Cuernavaca and La Condesa

Vince and I have stayed in many AirBnb places in Mexico. Each time we plan a trip, we try to find the right house or apartment that will work well for us. Generally, we look for places that are close to the centro and within easy walking distance to restaurants and stores. A good wifi connection is important and cleanliness is a must. We try to find places that have plenty of natural light and enough room for each of us to have our own space when needed. A rooftop terraza is an added bonus but not a requirement.

Even though we search through various AirBnb options and carefully scrutinize reviews to determine if there are hidden drawbacks like noisy streets or barking dogs, we never completely know if a place is right for us until we are there in person. Sometimes our screening is accurate and successful, and we love the place. Other times we assumed some negative details wouldn’t affect us or could be easily overlooked, but that turns out not to be true. Sometimes we’re lucky and other times we're not.

On our latest trip, we stayed in four different AirBnb apartments over the course of our two-month stay in Mexico. Two of those apartments met all our criteria and worked well for us. The other two were generally good but had some major flaw that could not be ignored. We left one of those apartments four days earlier than planned and only stayed one night in the other. AirBnbs in Mexico are relatively cheap, so we were willing to forfeit some of the cost in order to find more comfortable lodging.

Our AirBnb apartment in Cuernavaca was the best. We stayed there for a month and felt lucky to have found it. It was bright and spacious. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a large balcony overlooking the sunny, green courtyard. Vince set up his office on the balcony and I turned one of the extra bedrooms into my makeshift gym.

The barebones kitchen was initially a concern, but we soon realized there were many good, inexpensive restaurants nearby, so we didn’t need to do much cooking. There were also several cafes in the neighborhood. Vince quickly found his favorite and went there practically every morning. He would grab the cappuccino they started making for him before he reached the counter and walk to the cathedral at the end of the block. The garden outside the cathedral was cool and peaceful and a relaxing place to start the day.

Although we liked our Cuernavaca apartment, it did have a down side. It was on a busy street that could be very noisy at times. It took us a while to adjust, but eventually we grew accustomed to the traffic sounds including the garbage trucks that made daily pickups. We never really grew accustomed to the disheveled man with a severe limp who periodically shuffled his way down the line of cars stopped at the traffic light while loudly begging for money. Even our second-story closed windows could not block out the sound of his incessant pleas.

Our month in Cuernavaca went by quickly, and we were sorry when it was time to leave. We had settled into the neighborhood and appreciated what it had to offer. We had regular contact with the apartment manager who lived above us as well as the maintenance man and his wife who also lived in the building. They were friendly and very helpful during our stay, and it was sad to say good-bye to them.

Our next AirBnb apartment was in the La Condesa neighborhood in Mexico City. We spent a week in a small but pleasant one-bedroom apartment located on the sixth floor of a high-rise building. There wasn’t a lot of extra room inside, but there was a narrow balcony where we could hang our machine-washed laundry on a drying rack. Two walls of the apartment were floor-to-ceiling glass that made for spectacular views of the city as well as impressive sunsets.

La Condesa is a little haven within the city. Its tree-lined streets and beautiful parks make it a popular destination for tourists trying to escape the city’s heavy traffic and air pollution. It contains a variety of good restaurants and small specialized grocery stores. You often see people walking their dogs to the nearby parks. In fact, there is one park where you can rent a dog to walk for an hour and possibly adopt it afterwards if you are so inclined.

Our apartment was close to Chapultepec Park where we visited our favorite museum, El Museo Nacional de Antropología. This museum houses an outstanding collection of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican artifacts. There are 23 huge rooms overflowing with well-preserved pieces from various areas of Mesoamerica. We have visited the museum several times but have yet to see more than a fraction of its incredible collection.

Vince’s sister Genevieve was also in Mexico while we were there, and she came and spent a few nights at an Airbnb just down the street from us in La Condesa. The three of us visited the castle in Chapultepec Park one afternoon. Chapultepec castle was built in 1785 as a summer home for the viceroy at the time. It has magnificent, ornately furnished rooms as well as beautifully landscaped gardens. It was the home for many Mexican presidents until it was turned into a museum in 1939.

Our last day there, we took an Uber to the centro and spent the day exploring. We visited the huge cathedral in the main plaza or zocalo of the city then admired the intriguing murals in the Antiguo Colegio de Idelfonso located behind the cathedral.

We walked around the remains of the main temple or Templo Mayor that was built in 1325 by the Aztecs who inhabited Tenochitlan which is now Mexico City . The existence of the temple buried below the zocalo was unknown until it was accidentally discovered in 1978. Excavation has continued since then and a museum was constructed nearby to display the artifacts.

We topped off our busy day with a visit to Dulceria de Celaya, the oldest store still operating in Mexico City, built in 1874. They have an amazing selection of delicious homemade sweets. It was hard to choose between the wide variety of bite-sized delights but we managed somehow.

The sun was setting when we finally arrived back at our little apartment in La Condesa. We had just enough time to clean up our AirBnb and pack our suitcases in preparation for our flight to Oaxaca the following day.

To be continued. . .