Today we will visit several neighborhoods including the exciting and interesting Xochimilco, San Angel and Coyoacán neighborhoods. Mexicans are culturally very colorful people, so today’s focus will be on musicians, Mexican parties, boats, and street art and graffiti. Coyoacán traditionally has been home for artists, politicians, and intellectuals, it has the ambiance of a province within the city. After seeing La Casa Azul Museum, where Frida Kahlo was born, lived and died, we’ll continue towards downtown Coyoacán, where you’ll be in awe at the San Juan Bautista Church. Then we’ll continue on to Xochimilco to board a Trajinera (a traditional flat-bottomed boat) in a most traditional family gathering activity in Mexico.

A visit to Xochimilco is like stumbling across an oasis in the desert. This eclectic place is set in the middle of a colossal city where you can discover colors your eyes have never seen before. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, rediscover its colors as you walk down the aisles of its markets full of iris flowers. Float along the walled canals lined with gardens and curtains of trees on brightly painted and decorated trajineras and evoke a time when this watery surrounding dominated the landscape of the Anáhuac. You’ll discover the small artificial islands, called chinampas, which are used to grow flowers, vegetables, and ornamental plants. (B)

Today’s focus will be on markets, food stalls, churches and people. Mexico City is full of food markets, and most of them are places of wonder. Cleaver-wielding butchers jammed in shoulder-to-shoulder with spice merchants and vegetable-sellers carefully tending their mountains of jewel-like white and purple onions, everyone sharing space with food vendors hawking everything from tamales to tostadas, and more. La Merced is one of the biggest markets in the world. Spanning 53 city blocks, it has sections for household trinkets, foods (groceries and cooked items), pirated DVDs, and more, including the darker side of what people might want to buy. It’s a maze of vendors that is an absolute must-see for anyone who loves markets.

Next we will visit Mercado de Sonora. This place has all the ingredients for Mexican witchcraft. Aisles are crammed with stalls hawking potions, amulets, voodoo dolls and other esoterica. This is also the place for a limpia (spiritual cleansing), a ritual involving clouds of incense and an herbal brushing. Sadly some vendors at the market trade illegally in endangered animals. It’s two blocks south of metro Merced. (B)

Today we will visit the Basilica of Guadalupe, the second most visited Catholic shrine in the world after the Vatican. The Basilica is located on Tepeyac Hill where the Virgin of Guadalupe first appeared to Juan Diego in 1531. After we head to Cine Ópera, which was one of the largest, most grandiose movie theaters in Mexico from its inauguration in 1949, during the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema, until it was shuttered in 1998. Still abandoned, the crumbling facade is a gloomy yet visually stunning testament to the glamorous peak of the country’s film industry.

Historically, Tlatelolco was the main commercial center of the Aztec empire. It was founded around 1337, some 13 years after the founding of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. This is also the site where one of Mexico’s modern tragedies took place: on October 2nd, 1968, Mexican army and police massacred some 300 students who had gathered here to protest the repressive government of president Diaz Ordaz. (B)

Today we will focus on some of downtown Mexico City’s stunning architecture. We begin a day with a visit to the Palace of Fine Arts, Mexico City’s grandest and most important performance space. It is one of the many public buildings begun during the government of Porfirio Díaz, who was in office from 1876 to 1911. The building features murals that were executed by some of Mexico’s finest artists, including Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Roberto Montenegro, and houses exhibition halls for sculpture and painting. It is also home to the National Museum of Architecture, and the National Theater. This stunning Art Nouveau masterpiece was envisioned for the centenary celebrations of Mexico’s independence in 1910 and was completed in 1934.

Next, we will explore the Palacio de Correos, the capital’s main post office which dates from the days of President Porfirio Diaz, who inaugurated it in 1907. The design is an eclectic mix of styles, with Moorish, Spanish and Venetian Renaissance, Neoclassical and Art Deco details, all supported by a steel frame that has allowed the building to survive earthquakes and subsidence that have claimed other buildings.

We’ll visit the Metropolitan Cathedral (or Catedral Metropolitana), the first and largest cathedral in the Americas, seat of the Archdiocese of Mexico, and a wonder to behold. It is a symphony in stone, composed over 4 centuries into manifold facades, displaying textbook Neoclassical, Renaissance, and wedding-cake ornate Mexican Baroque (Churrigueresque) styles. Within its fantastic bulk are sheltered some 16 chapels, several altars and retablos, a fine parish church, and a choir, each an inspired work of art replete with gold gilt, fine paintings, and sculptural details. Above it all, 25 bells – measured in tons – ring and sing to the city. Finally, The Torre Latinoamericana (The Latin America Tower), a skyscraper located in downtown Mexico City. Its central location, height, and history makes it one of the city’s most important landmarks. (B)

On day 6 we focus will be on architecture, hipster bars and restaurants, street art, bookstores, antique shops, people, and earthquake damaged structures. We begin with the Roma neighborhood. Colonia Roma is one of Mexico City’s most famous and popular areas, not least for its hipster tendencies. The hub of the city’s quirky subculture, with restaurants, bars, and museums to match, there are a plethora of things to see and do in this Cuauhtémoc borough neighborhood. Technically divided into two separate colonies – Roma Norte and Roma Sur – it was designated a Barrio Mágico in 2011 and plays host to many art deco mansions.

After lunch, we’ll explore the La Condesa neighborhood. Beloved for its world-class nightlife, Condesa gives posh young Chilangos countless excuses to slip into stilettos or suits. Condesa’s days begin with beautiful people streaming through parks and designer boutiques, pausing to sip lattes al fresco. Its extravagant nights begin once valets take the keys and velvet ropes are pushed aside. Marked by a larger corporate presence than neighboring Roma or Hipódromo, Condesa’s venues might seem all-too-familiar, but the crowd is always fresh. (B)

Early in the morning, we’ll head to Teotihuacan for a sunrise shoot. Teotihuacan was the most important city of the classic period of the Meso-American cultures, and today is the most visited archaeological site in the country. We’ll admire the temple of Quetzalcoatl, we’ll climb the Pyramid of the Sun and will walk the Avenue of the Dead. Teotihuacan is a vast Mexican archaeological complex just northeast of Mexico City.

Running down the middle of the site, which was once a flourishing pre-Columbian city, is the Avenue of the Dead. It links the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun, the latter two with panoramic views from their summits. Artifacts in the Museum of Teotihuacan Culture, on-site, include pottery and bones. Afterward, we’ll return to a few of our favorite spots over the past week, or give you the free afternoon to rest up or go shopping.

In the evening we celebrate with a wonderful “Farewell Dinner”, Mexico City style. (B) (D)

While at breakfast we have our final discussion, review our best photos from the week, trade contact information, and bid you farewell. Guest who are continuing on our amazing Guatemala Photo Adventure, we will depart for Guatemala after checkout. (B)