioned all of our stuff online. We went to Asia for close to a year as our like quote unquote digital nomad journey

started. And then we just kept building from there, spent seven and a half months in Mexico. and yeah, that pretty much takes us up to where we are now. I love that you realized so young that, you know, someday is today and we should not put off having our sort of dream life until we're retired because that may never come, that day may never come. So I just, oh, I'm so excited that you guys figured all of this out so early. Ryan, what are you doing? I know Amanda, that's her yoga thing going on. How are you able to live remotely?

What's your gig? Yeah, so it's definitely changed over time. So kind of like Amanda said, that trip in 2014 in South America was kind of the impetus for us to say, we want to work and travel remotely. And at that time, didn't really have any options of doing that. Or sorry, travel and work remotely. And so I was working, like Amanda mentioned, at a restaurant. And then from that, I've been definitely more on like the full-time job side of things.

So when we moved to Atlanta, I was working in person there. And then after that, I was doing freelance podcast production and doing advising work for an education company that I had a relationship with. And then over the course of that first year, that advising work grew and eventually led to a full-time job. So basically since then, I was working full time just while traveling, which is great, but also comes with some challenges until really recently when I decided to transition out of that and back into some more freelance work, doing podcast editing and kind of taking on a couple new projects on top of that. But that's definitely still in like the figuring out phase. So mostly working full time while traveling. Okay. That's really cool.

So is that how you decide where to go next then? It's where your next full-time job would be? Oh, no. Sorry. So, yeah, from the summer of 2017 on, it was fully remote. So the company was remote. Yeah, but 2017 was the full-time transition. But yeah, fully remote so we could do it from wherever.

There were some limitation. So we were initially in Asia. And then when I took on more responsibility at work, I had to be on North America time. And that's something that's kind of true for both of us now, just because of some of the work we do requires calls with people in the states having to be somewhere that makes that possible. So that's, you know, part of the reason we chose Mexico was just be close to home for occasional trips if needed and also just be on the same time zone. So basically as long as we're in North America time, we were fine and that opened up a ton of options. And so how do you guys figure things out

logistically, I guess when it comes to planning and visas, do you plan very far and ahead? Is it sort of free spirit? Do you go through like applying for visas or do you just stay up until you can stay and then go somewhere else? Yeah, so I'll take visas and then Amanda's definitely the planning wizard when it comes to the two of us. But for visas, we typically, we almost exclusively have just stayed until we had to leave and haven't done anything extra, which is one of the.

You know, one of the reasons we chose Mexico was after traveling Asia for so long, it gets a bit tiring going through 30 and 60 day tourist visas. So just having to move so consistently. And then as Canadians and it's true for Americans as well, you can spend six months in Mexico. So that was part of the reason we were like, okay, let's go there and just spend a lot more time in one place. And then, yeah, for planning, we'll let Amanda handle that. Yeah. So I definitely do like the majority of our planning. I'm more of like a future thinker than Ryan is. So we we do do some planning like a couple months out for sure. Like at this point we've planned until November pretty much. So we've got like a couple months planned. I like to know like where we're going to be and kind of where we're living, especially like with our workloads increasing over the last couple of years. It really doesn't feel like the type of thing where we can just be like, oh yeah, we're just going to pick up and go somewhere. tomorrow in saying that like we still love having that sort of freedom like for example we're living

in vancouver right now we're in whistler right now we decided like you know a couple of weeks ago to just come up here for a night like we're like let's just go up and kind of take a night off and just spend 48 hours in whistler so we definitely do have some sporadicness i don't know if that's a word, but spontaneity. Spontaneity in our planning. But yeah, I definitely like to plan like a couple months in advance just so I know that where we're living and that sort of thing. And also we get a lot of questions about it. Like our family and friends are always really curious. Like, okay, so you're here until this point, like, what are you doing after? And it always feels like a little bit weird when we're like one month out. And people are like, so what are you doing after this? And we're like,

oh, we don't know. So like it gets a little stressful when you've got a bunch of stuff and you've got, you know, people that rely on you to do things and you've got, you know, income coming in and that sort of thing. But yeah, trying to find a balance, but then also being a little bit responsible with it. Sounds like a good balance. I need to like absorb some of your, I'm trying to become a better planner. So I'll look to you for advice, Amanda. Yeah, sounds good. I know that you guys both really enjoyed living in Mexico City. And so I want to do a deep dive on that today. And I would love to know what you imagined Mexico City would be like before you got there and then what the reality was like. So it was kind of an evolution for me.

