May 11, 2024 • 28 mins
Dean and Caelynn look back on their trip to Mexico City and Zihuatanejo! The Bells get brutally honest with each other about their planning styles, and they have a few things they’d do differently when they return to Mexico City.
Hear all the secrets on how to get into the most popular tourist spots, find out if Michelin Star restaurants are worth it, and learn the all-important lesson on how to cruise around a foreign country without getting a boot on your car.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everybody, Welcome to an onlyw episode. I've Been There,
Dean That with Kaylan. Well, yeah, so Kaylen's joining us
again this week. Shocker permanently. We were still we're still
working around this thing. You didn't want to do the
pop culture thing, totally get it. I wouldn't want to
(00:20):
do it either.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, we haven't addressed this, but I just didn't really
like talking crap about people.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You know, the crap talker. You only talk crap about
me to me, and that's fine. You don't want to
get your crap out there about people you don't know,
and I totally respect that, and that's totally fine. So
what was the solution. The solution was to let you
hop onto my brilliant idea permanently, permanently.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You're crushing it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Been there, Yeah, we're crushing it. We're getting dozens of
downloads every single week.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Do you want to just inflate Dean Zygo a bit
or just compliment him? Not in flat you ego, Just
compliment Dean real quick. He's been doing all of the
editing for Been There, Dean That, and added the music
has been He's done a great job. So I'm proud
of you.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah. When I started this segment, I really wanted to
have like a lot of sound effects, Like every minute
or two there was a new sound effect, a new
like maybe ominous music playing, maybe music of the culture
of the destination.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm glad you're ended in.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Do you think it would be bad if I had
all that stuff?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I think it would be a little overwhelming, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
But it could be like subtle and cute, like when
I listened to podcasts like maybe not Crime Junkies is
a good example, But there are certain podcasts I listened
to where I'm like, man, these are the production value
of these is really good. And don't get me wrong,
iHeart production value is top notch as well. I just
like the storytelling aspect, and you can tell a better
story when you have like an aroma of sound.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Like you're talking about being on a train in Alaska
and you Yeah, I think it would be a little overwhelming,
but maybe it would be good.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
There was a couple episodes I think maybe, like the
photography episode where I introduced some like click click click, Yeah,
did you hear it deals in to that?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Nope? But oh I knew that, so maybe I did
listen to it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, maybe you did. Anyways, Yeah, Calin's gonna be joining
us more frequently on this podcast. Oh, it's permanent, not permanent.
It's not permanent.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Wait wait, wait, it's permanent.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
No it's not. I mean, yes, of course we are.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We're not been there doing that anymore because it's permanent.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Telling you it's not permanent, it's not that, it's not.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
You are permanently according to it's permanent.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I call the shots here, Honey. You don't for yes,
for trips that you go on with me. Of course
you're going to be on the podcast with me. But
there are trips like, for instance, when I went to
India with Mike Jesse, Tommy Connor. I want them to
be the guests on the podcast, okay, but there are
times where like I want to have Brad on the
podcast to talk about some of our adventures together, and
(02:42):
it would be nice to have you there to ask questions.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, I just think you were missing the point of
the call.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
No, I get it, I get it. But I have
this vision in my head, and so I want to
keep doing what my vision. And it's great for you.
You get to take a week off occasionally. All right,
I'm doing this for you. Typically, what we do here
is I choose the destiny. But I haven't given you
the chance to choose a destination yet.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, I hope you don't do it today because I'm.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Not prepared, so you don't have to be prepared. Where
do you want to go?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh my gosh, where have we not gone?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Well, we've only done like eleven episodes, so you haven't
gone a lot of places.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Give me a second. Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Let's do Mexico City. Let's go on a trip south
of the border to Mexico City. Yes, okay, that's fair.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Mexico City was fun. We went because it was my
birthday and I always like to take a trip on
my birthday if we can. Last year we went to Bali.
The year prior was Mexico City. This year we're going
to Alaska, but a month late. So this was my
birthday trip. I really wanted to go. I've heard such
amazing things about Mexico City, and I didn't. Okay, So
(03:50):
typically Dean plans the trips, and he does a great
job planning the trips. Whenever he gives me the reins,
I feel like I always mess up, and I messed
up a little bit in the location of where we
stayed in Mexico City, because we stayed in like the
business center area. It was like all businessmen, not all businessmen.
It was like all businessmen and business women. And there's
(04:12):
just like really cute, charming parts in Mexico City that
we saw the last night. What is it called it?
I was just telling my friend about this.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Like the section that we liked.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yes, because the Roma Roma, So I would suggest staying
in Roma if you go to Mexico City because it
is so cute, like really really like a lot of greenery,
really charming houses. I loved it.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Roma was very cool. I really liked the restaurants that
we went to in Roma.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, I was just my friend was just in Mexico City,
so I sent her that restaurant we went for my birthday.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Do you have the name of it right now so
our listeners can maybe go if they have a chance too.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It is Maroma. The restaurant is called Maroma. And I
took a picture of the many that I just pulled up.
What were we obsessed with? The baby fried artichokesos, We're
very good. We ordered two of them.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
We ordered two of those art of chokes yeah, I agree.
When we got to Mexico City, we stayed at the Nice.
