Mexico City with “Make a Wish Mexico”

A group of 36 intrepid travelers from Puerto Vallarta joined with Roberta Valdez of “Make a Wish Mexico” to fly to Mexico City to begin a 6 day bus whirlwind tour of Taxco, Cuernavaca, Puebla-Cholula, then return to Mexico City to honor a wish from a very special young boy.
The first day we gathered together at the Mexico City airport (travelers arrived on one of two flights, boarded our beautiful private coach and departed for Taxco, a silver-shoppers” paradise. Arriving at approximately 8:00 PM, the “real” adventure began.

Taxco streets in the center of the town are so narrow that a coach or large truck cannot navigate, so an amazing solution has been devised – Volkswagen “Bug” taxis modified to exclude the front passenger seat for easy in-out thereby limiting the passengers from 2-3 depending on certain girths, swarmed all over the streets. They were like busy working bees buzzing the hive with a few VW Combi’s acting as buses. Our coach was parked near the outskirts of town, our luggage was offloaded into a pickup, we were loaded 2-3 at a time into one of the VW Bugs which quickly deposited us at our hotel, the Agua Escondida. This hotel is a historic house from the eighteenth century and is the only hotel located right at the 'zocalo' so every attraction in Taxco is within walking distance. You get a wonderful picture of the city from the many terraces.


After a quick and efficient check-in organized by Roberta Valdez, most of us returned to the “streets” to do some intro silver shopping, then to various restaurants to satisfy our hunger. Many of us found an establishment within two blocks of the hotel which provided roof-top dining overlooking the ‘zocalo’ and the beautiful Santa Prisa Cathedral. The next morning we enjoyed a quick breakfast at the hotel restaurant and hit the streets to discover silver treasure and bargains.

At 3:00 PM we departed the hotel for Mexico City via a short stop in Cuernavaca. On the way to Taxco the previous day we had noticed the many roadside stands featuring roses of many colors. The coach driver had been asked to stop at one of the stands as we traveled to Cuernavca. Image the surprise to the vendors as a large custom coach from Mexico City stopped just past their location and some 25-30 persons rushed up to negotiate purchases. With Valentines day coming quickly I was able to purchase a beautiful bouquet of tightly budded pastel pink roses for my wife Dolores – 5 dozen long stem beauties. You read correctly, 5 dozen, and I got back change from 100 pesos. How’s that for a Valentines day bouquet guys? (Note – when we left our hotel 4 days later they had just began to open, no more than ½ way). They were left for the maid to enjoy.

Entering Cuernavaca our first stop was the main Cathedral. Cuernavaca is the Capital City of the State of Morelos, Mexico. It is famous for its spring-like climate and lush vegetation year-round and is also known world-wide as "The City of Eternal Spring.

The Main Cathedral or Assumption's Franciscan Ex-Convent is an amazing architectonic complex formed by an atrium surrounded by tall "battlemented" walls. The Cathedral has been remodeled in the last 20 years and murals depicting the martyrdom of St. Felipe de Jesus were found all along both sides of the walls. There are also some interesting original paintings which date back to the XVII century. In the same complex are found the Chapel of San Jose, The Chapel of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, the Chapel of Carmen as well as the Temple of Tercer Orden. Also close by is the Palace of Cortes or Cuauhnahuac Regional Museum. The Palace dates back from the colonial era, built in 1533 over a Aztec Temple. It served as the summer residence of the conqueror Hernan Cortes and houses one of Mexico's finest museums.

From the Cathedral we taxied to the best gourmet Restaurant in town for dinner. This is a 5 star offering with beautifully visual gardens and lawns, with exotic birds and chattering monkeys roaming the beautiful tropical grounds of the colonial hacienda. The restaurant is known for its preparation of authentic Mexican and international dishes served on its covered and open-air terrace.

The food and service was superb! After dinner we taxied back to the Main Cathedral where our coach was waiting. Two of our travelers were fortunate (?) enough to get a rookie taxi driver who didn’t know the Cathedrals location and were able to practice their knowledge of Spanish while viewing every street and alleyway in that part of town before arriving to the coach 35 minutes late. Some of the wags on the coach suggested they might qualify for a guides license after their experience. An hour and one half later we were safely checked in to our location in Mexico City – the Hotel Emporio on Av Paseo Reforma.

The remainder of the trip was based in and from Mexico City. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at El Izote, owned and operated by Patricia Quintana, She is an acclaimed chef, teacher, and author who started Mexico City’s first culinary institute, penned over ten cookbooks, and continues to run the immensely popular Mexico City restaurant El Izote, named for the orchid-like flower of the yucca plant. She has traveled the world as an ambassador of Mexican cuisine, and was the executive chef for the Mexican Ministry of Tourism. The six “foodies” in our party thought the dinner was “out of this world” and were especially thrilled to meet with Patricia who spent several minutes talking with all of us!

Highlights of the days based in Mexico City include: 1) The Zocalo; National Palace (Diego Riveria Murals); 2) the Museum of Anthropology; 3) the Frida Kahlo Musseum; and, 4) San Angel Bazaar (major local art displays). Highlights out of the city included: 1) the Teotihuacan pyramids; 2) Cholula (where a wonderful pageant was being enacted-loudly with simulated gun-fire), and 3) Puebla

However, the major highlight of the Mexico City stay was the Make a Wish Mexico ceremony held Valentines Day, Saturday 14th, at the Focolare Restaurant, located in the Zona Rosa. A small cantina at the entrance offers relaxing after dinner aperitifs; however, immediately upon entering the main dinner/show you see the raised center stage, walls sponged in a sunny yellow, a sea of colorful basketry suspended from the rafters and a rooster that crows from his cage in a far corner of the room.

This was the venue where Ricardo Ortiz Cruz, a 11 year old boy who is a victim of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a very high risk illness due to his age., was granted his wishes by Roberta Valdez , joined by Edgar Martinez, Coordinator for Make a Wish Mexico.
Ricardo, accomplied by his mother, Felipa and a cousin of his age, live in Valle de Chalco, Mexico State, and was transferred to Mexico City, the previous day. This in spite of having been in the hospital for 22 days and having Chemo the day before. The family was provided accommodations courtesy of Hotel Emporio. It was very evident that Ricardo is a brave fighter from all his smiles, focused attention, and energy displayed during the festivities.

His wish that was granted by Make a Wish included a Nintendo DS, Games, transportation to Mexico City, all thrir meals, special dinner show, and funds to go see a movie at a movie theater, and a special gift from our group to make their lives easier in the coming days.

As we adjourned the festivities Ricardo solemnly shook hands and thanked each one of us. There weren’t many dry eyes in our group of travelers. I’m certain that this was one of the great days of his life and will give him hope and strength to continue fighting this illness.

Thank you, Make a Wish Mexico, Roberta, Delia, Edgar, Hotel Emporio, Focolare Restaurant, and fellow travelers. We’re all better as a result of this event and it will focus our memories of this trip for many years to come.