I remember we interviewed someone on our podcast. So I think of a friend near the start of our podcast. It was one of like one of the first people were interviewing. So probably in 2015. And at that point, I didn't know anyone who had been to Mexico City. And this was someone who worked remotely. This was someone who we were kind of talking to aspirationally of like, oh, this is so cool that he can just like travel and work and he'd been all over South America and had kind of settled down for quite a while in Mexico City. And I remember thinking at the time like, that's so weird. Like out of all the places like Colombia, Argentina, he's in Mexico City. And at the time in my mind, I think I pictured like Mexico City as just chaos, crazy big city because all I'd ever really, really seen and heard was that it's giant, that it's polluted and that, you know, a lot of

people get murdered there, essentially. And then we kind of through our podcast and some new friend groups, just kept meeting people who had good things to say about Mexico City. And it really, like, create like a clear picture of my mind, but I'm someone who really loves being in cities, who loves like just having kind of tons of options and things you can do and a little bit more of that like chaos and energy. So when we were starting to pick and decide on a place, I knew that Mexico City just seemed exciting to me, even though I didn't really know a ton about it just because we'd gotten so many good recommendations from other people that we trusted. And I think Amanda was definitely a little bit more hesitant. What was kind of in your mind when

you were thinking of it? Oh, I was very much like, I think I'm going to hate this city. It's going to be big, it's going to be dirty, and I'm probably going to get stolen or killed or something like that. And part of that was from having a similar experience as Ryan, where I'm like, I remember having the same thought interviewing that guy on the podcast, like, why on earth would you pick Mexico City of all the cities to live in? Like, there's a lot of cool cities in the world. Why Mexico City? And it seemed like that was just like a jumping off point for everyone else who had been there just telling us it was awesome. And to this day, it's like, there's always like a reaction to Mexico City that's sort of like, ooh, Mexico City from people who haven't

been, but anyone I've ever talked to who's been has like the same like Mexico City's awesome. And so we had some like trusted friends like Ryan said who said it was awesome. And I was like, okay, let's give it a shot. So we booked a three week Airbnb and it was kind of like our agreement was that if I didn't feel comfortable or safe and same for Ryan, although he was pretty confident that he would be totally fine. So it was like definitely more me. But it was like, if you don't feel confident or safe or comfortable or like we both hate it like we'll go somewhere else in Mexico. We were still planning to base ourselves there. And within like, I don't know, 24 hours, I was like, nope, this is our place. Like I love this city. It was, I mean, it is gigantic. But because

it's so big, you can really like nestle into your own neighborhoods and communities and you have everything you need within like a couple little neighborhoods and you don't have to really go from like one end of the city to the other, at least for us in our experience, which was really, really awesome and it was like green and beautiful colonial buildings. And yeah, I felt totally comfortable walking on my own. That's like a big thing for us because even though we're together, especially if we're like working while we're somewhere, we're going to base ourselves somewhere like I don't want to be relying on Ryan and I having to be on the exact same schedule to go get a coffee or go get groceries or go to and from the co-working space.

Like we're super independent of each other as well as like doing things together. So that was a really, really important thing for me was to be able to like walk by myself and not feel like I was going to get my stuff stolen or anything. And it's funny saying that because I never had any situations where I felt uncomfortable. And I'd say like most days, at least one way to the co-working space, we walked independently of each other and then we usually walked together like at night. But yeah, definitely was uncertain and then totally fell in love with it right away. So what experiences should we have when we visit Mexico City?

So I think one of my favorite things that we did in Mexico City was go to the pyramids that are there. So it's TOTWalk-on. I think I'm I think that's really bad Spanish for how that's pronounced. So I'm sorry if anyone out there is cringing. But if you Google something that sounds like that, you will find it. And it's super, super impressive. It's about 45 minutes outside of the city, depending on where in the city you are. But just definitely worth a day trip out there.

That was one of my favorite things that we did. We also went to Sochi Milko, which is in the south. So like the opposite direction of where TOTIWakan is. And it's these old canals and you can rent like these big boats for the day. It's super affordable. And if you go on a weekend, like there's a ton of local people who have just brought like all their family and friends and they've got big speakers and they're eating and drinking and dancing. And it's just like a really fun sort of cultural experience to have, I think. We had a big group of people that we went with and it was really, really fun.

Another one would be checking out the museums, definitely the anthropology museum, Frida Callow Museum. And we also really like the Sumaya Museum. And then the castle, so it's Castillo de Chippoac. You can go, it's in Chippeltip Park and you can walk up to it. it just costs a small fee to go in. It's really, really beautiful. And you get excellent views of the city. And it looks directly down Avenida Reforma, which is like the main view of the financial district. And it's just like, it's like literally directly at the end of the street.

And then the park is kind of right below it. And then it's just all these buildings that line this really, really big street. So it's just a fantastic view. So it definitely would mirror all of those. And then one of the things, after a while of kind of like, checking off the big things on our bucket list. We just loved being able to get outside, check out different neighborhoods, and kind of just be slightly gluttonous.

