Photo Diary | Mexico City

This time last year I was prepping to travel to Mexico City for my friend Carmeon’s birthday, so I figured now would probably be a great time to actually share those photos here, lol. It was an amazing trip (there’s a saved highlight on my IG) but I never had a chance to post the photo diary so here we go, lol!

So initially I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to go because funds had been kinda tight, but a last minute blessing came through and I bought my flight ticket, packed my bags and headed to meet Carmeon and friends in CDMX for a little getaway adventure. One of the things that I love most about the friends that I travel with is that while all of our personalities are different, we share a common love of taking in art, culture, food and overall beauty when we travel. Our time together is relatively stress free, and for the most part, we don’t put any expectations on each other beyond showing up. If you want to do an excursion, yay, if not that’s fine as well; we will enjoy whatever we do together. For this trip, Carmeon didn’t want to plan a thing, so her bestie ShaVonda handled the itinerary.

It was a very chill trip; outside of a coffee tasting and a private mixology class, we didn’t have a lot on the long weekend’s itinerary. She found a beautiful AirBnb for us to stay in that was in a walkable part of the city, so while we waited for everyone to arrive on day one, we were able to get out and explore the neighborhood a little bit.

Carmeon, Quita and I arrived together, so once we got settled in, we headed over to Guzina Oaxaca for a bite to eat while we waited for the other’s to arrive. It was a sweet little cafe on a bustling street, so we were able to relax and people watch while we ate.

After that, we headed back to the AirBnb to meet the girls and chilled for the evening. No wild night out partying for us, lol.

DAY 2

I didn’t do the Coffee Tasting because I am NOT a real coffee drinker (give me more milk + syrup vs actual beans please, lol), so once they were done, we headed over to El Bazaar Sabado, an open air artisanal market that had tons of artists and small vendors set up to shop with. I don’t really care about shopping per se when I travel, but I do enjoy visiting markets like this because you can always find little treasures and gifts amongst all of the inspiration. I brought home a little wooden jewelry box, and one of my sandals broke while we were there so I bought a new pair as well. There was soooo much beautiful pottery, art and textiles to take in. It was an afternoon well spent.

That night we headed to RosaNegra Restaurante Polanca for dinner to officially celebrate Carmeon’s birthday. The atmosphere is stunning, lively (the staff sang happy birthday and were constantly bringing out cocktails and bottles to tables with sparklers, lol), and the food was delicious as well. It’s fine dining meets nightclub and we had a ball, lol.

DAY 3

The next day we headed over to The Ritz-Carlton for brunch at Samos, and 10/10 recommend. From the views, to the food (I’m still thinking about the waffles) to the coffee, I loved it. It was the perfect (and much needed) start to our day.

Once we wrapped up, we headed to a private Mezcal Mixology Class at Salon Rosario, a dope little speakeasy that’s a hidden gem. It’s a cozy space, and our teacher, Sade, made learning about Mezcal feel both fun and sensual. So many people don’t like Mezcal because of the smoky nature of the flavor, but we learned the proper way to drink it and it makes all the difference in the world. We made 2 different cocktails and I highly, highly recommend taking a mixology class if you can. There is truly an art to mixing cocktails (one tip is to always start with your mix vs the alcohol), and it’s a fun experience to share with friends as well.

That evening we stopped at Taqueria Orinoco for lowkey bites, and then closed out the evening at Tokyo Music Bar, a Hi-Fi Analog Audio Cocktail Bar.

I absolutely loved this spot. If you’ve never been to one, a Hi-Fi bar is a listening bar; they prioritize sound quality and the music experience, drawing inspiration from Japanese kissaten coffeehouses. Yummy cocktails, and the “DJ” they had that night played a lot of great vinyl. I definitely want to visit more of these in other cities because the lowkey atmosphere is such a vibe.

We had a slow but long travel day home the next day. I truly enjoyed our trip; my only wish was that we could’ve visited Frida Kahlo’s museum, but it was booked out by 3 months! So similarly to Paris, if you plan to visit any of their more famous museums, make sure you try to get tickets in advance.

I definitely plan to visit Mexico City again some time in the future. The city was beautiful and fairly easy to navigate via Uber, and while we did go for slightly “bougier” experiences with food and drinks this go round, everything was very reasonable (I am also someone that goes out regularly at home so do your research accordingly). My biggest travel trip for everyone is to travel with a friend group that meshes well together. You don’t have to love all of the same things, but there needs to be some commonalities amongst the group. If you know you’re a turn-up queen and want to be out drinking to 5am, maybe don’t travel with the crew that turns in early and goes for coffee runs at 8am. You want to have FUN, and I’m thankful that I get to do life with some wonderful women!