My top five afternoon hang-outs in La Roma

1. Río de Janeiro plaza

This park in la Roma Norte has lots more to offer than just staring at David’s exquisitely sculpted derrière. On sunny days the plaza sparkles with light and on gloomy ones is one of the most inviting places I know to sit with a cup of coffee and watch the clouds gather.

Unlike Luis Cabrera plaza, Río de Jainero has a thicker stand of trees that surround it, which create a buffer from the traffic and noise and unlike Centro Médico park, there is hardly any trash on the ground. Plus it’s surrounded by some incredible Porfirio-era, art deco, art noveau and colonial architecture. People come with dogs to swim in the fountain, kids bring their bikes, every once in awhile a balloon seller will wander through. It’s a great place to while away a few hours.

2. The corner of Querétaro and Orizaba

This spot is home to some of my favorite bars south of Alvaro Obregón. La Nacional sits right on the corner and the afternoon sun hits the outside tables just right. Next to that is the Pulquería, which of course, sells pulque and opens a little later in the evening, across the street is Pacífico 7 and on the Orizaba side of this corner is La Botica, a tiny mezcal bar where the rule is you have to order food along with your mezcal in the form of a huge chunk of cheese, a candied apple covered in chile or popcorn. And if you want to turn afternoon beers into evening ones, stop by the Belga, a tiny beer shop with all kinds of craft imported brews.  This is my Friday afternoon corner when I’m ready to celebrate the beginning of the weekend.

3. Food carts on the corner of Colima y Orizaba

I like the makeshift wooden table that the sushi cart creates around a tree and the

giant chef hat wore by Chef Guevara of the Argentine stand and the pizza from El Local is pretty delicious for coming from a tiny oven in the middle of the street. Every afternoon this place feels like there is a mini bbq happening, except all the people you invited are complete strangers … that you’d like to make friends with.

4. La Morenita on Chiapas and Córdoba

This place has interesting crowds that take shifts, an early med student crowd and later local one when the music gets slightly louder and it hard to find a place at one of the few tables outside. Its draw for me is two things: 1) They have 15 peso beers, which is the cheapest I have ever seen in the city and 2) the corner where it sits is not a hipster people watching spot, but a real neighborhood where at 5 in the afternoon people are walking home from work, chatting with their neighbors, changing flat tires in the street or taking out their dogs. It’s lively in a way that makes you feel part of it all.

5) The MODO

The MODO (museum of the object of the object) at 145 Colima street is one of the Roma’s only museums. Its tall, skinny building always has interesting and locally relevant exhibits (the last two were The History of the Roma and Condesa and Rock in Mexico). It’s easily an afternoon’s worth of activity without being museum-overwhelming. And the best part? Roma residents get in for 20 pesos.

@MexCityStreets

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