So Mexico City is one of those places where there's just so many great options for things to eat. And so we'd have a lot of days where maybe we start in Roma and walk to Polanco and go somewhere near our home, get a nice coffee, go for a bit of a walk, you know, go through the park, stop somewhere for lunch, jump on, you know, a bike or a scooter and have. head back the other way or just Uber or walk back the other way. But just kind of walking through that big section of town in the park, I think is really nice and really cool experience as well. So you guys mentioned that a perfect leisurely day for you would involve just strolling around

and eating a lot of good food. So what are the foods that we need to try in Mexico City? Yeah. So we have like a list of restaurants that we really, really love kind of in the city, which I can send to you or we can talk about whatever. works best, but I think getting some traditional Mexican food is really good. So some tacos, enchiladas. Yeah, so one of the, Mexico City is definitely like more of a New York type food destination where you've got all sorts of food from all sorts of places. So with the Mexican food as well, there's all sorts of the other regional Mexican foods available right in Mexico City. I don't know what you'd kind of classify as Mexico City's classic food, but they've got really great, you know, street food tacos.

But you can also just try all the other types of Mexican food. So you can find tamales, tacos, enchiladas, mole's, basically everything you want. Yeah. And everything that we had was delicious. Like I don't think I ever had a moment where I was like, hmm, this Mexican dish is fairly like average. I don't think I'll eat this again. And everything is, and it's like, it's kind of a problem because you just spend so much time eating and you're just like, oh, I just want more food. But yeah, you know, we would just go from, you know, from our apartment.

We'd usually grab a coffee. We'd walk a little. We'd go to a restaurant, eat lunch, like walk a little, go maybe eat a snack, walk a little bit more, grab groceries, come home cook or maybe go out for dinner later. And there's just, yeah, so much different food to try. And I think it was cool. Like one of the restaurants that comes to mind is somewhere that I think is like a nice starting off point for people is a restaurant called Azul. There's one in Condesa and there's one in Zocalo as well. And they have a bunch of different foods from all different regions.

And it's also labeled. So you can see which region you're eating food from. We spent a couple weeks in Wohaka after our lease ran out on our apartment. And I love food from Wauca State. it's so good. They have really good cheese. They do a lot of like sort of stuffed things, like kind of, you know, what you think about sort of like burrito style or more cassidia style, which you don't actually get that much of

in Mexico, but they've got kind of more of that stuff with all the cheese, which is delicious. Something that's interesting to try is the grasshoppers. They're called chapolines. and they're pretty salty and a little bit crunchy, but some really local restaurants will do them. Again, that's more of like a Wahawken food. But if you go to some restaurants, you'll see them on the menu. And I feel like that's an interesting thing to try. I feel like that would probably be like the strangest thing we tried.

But yeah, other than that, I mean, just just trying as much as you can tasting different tacos. Cochinida Pabille is really good. It's like a pulled pork that's from the Yucatan state. It's kind of a little bit sweeter. Often it's got like, you know, pineapple salsas or a slaw with it that has a bit of a sweeter taste. And that's another thing that's really yummy. And you can find that at lots of different taco stalls in Mexico City. We're not like huge street food eaters because we, me specifically, but both of us have pretty sensitive stomachs.

Like I get sick really easily. So I'm always really cautious. But in Mexico City, you can usually tell like the good street vendors. Like you'll see a massive line of people pretty. pretty much from the time they open until the time they run out of food. And I feel like for me that's like, okay, they're cooking it pretty frequently.

Like it's not sitting there for a while. And obviously all these locals love it. So that's kind of how we gauge like street food places to eat. I don't think we have any like specific recommendations. But if you're like walking around and you see somewhere with a big lineup of locals, that's your place. And then as far as like a good like starting off point for people who want to

You're going to Mexico City. It's definitely, it's an interesting place because I think it's really well known for fine dining and then for street food, where it's kind of like you kind of want to check out a little bit of both. And so, you know, doing some research, there's lots of really great more of like fine dining type restaurants. But as well, like Amanda mentioned, they do kind of closer to fine dining, but with lots of different regional Mexican foods that you can get like incredible molays.

And that's definitely worth trying. And then another good place to check out kind of to get started and, you know, try some foods and learn more about what you like is Casa de Toneo. I don't know what you compare it to. It's kind of like maybe like the Mexican version of Denny's, but like way better. So this restaurant, it's typically 24-7 busy all the time. The staff in there are running around like mad people because it's so busy and it's really affordable and you can go in and basically everything on the menus, you know, different types of

Mexican foods. You can get tacos, enchiladas, these kind of like special cassidias thing. And they're really known for a Pizole soup. And so you can go there, get Pazole, tacos, enchiladas, floutas, everything you want, chilequillas, and just order a ton of food. It's all quite big portions and really, really cheap. So you're probably not going to eat all of it, but it's another good way to kind of just get a huge array of the foods that you can try, learn what you like and not spend a ton of money doing it. And if you go at the right time, it's kind of just a fun experience because it's so packed. And I feel like I've never been anywhere where servers are running around like they are there. Oh, that sounds so fun. So that sounds like just a perfect way to spend the whole