It was a nice hotel, but it was wasn't like
a Ritz Carlton or something like that.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
You thet's, but it was nice.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You used your points to book it, which you know,
typically we wouldn't stay in that nice of a hotel,
but when we got it on points, I guess it
made it worth it. But the hotel was great. The location,
like you said, it was kind of not really what
we were looking for. It kind of seemed like the
business people would kind of come in and out to
conduct their meetings and those types of things.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So it's hard to know too because like you can
do as much research, you're just so much better at
it because people have blogs and they have these different sites,
and like even just any site that you look on
is typically paid advertising. So if you're going to like
Forbes or New York Times or whatever it is, and
you're like best hotels in Mexico City, those hotels are
typically paying them. So it's hard to like figure out
(05:49):
exactly where to go, and with different bloggers, I don't know,
I just have a really hard time figuring out where
to stay when we're traveling to a new place.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
What do you think that is? Do you think that's
something that you could get better at?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
For sure? I think I get overwhelmed by what all
of There's so many different hotels, there's so many different
places to stay, so many different places to see, So
I get overwhelmed with that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
But you like planning. So every time we go on
a trip and I'm like, yeah, you can plan everything,
you get excited about it, and then we get back
from the trip and you're like, planning is so hard.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
No. No, I love planning events, I love planning parties.
I love planning most things. But travel, to me, is
one thing that I just can't wrap my head around.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, that's understandable. It's okay. Traveling is kind of your thing.
And we still got some things to work on as do.
I don't get me wrong, I've got a million things
I got to work on as well. There's so many
times I go on a trip and I'm like, oh man,
I plan that so poorly, or I wish I had
done this instead, or you know, all those.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Types of things, and it's hard to finding the balance,
whichween wanting to go back to a place you love
and wanting to go to a new place. But I
do want to go back to Mexico City and be
able to stay in Roma and just walk around because
we had a car, which if we were in Roma,
in a more central place, I don't think we would
need it, do you.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I think renting a car is always a good option
no matter where you go.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
The only reason I say that is because we got
a boot on our car and it was a little sketchy.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
We did get a boot. We went to a restaurant
I probably parked illegally.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
It was Maroma. We were at my birthday restaurant. Yeah,
and then we just like stayed out. We talked to
this girl and she's like, I live in Mexico City.
If you want to stay at my house, I'll go
to Vegas. We'll swap houses.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, we did get a boot that night. I like
can kind of read Spanish, and obviously numbers are going
to be the same in any language. I was like,
I think, ah, this is right. But then obviously we
came out and the car was booted.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well, we stayed out like two hours extra than we should.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Maybe that's what it was. And I was just like, yeah,
they're not going to boot this, but they did.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And I was a little stressed as I get while
we travel and Dean was calm as a cucumber, cool
as a cucumber, also calm.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I was a calm cucumber that night.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And so we what did we do?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I you went into a bar, you stayed at a bar,
and I know I did it, Yes, And I walked
around and figured everything out.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That is absolutely okay.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Then maybe you walked around with me, but I was
responsible for figuring out.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
One hundred percent. I did not stay at a bar
by myself. I was with you the whole time.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I was like, just we went into seven eleven, we
went into here, we went into that weird computer what
is that computer cafe?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah? Okay, then maybe I'm misremembering. I remember. I remember
being like, why don't you just stay here and get
a glass of wine and I'll have the car for you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And you offered, But I went with you.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, because I think that I offered because I knew
that you're going to be stressed out, and I was like,
this will just be easier to handle without having Kalin
stressed out with me.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So let's let's walk them through what we did.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
First, we go to because you get this ticket, you
get this ticket on your car with the boot, and
I walked up to a police officer and I was like,
what do I do with this? In my very grace.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Swaanish, I don't think that happened because we were chasing
down a police officer for a.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Few blocks, that's right.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
We like were like, we see him and then we
couldn't find him. So I think first we went to
seven eleven.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I don't know how we knew that seven eleven was
the option that we must have asked someone. Yeah, maybe
like maybe like some sort of city employee or something
like that, and.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It would have been fine. We could have been like, whatever,
we'll get a cap. We'll get it in the morning.
Because there were specific hours that they could unlock it.
They couldn't unlock it until eight am the next day.
Our flight was at eight am the next day, so
we were like, no, we need this boot off immediately.
So we did ask someone. Maybe we found a police officer.
That's what happened. We found a police officer. He led
us to seven eleven. Seven eleven, let us do a
(09:16):
computer cafe, computer cafe, let us back to seven to eleven.
Then we find another police officer that we're chasing around
for blocks and he's like, you know what, just pay
me a couple hundred bucks and I'll get it off.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
No, it wasn't. He like, it's too late in the day. Sorry,
we're not doing this anymore for the rest of the day.
And I was like, we need the car. We can't
not have the car right now because we're our flight
so early and by the time you're open quote unquote,
it's our flight's already leaving the airport, so we need
it now. And he was like, okay, maybe just you know,
like win quink, give me fifty bucks and I'll do
it for you right now.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I think this was the second or third police officer
that we ran into, though, like because we were just
running around town for a while. Yeah, at like eleven PM.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And those situations are frustrating because it's like, listen, man,
I'm just asking you to get this boot off my car.
I'll pay the fine, like the legally required feed to
get this thing off, and now you're asking me to
give you money because you're supposed to be doing me
a favor, but in reality, like that's part of the
job is to get the boots off the car, right,
and so I feel like I'm being taken advantage of.
