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In the past few months, the travel from India to Canada was no less than a roller coaster ride. Canada implemented a ban on direct flights from India after the second wave which lasted surprisingly till September! Canada was allowing people from India if they were coming via a third country with a negative RTPCR report(from a third country) even if they were fully vaccinated. Due to this, the passenger had to stay in a third country to get the report. There were many options like via Maldives, Doha, Cairo(Egypt), Armenia, Mexico, etc. I chose Mexico.
There were two reasons to choose Mexico, first was that it was the most hassle-free route as Mexico has no COVID restrictions for international travel and the second was that my best friend lives in Mexico City. Now when my route was confirmed then I thought why not spend some time in Mexico before going to Vancouver?
My flight(KLM) to Mexico was via Amsterdam (6 hrs layover). My friend Piyush received me at the airport and we directly went to his house in Condesa. Condesa is a very beautiful part of Mexico City. On the first day, Piyush took me on a little tour of the neighborhood. We started our day with Mexican breakfast, I had Chilaquiles and they were damn tasty. We were leisurely strolling in Condesa, clicking pictures and Piyush was telling me about the lifestyle of Mexico. Then we went to “Chapultepec Castle” located at the top of Chapultepec Hill. There was a lot of beautiful artwork and it was like we could spend the whole day watching that magnificent art.
The next day, we rented a car and went on a road trip to Valle De Bravo. Valle De Bravo is also a magical town in Mexico. Mexico's tourism promotes several towns in the country that offer visitors special experiences because of their natural beauty, culture, traditions, historical relevance, cuisine, art crafts, and great hospitality. It took us around 2 hours to reach Valle De Bravo from Condesa. We already had a reservation in “Hostal el Alebrije” for two nights. It was a simple, compact, and clean hostel in which breakfast was also included. The Avandaro Lake, Zocalo, market place, all of these were at walking distance from the hostel. We socialized with many travelers from different countries in a hostel, it was fun!
On our second day, we went to see the great stupa of Valle De Bravo, I was quite surprised to see Buddhist culture in Latin America. The stupa is beautifully constructed in the woods of Los Alamos. After this, we went to “Velo De Novia Waterfall” in San Lorenzo which is a few minute's drive from Valle De Bravo. It is a beautiful multi-tiered waterfall in a dense forest park having picnic spots and handicraft vendors. There was a moderate-level trek down to see the waterfall. After visiting the waterfall, we had our lunch in San Lorenzo and then we headed towards the center of Avandaro. There were a lot of restaurants, bars, and cafes. We liked the ambiance of Avandaro so much that we even came back to have dinner.
Peña”. After an easy and short hike, we reached the top of Mirador La Peña and the view we witnessed was out of this world. We were able to see the whole magical town of Valle De Bravo plus the Avandaro Lake. It was a place that cannot be missed! After having breakfast at Avandaro, we headed back to Condesa, Mexico City.
In Condesa, there are many bicycle stands from where you can rent one and go to nearby places. You just pick the cycle from one stand and drop it to the other. We saw the famous Palacio de Bellas Artes, the eminent cultural center of Mexico City. This place hosts so many events of music, dance, theatre, literature, etc. Not just events but also photography and art exhibitions. From the Palacio, we went to the Cathedral Zocalo, where preparations for Grito de Dolores were taking place. Grito de Dolores is Mexico’s Independence Day and every year on the eve of Independence Day, the president of Mexico attends the humungous gathering of people from the National Palace and delivers the speech. I wasn’t lucky enough to attend this but I did see the preparations of this auspicious day. The architecture I saw in this part of Mexico City was mind-blowing you can spend hours just looking at the buildings and museums.
A day before my flight to Vancouver, we went to Coyoacan which is known for its cobblestone streets and colonial architecture. Went to a few bars, grabbed some beers, and had long chit-chats on the last night.
Finally, I boarded my flight to Vancouver, it was a short flight of around 5 hours. The immigration process was smooth and my brother came to pick me up from the airport.
Coming to Canada via Mexico was one of my best decisions in life and surely I’ll be going to Mexico again. Soon!
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