evening. But what is what is the going out culture? Like where do people go? Is it centered around food or? Yeah, so it's kind of interesting in Mexico. I feel like their days start a little bit later than maybe like the average American city. They definitely do like shorter work days. It seems like, you know, obviously this is like a generalization, which is based on our experience from working in the co-working space. Lunch is a little bit later. So it's more like 2 p.m. So we found if we went for lunch at like 12, 1230, there was like never a line for the places that we wanted to go, never wait. But if we went at like 2 p.m. That's when all the people are eating. And then lunch is a little bit longer generally. Like it feels like it's more of a experience. Like people eat together and they seem to really enjoy

like the experience of eating food together, which is a really beautiful thing. And then because lunch is a little bit later, I'd say dinners a little bit later, like more like 8 p.m. 9 p.m. sometimes even like later than that is when restaurants will be like really, really busy. And and so then, you know, People will often drag out dinners. Like, it's kind of an interesting thing because you get really good service and then your food comes and you finish your food and then people don't bring the bill. Like in Canada and the U.S., and I think maybe the UK, but you can correct me if I'm wrong, it's like you finish your food and people like bring you the bill.

And it's usually like, no rush, but here's your bill. It's not like that in Mexico. Like you have to flag somebody down to get your bill. And for us, we would usually just like finish our food and want to leave because that's like what we do at restaurants is like eat our food. and then go. And it was almost like a weird thing. Like we could tell that we were doing something that was like a little, little bit like culturally not how they do it. So it's very much like people, it seems like people kind of like sit and enjoy the company of who they're with after they eat.

And then I would say in Mexico City, there's a big, like there's definitely lots of nightlife. Like there's a big area called Zona Rosa where there's a ton of different clubs that you can go out in. And then all down, like all in like Romanorte and Candacea, so there's tons of bars. There's lots of cocktail bars. So just being that we're, you know, late 20s, early 30s, we're definitely more in like the go for like some nicer drinks type life stage. So we discovered a lot of really cool cocktail bars that we really liked. There's one called El Palankito, which is in Romanorte. It was really close to where we lived.

And then it's got a sister bar called La Clandestina. that's in Kondaysa and they do like Mescal and Mescal cocktails. And it was just amazing. Leman Tour is really popular. It's like one of the most popular I don't know, cocktail bars I think in the world apparently, but that's on a street called Obergon, which is in Romanoorte.

And you can basically just walk on like Obergon for ages and just discover a ton of different cocktail bars. But yeah, it's cool because restaurants are open quite late. And then there's also bars are open quite late. So you can really like experience nightlife without the typical sort of American like intense pre-drink, go to a club for a couple hours and then you have to leave. Like it's quite a different vibe which we quite enjoyed. Okay. Well, Mexico City sounds fabulous.

So if I went there and had a great time and I want to buy something to remember Mexico City, what's the typical product I should get? So I think this is going to really depend on kind of what, you know, people are interested or what. you're interested in because I think you can really buy almost anything. Like you could buy textiles, you could buy something a little bit more kitsy if you wanted to. You could buy, you know, like a Roman, or not a Roman calendar from the Anthropology Museum. Something that I bought that I quite enjoy is this little like colorful skull. And I got it from one of the people selling stuff at TOTWalkan. And I feel like to me that kind of like embodies Mexico City. we arrived pretty much right before Day of the Dead.

And something that's really cool about Avenida Reforma, which is that big street in the financial area, is that anytime there's something going on the city, they put all this stuff up on the street. So it was where the Day of the Dead parade happened. And for the whole kind of like week or so before the Day of the Dead celebration started, they had all these really big, beautiful, colorful skulls up on the street. And like they changed it when they had the NFL game down there. They had all the different teams like helmets that were just like lining the street. So that's obviously not very Mexican, but just an example of kind of what they do.

So for me, I just love the colorful skulls. I think that they're so beautiful. I felt like it was really cool to be there for Day of the Dead since it's really like a massive celebration that's totally different from what we do in Canada. And yeah, that that was kind of like my souvenir. thing I bought. And then I think for me, that's something great is like a bottle of mescal. So people kind of associate Mexico with tequila and obviously tequila is from Mexico. Some people drink tequila in Mexico, but mescal is really, you know, the popular liquor, which is tequila is a type of

mescal. So very similar, but kind of different. And tons of amazing varieties that you can find and get at affordable prices that are either really hard to find or really expensive other places. So bringing home a bottle of mezcal I think is great. And it's the type of stuff to where, you know, you'll, you'll, it'll last a while if you want to make like some margaritas with it or have a small glass to sip. And then I'm trying to think of what else. Yeah, there's just lots of cool artisanal stuff in Mexico and especially in Mexico City. lots of cool clothes that you can find there where it's like just a one-off shop of, you know, someone who makes their own t-shirts or different fashion stuff. But walking around Roma,

walking around Kandesa, you're kind of run into stores like that. And, you know, maybe you'll find like a cool t-shirt. Like I remember one of these places someone had, it was kind of this cool design where someone had put like the fun side of the wall with like a little image of Mexico. and stuff like that. So you'll just find some like cool, cool and unique stuff around the city that you can get as well. Is there any particular neighborhood that's good for shopping? I would say, so Polanco is like the fancy rich people more of like, you know, if you have

