Mexico City

Mexico City experienced 2 major earthquakes a few weeks before visiting and it was unclear how devastated the downtown area would be. Nevertheless, we confirmed our Airbnb was still standing and made the journey from San Francisco.In Roma Norte, the neighborhood where we stayed, there really was not much evidence of major earthquake damage. But, there were very few tourists and their economy was seemingly still recovering.  It was very enjoyable to experience a Mexican city without tourists and beaches, however. This felt authentic and foreign, exactly what we wanted.  

The food and nightlife was much better than expected and we never felt unsafe at any time.A major highlight was definitely our 'Airbnb Experience' where we went to a local's home for a quick presentation of the history of Lucha Libre (Mexican wrestling) and then made our very own Luchador masks to keep as souvenirs and Halloween costumes.  We took them to the arena but quickly realized we were the only ones (aside from a few children) actually wearing them. The show was much more of a spectacle than I expected with hundreds of fans. The people there seemed very into the storylines and took the fighting quite seriously.It was a quick trip but there's so much more to see in this huge mega-city, I will visit again. Check out this link for some quick videos as well.