Today we had quite a long list of things to potentially hit...starting with what has become a bit of a tradition for us...find the local Google office to visit! Our rental was actually only a 10 minute walk away from the Google Mexico City office so it really did seem like a shame if we did NOT badge in. Jiujiu and Jiuma were out for their long run (she's training for a marathon so she was happy we had some nice running paths close to the house!) so the rest of us packed up for a walk to Google for breakfast. We actually are SUPER close as the crow flies...but there happens to be a highway in that path. So most of the walk was to get to the underground walkway to cross that street. Kind of interesting to see - wasn't expecting a whole series of food stalls down here!
Before long, the Google logo came into view:
Turns out social visitors were actually only allowed on Mondays and Fridays (today is a Tuesday, oops), but the office receptionists and security folks were super kind to give us an exception. They even have us some Mexico City stickers!
So...in our minds, this was us looking fierce to match the Lucre Libre Mexican wrestling backdrop...and the resulting expressions are proof that we are not built for the theater business.
L did much better in her YouTube creator environment:
Baba was just happy to finally get a decent cup of coffee. He said it was the best one yet of the trip!
We also picked up some Mexico micro kitchen goodies -- plane snacks! -- before heading back. There was no way L could pass up this photo op. If you know, you know.
After a brief stop at home, it was off to the main attraction of the day: the National Museum of Anthropology! (Commonly known as the MNA).
There was a bit of a line to get tickets -- we haven't been very successful at the QR code online purchases so we waited in line at the machine kiosks. Children under 13 are free! Good thing we came this year! 😆 We started off with a family shot at the outdoor courtyard of El Paraguas ("The Umbrella"), likely the most iconic image of the MNA.
The MNA is very very large with an enormous number of rooms organized by period of history. We were told to just pick a few and focus on those. So we decided to hit the big three: Teotihuacan, Aztec, and Mayan. First off: Teotihuacan. Remember that feather serpent temple I really liked? They created a full size replica here so that you could really get up close to examine the details.
Here was another reproduction of what the murals (remember the jaguars?) would have looked like in their original glory.
This is one of the Mayan stone Lintels that kings would commission to tell of their great accomplishments. This one is a replica of something found at Tikal but it allegedly describes the relationship between the Teotihuacan and Mayan kingdoms.
R being adequately impressed with one of the original Teotihuacan sacrificial group tombs -- they are positioned so because their hands had been tied behind their backs...
Here's a necklace offering from Quetzalcoatl -- these are real human teeth that were used to make the necklace!
A shot of workers doing some maintenance on one of the relics. Thought it was interesting because you never actually see this when you're in museums.
Here's a Chacmool from Teotihuacan -- these statues were used for offerings -- the plate on his stomach is where you would place the things being offered up for sacrifice...gold, jewelry...or human hearts.
A pretty cool outdoor model of the Teotihuacan city.
After about 30 min or so, we moved on to the next room of focus, and arguably the highlight of the entire museum, the Mexica or Aztec room. At the entrance, there were these displays of a game that looked an awful lot like quidditch to me...but L and R said it was from the Aztecs, you hit balls using your hips...and apparently the people who lost would be killed. Killings seems to be theme there...
View from the entrance of the Aztec room -- clearly the Aztec sun stone was the highlight.
It is often incorrectly referred to as a calendar stone, bit it actually depicts various Aztec beliefs re: cosmetology and history, so its more of an anthropological significance. Very impressive how large it is, especially given all the intricate carvings!
I took this picture in the "history of the importance of corn" section -- it is pretty notable how much of Mexican cuisine revolves around corn. Even in Aztec times, they would make sculptures focused on their primary food staple.
And the Mayan room is also where we found Montezuma's headdress - well, at least a replica of it. The original is apparently in a museum in Vienna...kind of odd? I think it suits L well though!
And these are some more Lintels - these I believe are the actual originals. Though the most famous Lintels (depicting a kind of brutal ritual sacrifice where the queen is actually pulling a rope knotted with thorns through her tongue for bloodletting, yeah, ugh!) are actually housed at the British Museum in London.
This is a...halfway original at least -- tomb of Pakal the Great. The coffin lid is a replica and the tomb itself is a replica (the originals in this case are still buried deep where the were found), but the jewelry, skirt and jade death mask are the originals.
Here's a painting showing you what it would have looked like when he was buried. The jade death mask actually matches the skull they found to an almost perfect 1:1 - impressive for not having 3D scanning and printing back in the Mayan ages.
Outside the Mayan room they also had some replicas of Mayan murals. Such vivid colors!
And the had live sized replicas of famous stone ruins.
Finally - an original! This is the actual Chac-mool found at Chichén Itzá. I read somewhere that the archeologist who found it tried to take it away but they confiscated it at the border.
After we finished the Mayan room, some of us were done with museums and went in search of tacos instead. Those of us who continued on visited a couple other rooms -- here's one of the famous basalt heads from the Olmec civilization.