an extreme amount of disposable income and maybe want to like buy a Tesla while you're there, that's the like type of shopping over there. Loma, so Romanorte around the area that we lived has lots of cool shops. So I'd say that would be a good place to go. I think there's no one place where it's really condensed all in the same area. But so the street, Kalima in Roma, Norte, if you walk up and down there, you'll find some cool stuff. And then in Kandesa, they're a little bit more scattered around, but as well, mostly around, I think Leon is the main area there. Yeah, I also think going into Zocalo,

is a good place to kind of get sort of like souvenir type things. There's definitely more of like they know tourists are there. Like there's always like people doing traditional dances and there's always events happening in the main square in Zocalo. So I think you can definitely get some like good souvenir stuff type stuff in that area. One of the things that's cool about Mexico City is that it's got a lot of malls. So it's it's kind of interesting because you can go to like markets and mercados and have like very authentic Mexican experience, but then you can also just rock up to a mall and go to the gap

and buy something there. So it kind of depends like what you're looking for. And for us, it was really nice to actually have that balance because I mean, you know, like when you've been away from home for a while, it's nice sometimes to just be like, hey, like I need like a jean jacket, for example, this happened to me. My jean jacket ripped. Like my purse had just like worn out the top of my jean jacket. And I had this gigantic hole like in a place where a hole is not trying to in any type of fashion culture. And I was like, I need to go get a new jean jacket. And that's the type of thing that, like, had I been in, I don't know, Bali, like,

it probably would have been really challenging. But we just went over to a mall and I ended up finding something I think at like Old Navy or Gap or American Eagle. I can't remember which one. So it's nice because you do get sort of like those stores from home, which makes it definitely a great place to live. But then you can also go to like the Jamaica market and like buy dried Jamaica and make your own like Jamaica juice or hamakot tea and that sort of thing. So you kind of get both worlds in

Mexico, which is really cool. Before I let you guys go, I would love to do a roundup of your favorite places in Mexico City. How does that sound? Sounds good. Okay. What was your favorite bakery? So my favorite, there's a, I guess, three places. One was, it's called Delirio. It's kind of a not a chain, but there's like three of them in La Roma. And yeah, just really cool, really good cookies and different, you know, sandwiches and stuff. You could get these really cool sandwiches, tortas with different types of food in them. So that would probably be my favorite. There's another place that's quite famous called Pandaria Rosetta in Roma.

And a little, there's another one in Candacea, too. They're really well known for their pastries. type of place too where you'll walk by in the morning, there'll be a line out the door of people waiting to get in there. And the third one, I don't actually know if this is purely Mexican, but it's Mason Kaiser. There's a couple in Mexico City. And they have this like amazing olive bread that I was all about. But yeah, those three would be my favorite. And then Amanda is actually gluten-free, but we actually ran into a place called Loetil, which is a gluten-free bakery slash cafe that we really liked.

Yeah, and they actually have food as well. So if there's anyone out there who's like me who can't enjoy regular baked goods, Laotilia is right in the heart of Condesa and it's delicious. It was awesome because Mexico in general really likes their bread. Like I think that's a part of their food culture. But they also do like a lot of different breads for different celebrations. So they have Pannedamerto for Day of the Dead. They have like a king's bread.

It's called Pandares. Is that what it's called? So it's for three Kings Day, but I don't know the name of the bread. Yeah. And so they have these special breads. And I was like, oh, you know, just another thing. I can't try. And like, I get quite sick from it.

So it's just not worth it for me. But Laotilla had gluten-free variations of all those things. So I got to have like a gluten-free variety of it, which was really, really awesome. Very cool. So is that your favorite cafe? or would you say you have another, is there a favorite coffee shop that you guys have? So a place that we really like is called Tierra Garat and they actually do like different types of hot chocolate, but then you can also get the hot chocolate with the coffee or you can also get like brewed tea drinks or just coffee in general.

But I feel like that's like a pretty unique one that you can find in a lot of different places in the city that we both really loved. Yeah, I'd probably say Delirio, the bakery was my favorite cafe, but Tierra Garat also really loved it and definitely worth going to. too, really unique and just like spectacularly delicious chocolate coffee. So my favorite one was, I think was Dulcée Madeira, which is this. So it's kind of like they'll make it like a latte, but it has chocolate and cayenne pepper and cinnamon mixed with your coffee and milk. It's just amazing. So definitely worth trying. And there's a different types of coffee that you can have with hot chocolates that are all not too sweet and kind of, yeah, just, just spectacular. Delicious.