But we were kind of in such a dire situation
(10:17):
that I like, I was like, whatever here, yeah, fine,
fifty dollars ticket, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
We get the boot off. But then he had to
call in someone who apparently had the key to the
boot or whatever it was. Yeah, and then he came
in and yeah, so we lost a couple hundred bucks
on that, but we got the boot off. And it's
crazy too that in Mexico City, where we were at least,
they don't just give you a ticket.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
It's immediate boot, immediate boot. And the reason we were
at seven eleven, I don't think we were ever really
clarified that seven eleven is where you pay your ticket,
Like that's where you pay your fine for the ticket.
And then and then they come, you know, like I
think maybe that's what it was. And then they come
at eight am and take the boot off because I
see that your ticket is paid. But so we went
to seven eleven, paid the ticket, and then I showed
the police officer the receipt. He's like, yeah, we'll get
(10:56):
it done at eight am sorry, I can't do that.
Here's fifty dollars. Okay, we'll get it done. Now.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Why did we go to the computer cafe? I think
we had to print something off or they told us
we did and then they weren't helpful either.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That sounds right. Anyways, if you do drive in Roma,
don't park on the street past hours because you are
going to get booted in an instant and you are
going to have to pay someone to get a taken
off unless you can wait till the next day. Just
pay the fee of probably like forty bucks.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
But in general, Mexico City was really cool and I
do really want to go back. The food's amazing and
there's a lot of expats there, so many Americans who
have just moved from America to Mexico City. And very
dog friendly. We did not bring our dog because Hen't
isn't friendly. But it was a really cool place. I
want to go back.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Mexico City is dog friendly, but Alistair is not Mexico
City friendly.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, he's not anyone friendly.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, so that was our time. I mean, is that really?
All we did in Mexico City was go to restaurants and.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, well we went to.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
This place, But I'm talking about Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
We didn't we like see some museums. I don't really
know what we did in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
We like walked around. I remember we saw all those
bugs outside, all those like giant bug sculptures.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
It was just a lot of walking. I think there
were a couple museums or like sculptures you wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, I think I did some of that, But I
remember walking around at night by myself. Yeah, I walked
around at night by myself, taking pictures of sculptures. I
remember that.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I faintly remember that. Yeah, okay, but.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I'm just trying to think of what else we did
exactly in Mexico City proper, because it can't be just
that that's pretty boring unlesson that's all we did boring
for you.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
But I feel like most people go on vacation and
they walk around, they see things, they eat, they drink,
and that's their vacation. And that was our vacation. It
was my birthday trip. That's what I wanted. Oh I forgot.
We also went to day yeah after but.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Before we get to ze Wa Todayhill. Because You're right,
I think that was kind of like the main event
of our trip Mexico City was like, let's go because
we have to stay a layover in Mexico City anyways,
let's like make that a two or three day layover
and then go to see Wattonayho. But we did drive
up to Grutus till Ontongo. That's the name of the
hot springs that we went to.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah. Interesting place.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, so we drove up. It's a place that I
saw on Instagram and I was like, let's just go
and check it out. Unbeknownst to me, it was about
a four hour drive from Mexico City and.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Sketchy drive getting down there.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I'm pretty sure the car was a stick shift, so
I had to drive the whole way. Now that I
would really feel super comfortable with your driving in Mexico anyways,
So I think that was gonna happen regardless.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Do you remember what movie we played in the background,
Hillary Duff movie, Liz McGuire movie. But good job.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So yeah, we drove the four hours up to Grutus Tillantongo.
Interesting place. It's very beautiful. I would say it's worth
it to go up there if you are into that
kind of thing. But if you're going up just for that.
It's it maybe would leave you wanting a more. It
is very more. It's a very busy, very crowded hot
(14:01):
spring area that's very beautifully done and like so aesthetic.
It's like up, I'm sorry, perched in these mountains up
on this cliff side, and there's probably a good like
thirty pools of hot spring that you can go in.
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say hot spring. It
was more of like a war a lukewarm spring. Remember,
none of them were like really that hot, and it's June.
(14:21):
You would think, well, the water temperature doesn't depend on
the season, it would just be the hot spring underneath.
You're right, I would think it could be wrong. I'm
no geologist, I'm a quadologist. But yeah, so we got
up there. We got up there like maybe you're on
sunset the first day and I was up there just
because I wanted to take photographs of everything and my
(14:44):
wife in a bikini, and it was just so crowded,
and so we were like, well, it's kind of hard
to get good pictures with all these people around, so
maybe we just get a hotel room here, the one
hotel on the property. You can't book an advance.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Oh I forgot about that hotel.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Maybe you can book an advance, but we couldn't because
we were stupid Americans and we don't speak Spanish.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I don't know. I don't think you can.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I don't think you can.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Either show up and you hope.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, and that's what we did. We hoped, and we
got lucky. We had the very last room available, but
it was like an interior room with no windows in
the middle of a loud hallway.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It felt like, I don't even know.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So we slept horribly, horribly.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It was like the thinnest walls. You're literally just in
the middle of a hallway. You have no windows in
your room. It feels like a cell.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah it did. Yeah, like a very nice, very nice cell. Yeah,
with a bed and a bathroom and everything. Well, yeah,
that's a good point. That's a good point. But yeah,
so we woke up super early the next day. I
think that they don't open probably till like seven or
eight am something like that. And even though you're there,
you can't they like don't open the gates until then.