R took full advantage of every reading nook opportunity.
We even visited the upstairs galleries, where I enjoyed the textile exhibit in particular. All in all, a great morning of historical and cultural learning!
The museum was right in the middle of Chapultepec Park, so we just crossed the street and headed towards the Castle. Some lovely views of the lake as well, with paddle boat rentals (the line was HUGE! Good thing twins had outgrown this sort of thing by now).
Turns out the castle was free for kids under 13 as well as senior citizens...I was not really feeling more walking around so I decided to save the $15 and catch up on blog entries while twins and Laolao/Laoye toured the castle. Verdict: good...but really great when admission is free. 😆
After the castle, I was feeling recharged from my sitting out so I rallied part of the troops for a Chapultepec zoo detour. What other zoo has capybaras and axolotls? So exciting! Sadly...the stars did not align on this one. Not only did as miss the axolotls by about 15 minutes, but if also started to POUR, thunder and all.
We tried to wait it out...but let's just say there were some hot baths and changes of clothes needed when we got back. Though the change of clothes would have been necessary regardless because we were headed to Quintonil for dinner, ranked No. 3 on the world's top restaurant list. I made reservations for this months in advance. In hindsight, the napkin should have been a clear clue to the theme of the evening, but I didn't pick up on it at the time at all.
We did NOT opt for the pairing and instead ordered cocktails to start - not bad, but also not amazing, I thought.
The first food item was this one bite poke crispy taco. I thought it was quite good.
Next up was a mussel tart. Baba and I were big fans. I've never had mussels with these flavors. They managed to combine the salt sea flavor of the mussel with some other things that really packed a huge umami punch. The plate was also kind of cool.
This was a plantain fritter in a tomato-y sauce with honey cream. Jiuma LOVED it, I thought it might be a little too tart for me, so good but not amazing.
This was their herb salad, that they actually recommend you use your fingers to eat by dipping the leaves in the sauce. We tried that, but quickly switched over to the fork. I really enjoyed the pumpkin seed dressing - never had anything like it before. Given what it is, it was very well done. And so pretty!
This was a cerviche-y like dish -- I can't recall now the fish, maybe a kampachi? I think I liked it, but it might have been a little tart again. I think I recall liking the shrimp crudo better compared to this from Esquina Comun. Still very good though!
This was a trout from Baja California, with figs and mushrooms underneath. I recall thinking the sauce overpowered a bit here (not that it was bad sauce per se).
This was our palate cleanser between the appetizers and mains. Made of cactus and limes -- it was definitely palate cleansing! 😆
This was a tamale under a corn cream that honestly tasted like cheese. It was very very yummy. served under a layer of young corn cream. It also had this bee honey sauce incorporated for sweetness. Up there with the mussels for me.
The next was the "entree" course - where you picked between a duck and a rib eye option. Here's the duck, it came with a mole sauce that I really liked. Makes me excited for our mole lunch in Puebla!
The ribeye entree came with some mini quesadillas and a bean sauce. Both were okay, but not my favorites.
The ribeye itself was a little on the small side 😆 -- it was very good, but it wasn't wagyu levels of OMG I want another ounce good. I think between the two entrees I would have picked the duck.
For dessert, this was a mango and yogurt with seaweed sprinkled on top. It wasn't my favorite dessert -- I think the yogurt part was actually better than the mango. Maybe I like my mangoes sweeter?
Slightly out of order, these were the petit fours to end. I really liked the guava tarts at the very top -- not at all overly sweet, very light and creamy. The chocolate was good and the caramel truffle was actually not bad for a person who doesn't like the caramel/butterscotch family. The little jellies were a surprise. We think they were salt covered. More like a palate cleanser for the chocolate. 😆
This was my favorite dessert -- it was a combo of passion fruit at the bottom and then a creamy ice cream but topped with caviar. I assumed it would taste a little too intentional (trying to work in a high priced ingredient) but it worked together really well in my opinion. I normally always find caviar unnecessary, but here it actually really added to the flavor combo.
I forgot to say that our wine, Don Juan I think was the name of the bottle, a cab and Shiraz blend, but a surprising hit for me. I wasn't planning on having as much of the wine but it was very nice. Group photo! Great company!
So the photo was taken before they showed us the hidden highlight of the meal...bugs were incorporated into many of the dishes! I thought this was actually pretty amazing, some of my dining companions were a little grossed out, but by the next day, we were all happy to have experienced this truly one-of-a-kind meal. Here are examples of the actual bugs they used (spoiler: some of my favorite dishes were the ones that incorporated the bugs the most).
They did bring me a personalized menu at the end so I could look up all of the precise bugs incorporated in each dish as well. What was also impressive is that they listed the precise time each dish was served to us, I guess this is the level of attentiveness and pacing that helps them achieve two Michelin stars!
By now, it was past our bedtimes, so we walked home (very convenient that it was walkable from the rental house) and went to bed. Gotta rest up to look our best for the family photo shoot tomorrow!