Where did you guys like to go for lunch? Yeah, so we had a couple of different places. Our favorite place to eat actually, like, closed down and sort of moved after the, because of the earthquake damage, which was kind of funny because the earthquake happened before we got there and it closed like five months after we were there. But it was called the Guapachosa. They do have a second location. and I feel like it's not as good as the first one,

but maybe the first one will open back up like it's supposed to. So that's why I feel like it's worth mentioning. We did a lot of quick lunches because we were working during the week. So I feel like this is worth mentioning. If you're looking for something that's quick, something that's affordable and something that's healthy, there's a salad bar called Greengrass where it's kind of like the idea of like a subway or a Chipotle a little bit, but it's like make your own salad.

and we ate there a ton because it was just like quick, affordable and also, you know, a healthier option than all the tacos that we were eating. If it's a weekend and you're looking for something that's like more Mexican, there's a restaurant called Cabana. It definitely draws a little bit more of like business class people, especially at the Polanco location. But they have like my favorite taco ever, which is called Casito's Cabana. And it's like grilled shrimp, avocado, fried cheese and like Chipotle Mayo. It's amazing. And then another one I toss in that's a bit more breakfasty, but it has tons of good fruit bowls. It's called Moramora. And you can also get it on Uber eats. So we did that a ton. But yeah, you can just get like great ascibles and fresh juices.

And it's definitely a little bit more on the pricier side relative to Mexican food. But the type of thing where if you were in the States, you'd be paying, you know, twice as much for. So we definitely, had a lot of good green juices and different types of bowls from there while we're in Mexico City. And one more, Ojo de Agua. Again, it can also be like a breakfast spot. They do have a breakfast menu, but really, really good for lunch. They do like sandwiches, salads. And then even their breakfast has like chilequiles and some other more traditional Mexican type food. It is more of like, I feel like not like if you're looking for like traditional Mexican food, I feel like that's not the place, but it is like really, really good. Like, you can get a good juice or a good smoothie and

like a gigantic salad and it's, it's pretty affordable to eat there. So that was one of our favorite places, especially if we had friends passing through who had been like, hey, like, I know this is a big city and I've been in a small Mexican town for like seven months, like take me somewhere where I can like eat fresh food and not get sick. That was like our go two place. Where did you like to go for dinner? Yeah. So again, we got, I think, a whole bunch here.

Our very favorite place was actually really, really close to our apartment. Only maybe like, it was on the same block. So only 90 seconds away. It was called a Romalia. And it's this really cool, small restaurant. I think there's probably only like four or five, maybe six tables in there. A little bit darker. But it's a wine bar that also does kind of more tapas style food, but not only.

tapas, but they have the most amazing tuna tostadas and we'd go and get Papa's bravas, these like this kind of like amazing pile of potatoes with this delicious kind of spicy sauce on it, tuna toastas and like a smoked salmon salad and drink a couple glasses of wine. Yeah, that was our favorite place, really affordable, the type of experience that would cost way more but really good food. And then I kind of mentioned it before and I think Amanda hit on it as well, but especially The city's great because you have lots of different options for foods of different varieties. So there is a Japanese place called Izakaya that we really liked where you can go get sushi,

udon, different types of noodles, ramen. They've got specials a lot of days. It's not like the greatest sushi in the world, but it's, I think, the best sushi that's affordable in Mexico City. So we liked going there a lot. And then another place that we kind of stumbled upon but just fell in love with is called Commodore De Los Miragros, which is this really cool setup of kind of like a South American food court. So I think people are quite familiar with more of those like hipster food courts where there's a

whole bunch of different cool restaurants. It's actually all the same restaurant, but it's been divided by different countries. So you go in, you sit down, it's two stories, but this like big courtyard area. And there's Mexican place, Brazilian place, Peruvian place, Argentinian place, Colombian, Venezuelan. And so for us, being that we really love Latin America and spend a lot of time traveling, you could just sit down and get all the favorite things from all these different places. So we'd get like a good margarita and some guacamole to start, but we could also get Covecée from the Peruvian place, yucca fries from the Brazilian place, maybe some meat

from the Argentinian place if we felt like it. Or what else did we get there? Guacamole. What are those stuffed things called? Oh, yeah, you get like a rapas and also these like really delicious. just empanadas that were corn-based empanadas that came with like a passion fruit dipping sauce. And we introduced a ton of our friends to it there because it's also a really fun place to just have an extended dinner.

They've always got great music going. It's a place where you can sit around it. You're kind of at these bigger tables and have a few drinks and just order more food as you feel like it because, yeah, that's probably, if we go back to Mexico City, we're like always going to Comedore de Los Mirogos. That place sounds so fun. That sounds like a great place to hang out at night. Where else, if you guys were like having a night out, where else would you go? Oh, good question. There's a place on Colima called Husset, which is really nice. They have food and then also really great cocktails. It's kind of in like an old colonial home. So definitely like a really cool vibe. Contramar is really cool. That's kind of like on the top restaurants to eat at. And, It is really good. It's like fresh seafood.

It's right in Condesa. It's super awesome. It's really close to Azul as well. If we were like going out for a nice meal, which we did a couple times. Like Azul is a great place, especially if you want more authentic Mexican food. Cabana as well. It's like a good lunch spot. We often went there for lunch because it wasn't in the neighborhood that we lived in, but it's also a great dinner spot.