So we kind of got down there maybe thirty minutes
(15:46):
before they opened. Oh no, I'm sorry, so that there's
like one main pool area that is open.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
The front pools opened twenty four seven, right, it's the.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Back pools that we got our picture that would hang
on a wall right here right now.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I didn't know there are the back poles. I just
there were the front pools, and I was like, these
are cute, but not really that special because I didn't
know what Dean was really looking forward to. And then
we saw the main pools, which are gated off, and
we were second in line. I think we showed up
at seven thirty. They opened at eight. We were second
in line. And that's the thing about these Instagram places,
like if you're going to get a cool photo, you
(16:19):
have to wake up early. You have to be first
in line before it floods with so many people. So
we are the second person in. I immediately sprint down
these slick steps, so slick, and Dean's taking photos and
I think within fifteen minutes it was full.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Well it was nice too, since we got there the
night before, we could kind of like scout it out
and be like, okay, this is this is where I'm
going to be standing. I want you to like run
down there and just like walk or something like that.
So we were able to kind of scout it out
a little bit before going into it the next morning.
And then obviously like when you're up there you can
kind of point it out too. But yeah, that's basically
what it was. The gate opened. I made Calen speedwalk,
not run, because you're not allowed to run. Yeah, around
(16:56):
around to the stairs that I wanted her to stand at.
It hard because I was like, I want you on
these stairs, and it's kind of like a mazy like setup,
so she wasn't super certain that it was the stairs
that I was talking about. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:10):
And then I'm like kind of far away and I'm
like yelling at her, like go upstairs, now go down
the stairs, now walk out on that ledge. Yeah, and
you're like cranky in the morning and I'm cranky in
the morning.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
No coffee. But I did say it was for Instagram.
It's it's like, I think this is what photographers go through,
not I think this is what photographers go through, not
that we are photographers, not that I am one, but
that's what people do for the shot. You have to
wake up super early, beat the crowds.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Or you don't get to show up for the consequences. Yeah. Yeah,
so that so we were up there and then we
kind of just spent the day walking around. There's a
cool suspension bridge. There's some cool caves you can explore.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Oh, the caves were cool. Caves are really cool, so
you can got drenched, Yeah, it was like waste deep water.
Remember that.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, I intentionally got drenched. Yeah, I'm an adventurer. Okay,
I'm not to worried abut a little bit of water
getting in my underwear.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I aventure, but I've stayed back with the cameras. Does
that actually you brought your camera there?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I did because I'm an adventurer and that's what adventurers do. Yeah,
there's some cool caves up north. There's a beautiful blue
river that kind of runs down It really is a
beautiful spot. If you have the chance to go check
it out. Don't do it in a day. It's too
far to drive for a day.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Also, bring lots of cash because hotel is cash only. Food,
all of the restaurants there cash only.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah. There's some cool like vendors there, which is you know,
good good case and stuff like that. So yeah, that
was Grout's till and toong Go. If you're up there,
check it out. If you don't want to drive eight
hours round trip, don't check it out. Pretty pretty standard stuff.
I really wanted to go check this out, but we were
just kind of over the driving. It's in Hidalgo, the
(18:43):
Tarzan swing in Mineral del Chico, Meaner del Chico. I
didn't get to do it, but it looks really fun.
It's kind of like a via ferrada and then you
get roped up into this big rope from above and
you swing across these huge rock walls from one wall
to the next wall. Sounds pretty epic, right, Kayla? No,
but maybe I'll save that trip for a solo adventure
(19:04):
one of these days. Anyways, then we went to So
we got the boot covered, we got Maroma covered, we
got grutus tole top. Let me just say it right
one time, groutzos Tolentango. You don't even know what the
word that I'm looking at, So how can you stark
at me with that face? We got that covered, and
then we got that. I mean, that's that was basically
our Mexico City experience.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Roma was the restaurant. Roma is where we suggest people's day.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I said, Maroma.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Maroma is the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I know. I said that we got Maroma, right, I say,
go to Maroma. Remember that restaurant that we went to
with the ants? We ate the ants?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh yeah, Oh my gosh. Yeah, there's like one of
the most highly acclaimed. That's probably wrong.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
It's like it is a Michelin Star restaurant.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Michelin Star restaurant, but I it was. I don't know
why it's so famous. I think it's because that Netflix
show Chef anyways, one of the Netflix shows about Chef's
the chef the chef there. Okay, so this place is
(20:13):
so hyped up. My brother, who doesn't travel all that often,
has been dying to go to Mexico City specifically to
go to this restaurant, and so he's like, you have
to go. We went not that impressed.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
No, it was good.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
We're just not Michelin Star people.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
My thing with the Michelin Star it was poohol pool Yeah, pujol, pujol, poujol, yes,
puj ol poojole. The thing that we don't like about
Michelin Star, or at least I can only speak for myself,
but I think this applies to you as well. Is
the portions are really small. It's more about the experience
than it is about the food in the way where
(20:47):
it's like the food is delivered to you, it presented
to you in a way that's extravagant and unique. Yes,
but I don't really care about the presentation.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And then you get a five hundred and fifty dollars
bill and you're like, I'm still hungry. I want to
go get street to me.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And it's a lot of strange things like like bug
like bug paste. Yeah, and it's cool. I I do
think that this Michelin Star restaurant, it was I've only
been to two. This is my second one. It was
this best Michelin Star restaurant that I've been to.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Because the other one we were Pigeonnut and which I.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Was, Yeah, you were sick and we were still just
learning things about each other that that trip, like what well,
we had only been dating for like a week at
that point.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I just real quick, I know this is about Italy.
