The idea was a Saturday night of live music — what was supposed to be a friend of Joy’s and Brendan’s debut with a band at a small Mexico City Cantina. That’s not exactly what happened.
Instead, in a cab ride to Centro Historico, where we were going to do the leg work to find a location for a going away party, we spotted a billboard for Coldplay. Slated to play that night at Foro Sol, we started talking about whether getting tickets would even be possible. We could try to buy off the street, or do our cantina crawl and try to get home to check the Internet for tickets.
Foremost on our minds, beer and botanas, the freebies offered by the cantinas in the hopes that you will stay and drink and drink and drink some more. We started with a helpful map provided by a midwesterner in Mexico:
The mission: find a cantina to host a going away party for Joy and Brendan. The obstacles: dirty bathrooms with no sinks, small spaces with little air circulation and some rather odd delicacies offered for free.
First up was Salon Corona, which looked like it could have been inside a mall food court. Clean with plenty of space, the cantina offered a sky-view from inside with a retractable roof. As fast as we could move to a table in the shade, several waiters moved to close the roof and shut out the direct sun. Before we ordered, the waiter slid a bowl of limes on the table and some spicy pickled carrots. I tried a Michelada – - Mexican style — which means no spice tomato juice. And we ordered some delicious tacos al pastor.
Next up, La Puerta del Sol. Set up like a small diner, there were plenty of comfy and well-worn booths to sit in. This time, I tried a Michelada with a darker beer and ordered it ”cubano” meaning with the spicy stuff added. The food was great and it kept coming, from tortilla soup, to flautas stuffed with beef. Yum-O.
La Faena was next. It was a huuuuuge space with a wide-open entry way and a dark, damp feel. Cool, and clammy. Can you describe a bar that way? Our waiter reminded me of the doorman Lurch on the show, the Adams Family. We ordered more beer and no food this time. The interior was interestingly decorated with matador costumes featured in glass showcases and large posters and photographs of famous bull fighters. The downside here was a creepy bathroom. The upside, a neat jukebox with lots of Mexican songs.
On the way to our next stop we ducked into El Rey de Pavo, or The King of Turkey. Before the Spaniards arrives in Mexico the indigenous people ate domesticated turkey as a source of protein. Here, Joy and I shared a fresh turkey taco with guacamole. Delish!
Now we were off to Dos Naciones. Loud and crowded the place offered an interesting menu of freebies including, snails, pig knuckles and brain quesadillas. I ducked of to the WC and Brendan and Joy placed an order or carnitas – or so they thought. I came back to the table from the questionable loo to find them staring at a place of meat. On closer look, it was really a plate of fat advertised to be meat. No one was brave enough to try it.
Last but not least, La India. Too crowded to sit downstairs we found ourselves seated upstairs in a room with a low ceiling and a prominent view of the ladies room. We skipped the food here too but had another beer and reviewed the places we had stopped. For a mere 30 pesos Brendan was able to take home the napkin holder featuring a red logo of a scantily clad indigenous woman.
Full of beer and laughs we opt to head straight over the Foro Sol to see if we can buy tickets on the streets for Coldplay! Yeah! As we walked the gauntlet of knock-off Coldplay t-shirts and souvenirs we were approached by a scalper. He had ticket on the floor but he wanted 2000 pesos for them. That was way out of budget as we had already decided 800 pesos was as high as we would go. Next he offered tickets in seats at the back of the arena! The show was the best ever and the biggest I have ever been to — 55,000 people in attendance. Viva la Vida!
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