Like they've got a really, really good menu that's good for lunch or dinner. That was also one of our favorite places. And then, yeah, in terms of like going out after dinner, Amanda mentioned them before, but two cocktail bars that we really liked were Clandestino and Palankito that make their own mescal and you can get like lots of different cool mescal cocktails. They have this avocado cucumber mescal drink that like I dream about sometimes and tried to recreate to like mixed success recently. So I definitely recommend checking that out. And then there's one called Lehman Tour as well.

Obergon in La Roma is a really good place. Like if you were in Mexico City for like a Friday night, a Saturday night and you're like, hey, let's go, you know, have dinner and then go out. Going somewhere in Roma Norte on Obergon is a really good spot. Like you can go lots of good dinner options there. Like Romalia is there. There's a cool seafood place called La Dosena. Go have like an extended dinner and then just walk.

down the street because you'll run into some other cool cocktail bars and places like that. Yeah, one other thing that's kind of fun is if you're there on a Friday night, going to Patrick Miller is like a pretty popular thing to do. It's a massive club that's kind of in Sonorosa slash Laroma. So it's in that area. And it's just like this big warehouse building and they pump like 80s music and it's packed with people. So we went with a group of friends one night. I feel like that was like our only like quote unquote clubbing experience in Mexico City. But it was pretty fun. So if you are into that, I feel like that would definitely be a fun thing to do.

We definitely enjoyed ourselves there. Where did you guys go when you were in the mood for some culture? I would say culture is definitely like Zocalo has lots of culture. Bayes Artes is beautiful. You can walk through and see all the art in there. You can also see a folklore show, which which we did. one time and it was really, really interesting. I've never seen anything like that. It's like a folklore ballet. You can also see the same group perform at the castle at the Castillo de Chippo.

I'd say that would be also a great place for culture. Any of the museums, there's so many museums in Mexico City. We barely skim the surface with them, but anthropology museum is a great place to start because they've got it separated by sort of like group of people slash the history. So you can go and learn like about the Aztecs. And then you can go. you can go learn about the Mayans. And you get to sort of understand the way that Mexico came to be as we know it a little bit better. And it's just like a really beautiful building once you're inside of it. And then it's right in the park, which is I love like nature.

And I feel like Mexico City is so busy. It does get a little overwhelming. So just walking in the park a little bit is really nice as well. Frida Kahlo Museum is definitely something that's a good cultural experience. I had never really learned about Frida Callow. Like I kind of knew her face and I knew like the unibrow and but I didn't really know much about her. So being able to actually go learn about why she's iconic for Mexico, I think was a really

good cultural experience. And then we also went to the Sumaya Museum, which is an art collection for, who's art collection is it? Carlos Slum. Yeah. And that was a really interesting experience too. I feel like definitely in the cultural side of things, maybe a little bit. less so than the other ones I mentioned.

And yeah, and just a little bit less Mexican focus because it's all sorts of things from everywhere. So he's got, it comes from his like personal collection. I think people think there's close to a billion dollars in art there in this really nifty building. And there's things like really exquisite ivory sculptures from like, you know, hundreds of years ago in China and like Roman coins and European paintings and really, really, really. amazing stuff, but a little bit less Mexican-focused. So you guys mentioned that when you're at a restaurant, you have to ask for the bill because they're more relaxed and just leave people to enjoy themselves.

What are some other cultural differences between Mexico and Canada, I guess? Yeah, we were talking about that last night when we were preparing for this and trying to brainstorm how Mexico is different. I feel like we spent so much time there now. it's like trying to actually separate ourselves from what is what is difference. I think in Mexico City, learning a bit of Spanish is pretty good. I think lots of people do speak English, but it's definitely less, I guess, obvious than when you're in a more touristic place. Like, for example, if you're in Touloum, like they see that you're foreign and they'll probably just give you an English menu versus

like in Mexico City, they'll give you a Spanish menu. So if you don't speak Spanish, it's good to know. like at least how to ask for a menu in English and know kind of like the basic pleasantries. People in general are very, very kind from our experience. Like they're very friendly. They're very welcoming. They were very like patient with us, especially, you know, in the beginning when our Spanish was a little bit like slow and choppy. People are very like, I think a little bit more like open and free than I feel like Canadians are. like just, you know, dancing in the street or we went to some concerts and to a soccer game and people are very, like, joyful in those situations, which was like really fun to see. Like, you just see people like getting up and dancing a little bit more freely than I think we see in our culture, which was really fun to experience.