This Michelin Star we're talking about. I told Dean we
were on the beach in I'm sorry, Spain. We were
in the beach in San Sebastian and I was like,
I want to go to a really nice dinner tonight
and dress up. So Dean books a Michelin Star restaurant,
which was my first time as well. That wasn't that,
but I was thinking, just like something a little elevated.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Sorry, my Michelin Star restaurant choice wasn't good enough.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Great. It just surprised me.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It is funny. Alon Gail, who was a producer on
the Bachelor, is a big, big foodie and I post
that I went to that restaurant in San Sebastian. He
was like, I can't believe you got seats at this restaurant.
I've been wanting to go for years.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
And I was like, yeah, I just went online and
booked at It was super easy.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
It's called Astar.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
No, this is this is this is the Spain. This
is the Mexico Citty, not the Spain episode. Yeah, Poogel,
it was good, But yeah, it's not. It's not that
it wasn't really good. It's just that it's not our
our personal style.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And it's the price that gets to me. I'm like,
why would I pay for this?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Listen, honey, money is no object what to you? But yeah, Poojel.
If you do want a Michelin Dining Star Michelin Star
Dining Experience, check it out. I think it it was.
It made it. It was more worth it to me
than I thought it was going to be. I was
like dreading going to that because yeah, you know, you're
gonna get stuck with a six hundred dollar bill and
you're probably not gonna like the food. And that's kind
(22:49):
of the thing too. You don't really get to choose
your food items. They just like you choose a menu
and they're like, all right, here's your six courses. It
is what we tell you it is.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
You know, I would like to go to sushi Michelin
Star restaurant.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I tried to go to one in Japan once.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I think I would love that.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
And they didn't let me in.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I went to like this again, this is the Mexico EPI,
so I'm talking about Youaipana. It's like the fish market
section of Tokyo. And I went and I was like
told that there's this crazy Michelin Star sushi restaurant. It
might not even be sushi, just like fresh fish restaurant.
I just like showed up like an hour before they
opened and wearing a T shirt and stuff and try
to get in and by the time the restaurant opened,
(23:31):
it was packed full of like forty people that all
had reservations for exactly when it opened. And I would
like ask them and they're like, no, what do you
think you can just walk in here with the no
reservation and a T.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Shirt and a T shirt.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah. So yeah, that was my Japan Michelin Star restaurant experience.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
But back to Mexico.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Back to Mexico, Let's let's take a let's take a
quick little puddle jumper over to Zeewatah.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah. So this was a really fun trip and I
want to go again. And I would love to go
to ziwatinego again because that was really fun too. So
the way Dean travels, he likes adventure, constant adventure, constant adrenaline.
The way I travel, I like a little bit of
adventure just to smitch and then I just like to
relax and eat and drink and just lay by the pool.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I think it's my ADHD is why I'm like that.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Do you think you have a Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Probably what I mean, I'm not going to self diagnose,
but I do have a not like an addiction, but
I just need to be stimulated at all times, and
it's hard for me to do that when I'm just
sitting on the beach.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
But yeah, you want today How? It was beautiful? We
flew in. So if you're listening to this and you're
saying to yourself that name sounds really familiar, is you
want today How? It's because that's where Dufrain goes when
he runs away from prison in the movie don't remember that.
I cannot remember the name of it right now, Shashank Redemption.
That's where Dufrain goes after he runs away, or that's
(24:53):
where he writes about in the note or something. I
haven't seen that movie in a long time, but it's
pretty famous for that, which is pretty funny that a
movie made kind of made Americans more aware of a
small little town in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, it's namous for that. And surfing, I think, or
which we don't.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
We don't really watch movies and we don't really surf.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So yep, but it was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
We did enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We stay. I don't remember the name of the hotel,
but it was gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I don't remember the name of the hotel either. But
there was tennis courts there.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, we played tennis and it was so hot and humid.
We're drenched in sweat, but oh my gosh, it was
a blast.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I remember driving around. Remember we got pizza at that
one restaurant.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Like right next door.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Where were we going? We were we just driving around for that.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
No, it was a like ten minute walk from the hotel.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah. I think when we went to ze Wa Tona Joe,
we did not rent a car because we had someone
pick us up from the airport and it just kind
of made that a little bit easier. But that was
because we knew that we were going to just kind
of be staying by the beach the whole time.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah, we stayed at Thompson See whoat Toah. Yeah, and
there are like that's a great place. You don't necessarily
need a car. There are plenty of restaurants within walking distance.
Also amazing restaurants on the property. And it was just
such a beautiful hotel. I loved it so much.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
The hotel was beautiful, is very cute. We had like
this nice little balcony that overlooked a lot of it
and the beaches were really great down there.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
The people, it was very calming.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
The people, as with everywhere in Mexico, are just so
nice there too.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I love Mexico so much. I don't like Cabo.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, I was just about to say he hates caboost.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Thanks, but everywhere else it's just magical.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
You don't like to Loom.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I didn't mind to Loom so much.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I bet it's changed a lot since we last went.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
It's probably continue to get worse in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, but the Thompson was great, and it's just like
a very relaxing place, like very slow paced and just
if you're looking for something relaxing that's not Cobo, because
Cabo is just a little too crazy, party crowded. This
is the perfect spot.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah. We don't really have much to sare about Ziwataho, just
because we didn't really do much down there. We just
like relaxed, which was great. It was great for my
ADHD and there's not really much outside of surfing and
stuff like that. I do think I was looking for
like adventurous things to do during the day. But we
took a nice cooking class that was.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Really my gosh. Yeah, yeah, we did take a cooking class,
and I loved taking cooking classes. We learned how to
make well. First of all, this kind of crushed me.
But there we cooked lobster and the chef was like,
all right, now, just put your knife down here, and
he's like, you just killed a lobster. And I was like,
(27:29):
what the heck. He's like, yeah, we freeze them and
then you just killed it. And I was like you,
maybe you should have told me that. And Dane's like,
she's a pescatarian, she really cares about animals. I was
a pescatarian at the time.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
But lobster's fish, So you can sill lobster.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
No, but I don't want to kill it.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Or lobster's crustacean. It's in the genus of pescatarian.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, so that broke my heart a little bit. But
we learned how to cook lobster. We learned how to
cook cook fish and banana leafs, so they just like
tear banana leaves down from the trees and then wrapped
their fish in it. We made salsa, all sorts of things.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, it was a great trip. So yeah, check it
out ise Watsondayjo if you stay in Mexico. City stay
in the Roma district. I'd recommend that and Grutus Tilatoano.
If you have an adventurous spirit and want to do
the Tarzan swing, let me know because I want to
see what it's all about. But that's gonna do it.
For this week's episode of Been There Dean That with
b Shu to turn in next week where maybe we
suck just a little bit less
Hello, everybody, Welcome to an onlyw episode. I've Been There,
Dean That with Kaylan. Well, yeah, so Kaylen's joining us
again this week. Shocker permanently. We were still we're still
working around this thing. You didn't want to do the
pop culture thing, totally get it. I wouldn't want to
(00:20):
do it either.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Yeah, we haven't addressed this, but I just didn't really
like talking crap about people.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You know, the crap talker. You only talk crap about
me to me, and that's fine. You don't want to
get your crap out there about people you don't know,
and I totally respect that, and that's totally fine. So
what was the solution. The solution was to let you
hop onto my brilliant idea permanently, permanently.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
You're crushing it.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
Been there, Yeah, we're crushing it. We're getting dozens of
downloads every single week.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Do you want to just inflate Dean Zygo a bit
or just compliment him? Not in flat you ego, Just
compliment Dean real quick. He's been doing all of the
editing for Been There, Dean That, and added the music
has been He's done a great job. So I'm proud
of you.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Yeah. When I started this segment, I really wanted to
have like a lot of sound effects, Like every minute
or two there was a new sound effect, a new
like maybe ominous music playing, maybe music of the culture
of the destination.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I'm glad you're ended in.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Do you think it would be bad if I had
all that stuff?
Speaker 2 (01:19):
I think it would be a little overwhelming, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
But it could be like subtle and cute, like when
I listened to podcasts like maybe not Crime Junkies is
a good example, But there are certain podcasts I listened
to where I'm like, man, these are the production value
of these is really good. And don't get me wrong,
iHeart production value is top notch as well. I just
like the storytelling aspect, and you can tell a better
story when you have like an aroma of sound.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Like you're talking about being on a train in Alaska
and you Yeah, I think it would be a little overwhelming,
but maybe it would be good.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
There was a couple episodes I think maybe, like the
photography episode where I introduced some like click click click, Yeah,
did you hear it deals in to that?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Nope? But oh I knew that, so maybe I did
listen to it.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, maybe you did. Anyways, Yeah, Calin's gonna be joining
us more frequently on this podcast. Oh, it's permanent, not permanent.
It's not permanent.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Wait wait, wait, it's permanent.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
No it's not. I mean, yes, of course we are.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
We're not been there doing that anymore because it's permanent.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Telling you it's not permanent, it's not that, it's not.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
You are permanently according to it's permanent.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I call the shots here, Honey. You don't for yes,
for trips that you go on with me. Of course
you're going to be on the podcast with me. But
there are trips like, for instance, when I went to
India with Mike Jesse, Tommy Connor. I want them to
be the guests on the podcast, okay, but there are
times where like I want to have Brad on the
podcast to talk about some of our adventures together, and
(02:42):
it would be nice to have you there to ask questions.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, I just think you were missing the point of
the call.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
No, I get it, I get it. But I have
this vision in my head, and so I want to
keep doing what my vision. And it's great for you.