What else was there? Yeah, in terms of cultural differences, I think that the biggest thing, especially coming from Canada where I think we're a little bit extreme with our. politeness and are like giving each other space and following social, you know, just being like overly polite and a little bit passive. Going to Mexico, it is definitely a little bit more of a free flowing place. So like if you're going to, you know, a convenience store and there's a line, like you might want to like push up a little bit closer because someone might just come out of nowhere and like go to the front of that line. If you're walking on the street, you know, people will be jaywalking, cars will be turks, be turning at weird times. Just have to kind of keep your wits about you in a lot of like moving around situations because the there are rules, but it's a lot more of a, you know, break the rules

when it suits you type of place, which I actually really love. I really enjoy that part of it. Yeah. And then like Amanda mentioned, everyone's really patient. So a couple of things that are really going to be your best friend there are the Google Translate app. You can get cheap SIM cards. So I'd get it, you know, get a SIM card, get Google Transit on your phone because people are really patient. And if they don't know English, you know, just stand around, type it in and get it. And then Uber as well. Just amazing in terms of getting around the city. It's so, so helpful and so affordable in Mexico City and nothing but awesome experiences there.

It's also like a safer way to get around like with taxis, especially like being a foreigner. You know, they're probably going to charge you a higher price. And one of the things that we love about Mexico City versus some of the other places in Mexico is that you don't really get charged like a foreigner's fee, I guess. I don't know if that's an actual word. But you know when you go to a place and there's no price and you're like, okay, this is like clearly way more expensive than it actually costs. Like we found this a lot in Guatemala. Like we just got charged more. And because we spoke Spanish, we could be like, no, the other store like sells it for this.

And then they'd be like, okay. But in Mexico City, that doesn't really happen. And I think that part of it is because of things like Uber. So I think just taking Uber means like your prices set. You've got a company that has your back. It's like pretty, it's like quite secure and that sort of thing, which is nice. And then, yeah, kind of just the last point there would be just to kind of watch out for like petty theft. So that's a kind of a bit of a cultural difference, but not with the same issue most places.

But if you're on the train, you want to be like discreet about you having, you know, a nice, phone and waving around and a little bit protective of it. Lots of people get pickpocketed on the train if they're not paying attention. And same thing, just like keeping your wits about you. Like, don't go walking late at night with like all your valuables down roads that aren't well lit, that type of thing. And there's definitely areas of the city that aren't super duper safe. So just kind of keeping an eye on where you're going and making sure to check that like

that place is good and safe. And most of the things you want to do there are in places that are. really safe, so don't have to worry about it too much, but it's worth paying attention to. Yeah, and you guys have mentioned some great neighborhoods to visit so we can stick to those. And then final question, what is the tipping culture like? Do we have to tip in restaurants and bars and stuff, or is that already included in the bill? Yeah, so I think that at least in Mexico City, typically not included in the bill, almost every place won't include it. And it's not as, people don't tip as much.

And it seems a little bit more frequent that people won't tip. So for us, we typically tip between 10 and 15% when we're there. I think you can get away, you know, sometimes Mexican friends just like wouldn't leave a tip or would leave, you know, change. But yeah, I think 10% is like a good kind of good number to base yourself on while you're there. Yeah, I think it's the type of thing where if somebody's bringing the card machine to you, which you can use credit cards in most restaurants in Mexico City, not all, but a lot of them,

they'll often ask you if you want to add a tip. And so the word for tip in Spanish is propina. So if you hear something about propina, they're asking if you want a tip and then you can just tell them what percent and they'll usually thank you for it. They're quite quite kind with it. But if it's like, you know, your average cafe or restaurant where you're just paying any cash, like it's not going to be added to the bill and they won't ask you for it, which is pretty similar to how it is in I think Canada and the U.S. So just being mindful of that. I think too, like people don't get paid a lot in restaurant industries in Mexico. Like minimum wage is virtually non-existent slash quite low. So we just like to like tip for a good service. And especially if we have like a really good

meal that's, I don't know, if we have a really good meal that's been quite affordable, we're like, yeah, we're definitely like going to leave a tip for sure. So that's kind of how we approach it, but I don't think that it's the type of thing like in Canada or the U.S. where like if you don't tip your server, you probably shouldn't come back because they're like zeroing in on you type thing. I feel like it's not quite like that, but it is a nice thing to do if you can't afford it. Yeah, yeah. Well, this has been such great advice. I definitely want to get to Mexico City at some point this here. Hopefully I will see you guys if you guys get back there anytime soon. And yeah, thank you so much for talking to me. So where can people find out more about the world wanderers? Yeah, thank you so much for

having us. This has been really fun. And you can find us at www. www.theworldwanderers.com. Our podcast is on iTunes. It's the world wanders. You can find it on like any podcasting app or any place that you get your podcast. Just search the world wanders. And then we're on Facebook and Instagram as the World Wonders podcast. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you. All right. I am planning a trip to Mexico City.

Are you coming with me? And then we can visit the beaches and just eat our way around the whole country. I am still thinking about all the amazing food that I ate in Oaxaca last year. And I will share a link to that episode in the show notes if you're interested on postcardacademy.com. In an upcoming episode, I will share the conversation that I had with Amanda and Ryan on their podcast, World Wanderers. I really dig what they're doing, and I think you will enjoy that episode. So look out for that in the future. That's all for now.

Thank you for listening. And have a beautiful week wherever you are. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas. that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahygoteel.com slash blank no more.