You get to take a week off occasionally. All right,
I'm doing this for you. Typically, what we do here
is I choose the destiny. But I haven't given you
the chance to choose a destination yet.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, I hope you don't do it today because I'm.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Not prepared, so you don't have to be prepared. Where
do you want to go?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Oh my gosh, where have we not gone?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Well, we've only done like eleven episodes, so you haven't
gone a lot of places.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Give me a second. Mexico City.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Let's do Mexico City. Let's go on a trip south
of the border to Mexico City. Yes, okay, that's fair.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Mexico City was fun. We went because it was my
birthday and I always like to take a trip on
my birthday if we can. Last year we went to Bali.
The year prior was Mexico City. This year we're going
to Alaska, but a month late. So this was my
birthday trip. I really wanted to go. I've heard such
amazing things about Mexico City, and I didn't. Okay, So
(03:50):
typically Dean plans the trips, and he does a great
job planning the trips. Whenever he gives me the reins,
I feel like I always mess up, and I messed
up a little bit in the location of where we
stayed in Mexico City, because we stayed in like the
business center area. It was like all businessmen, not all businessmen.
It was like all businessmen and business women. And there's
(04:12):
just like really cute, charming parts in Mexico City that
we saw the last night. What is it called it?
I was just telling my friend about this.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
Like the section that we liked.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yes, because the Roma Roma, So I would suggest staying
in Roma if you go to Mexico City because it
is so cute, like really really like a lot of greenery,
really charming houses. I loved it.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
Roma was very cool. I really liked the restaurants that
we went to in Roma.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, I was just my friend was just in Mexico City,
so I sent her that restaurant we went for my birthday.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Do you have the name of it right now so
our listeners can maybe go if they have a chance too.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
It is Maroma. The restaurant is called Maroma. And I
took a picture of the many that I just pulled up.
What were we obsessed with? The baby fried artichokesos, We're
very good. We ordered two of them.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
We ordered two of those art of chokes yeah, I agree.
When we got to Mexico City, we stayed at the Nice.
It was a nice hotel, but it was wasn't like
a Ritz Carlton or something like that.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
You thet's, but it was nice.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
You used your points to book it, which you know,
typically we wouldn't stay in that nice of a hotel,
but when we got it on points, I guess it
made it worth it. But the hotel was great. The location,
like you said, it was kind of not really what
we were looking for. It kind of seemed like the
business people would kind of come in and out to
conduct their meetings and those types of things.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
So it's hard to know too because like you can
do as much research, you're just so much better at
it because people have blogs and they have these different sites,
and like even just any site that you look on
is typically paid advertising. So if you're going to like
Forbes or New York Times or whatever it is, and
you're like best hotels in Mexico City, those hotels are
typically paying them. So it's hard to like figure out
(05:49):
exactly where to go, and with different bloggers, I don't know,
I just have a really hard time figuring out where
to stay when we're traveling to a new place.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
What do you think that is? Do you think that's
something that you could get better at?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
For sure? I think I get overwhelmed by what all
of There's so many different hotels, there's so many different
places to stay, so many different places to see, So
I get overwhelmed with that.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
But you like planning. So every time we go on
a trip and I'm like, yeah, you can plan everything,
you get excited about it, and then we get back
from the trip and you're like, planning is so hard.
Speaker 2 (06:17):
No. No, I love planning events, I love planning parties.
I love planning most things. But travel, to me, is
one thing that I just can't wrap my head around.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, that's understandable. It's okay. Traveling is kind of your thing.
And we still got some things to work on as do.
I don't get me wrong, I've got a million things
I got to work on as well. There's so many
times I go on a trip and I'm like, oh man,
I plan that so poorly, or I wish I had
done this instead, or you know, all those.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Types of things, and it's hard to finding the balance,
whichween wanting to go back to a place you love
and wanting to go to a new place. But I
do want to go back to Mexico City and be
able to stay in Roma and just walk around because
we had a car, which if we were in Roma,
in a more central place, I don't think we would
need it, do you.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I think renting a car is always a good option
no matter where you go.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
The only reason I say that is because we got
a boot on our car and it was a little sketchy.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
We did get a boot. We went to a restaurant
I probably parked illegally.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
It was Maroma. We were at my birthday restaurant. Yeah,
and then we just like stayed out. We talked to
this girl and she's like, I live in Mexico City.
If you want to stay at my house, I'll go
to Vegas. We'll swap houses.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Yeah, we did get a boot that night. I like
can kind of read Spanish, and obviously numbers are going
to be the same in any language. I was like,
I think, ah, this is right. But then obviously we
came out and the car was booted.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well, we stayed out like two hours extra than we should.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Maybe that's what it was. And I was just like, yeah,
they're not going to boot this, but they did.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
And I was a little stressed as I get while
we travel and Dean was calm as a cucumber, cool
as a cucumber, also calm.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I was a calm cucumber that night.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And so we what did we do?
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I you went into a bar, you stayed at a bar,
and I know I did it, Yes, And I walked
around and figured everything out.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
That is absolutely okay.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Then maybe you walked around with me, but I was
responsible for figuring out.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
One hundred percent. I did not stay at a bar
by myself. I was with you the whole time.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I thought.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
I was like, just we went into seven eleven, we
went into here, we went into that weird computer what
is that computer cafe?
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah? Okay, then maybe I'm misremembering. I remember. I remember
being like, why don't you just stay here and get
a glass of wine and I'll have the car for you.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
And you offered, But I went with you.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Yeah, because I think that I offered because I knew
that you're going to be stressed out, and I was like,
this will just be easier to handle without having Kalin
stressed out with me.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
So let's let's walk them through what we did.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
First, we go to because you get this ticket, you
get this ticket on your car with the boot, and
I walked up to a police officer and I was like,
what do I do with this? In my very grace.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Swaanish, I don't think that happened because we were chasing
down a police officer for a.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Few blocks, that's right.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
We like were like, we see him and then we
couldn't find him. So I think first we went to
seven eleven.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
I don't know how we knew that seven eleven was
the option that we must have asked someone. Yeah, maybe
like maybe like some sort of city employee or something
like that, and.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
It would have been fine. We could have been like, whatever,
we'll get a cap. We'll get it in the morning.
Because there were specific hours that they could unlock it.
They couldn't unlock it until eight am the next day.
Our flight was at eight am the next day, so
we were like, no, we need this boot off immediately.
So we did ask someone. Maybe we found a police officer.
That's what happened. We found a police officer. He led
us to seven eleven. Seven eleven, let us do a
(09:16):
computer cafe, computer cafe, let us back to seven to eleven.
Then we find another police officer that we're chasing around
for blocks and he's like, you know what, just pay
me a couple hundred bucks and I'll get it off.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
No, it wasn't. He like, it's too late in the day. Sorry,
we're not doing this anymore for the rest of the day.
And I was like, we need the car. We can't
not have the car right now because we're our flight
so early and by the time you're open quote unquote,
it's our flight's already leaving the airport, so we need
it now. And he was like, okay, maybe just you know,
like win quink, give me fifty bucks and I'll do
it for you right now.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
I think this was the second or third police officer
that we ran into, though, like because we were just
running around town for a while. Yeah, at like eleven PM.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
And those situations are frustrating because it's like, listen, man,
I'm just asking you to get this boot off my car.
I'll pay the fine, like the legally required feed to
get this thing off, and now you're asking me to
give you money because you're supposed to be doing me
a favor, but in reality, like that's part of the
job is to get the boots off the car, right,
and so I feel like I'm being taken advantage of.
But we were kind of in such a dire situation
(10:17):
that I like, I was like, whatever here, yeah, fine,
fifty dollars ticket, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
We get the boot off. But then he had to
call in someone who apparently had the key to the
boot or whatever it was. Yeah, and then he came
in and yeah, so we lost a couple hundred bucks
on that, but we got the boot off. And it's
crazy too that in Mexico City, where we were at least,
they don't just give you a ticket.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
It's immediate boot, immediate boot. And the reason we were
at seven eleven, I don't think we were ever really
clarified that seven eleven is where you pay your ticket,
Like that's where you pay your fine for the ticket.
And then and then they come, you know, like I
think maybe that's what it was. And then they come
at eight am and take the boot off because I
see that your ticket is paid. But so we went
to seven eleven, paid the ticket, and then I showed
the police officer the receipt. He's like, yeah, we'll get
(10:56):
it done at eight am sorry, I can't do that.
Here's fifty dollars. Okay, we'll get it done. Now.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Why did we go to the computer cafe? I think
we had to print something off or they told us
we did and then they weren't helpful either.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
That sounds right. Anyways, if you do drive in Roma,
don't park on the street past hours because you are
going to get booted in an instant and you are
going to have to pay someone to get a taken
off unless you can wait till the next day. Just
pay the fee of probably like forty bucks.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
But in general, Mexico City was really cool and I
do really want to go back. The food's amazing and
there's a lot of expats there, so many Americans who
have just moved from America to Mexico City. And very
dog friendly. We did not bring our dog because Hen't
isn't friendly. But it was a really cool place. I
want to go back.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Mexico City is dog friendly, but Alistair is not Mexico
City friendly.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, he's not anyone friendly.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Yeah, so that was our time. I mean, is that really?
All we did in Mexico City was go to restaurants and.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Yeah, well we went to.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
This place, But I'm talking about Mexico City.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
We didn't we like see some museums. I don't really
know what we did in Mexico.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
We like walked around. I remember we saw all those
bugs outside, all those like giant bug sculptures.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
It was just a lot of walking. I think there
were a couple museums or like sculptures you wanted to see.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yeah, I think I did some of that, But I
remember walking around at night by myself. Yeah, I walked
around at night by myself, taking pictures of sculptures. I
remember that.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
I faintly remember that. Yeah, okay, but.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
I'm just trying to think of what else we did
exactly in Mexico City proper, because it can't be just
that that's pretty boring unlesson that's all we did boring
for you.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
But I feel like most people go on vacation and
they walk around, they see things, they eat, they drink,
and that's their vacation. And that was our vacation. It
was my birthday trip. That's what I wanted. Oh I forgot.
We also went to day yeah after but.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
Before we get to ze Wa Todayhill. Because You're right,
I think that was kind of like the main event
of our trip Mexico City was like, let's go because
we have to stay a layover in Mexico City anyways,
let's like make that a two or three day layover
and then go to see Wattonayho. But we did drive
up to Grutus till Ontongo. That's the name of the
hot springs that we went to.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah. Interesting place.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Yeah, so we drove up. It's a place that I
saw on Instagram and I was like, let's just go
and check it out. Unbeknownst to me, it was about
a four hour drive from Mexico City and.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Sketchy drive getting down there.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
I'm pretty sure the car was a stick shift, so
I had to drive the whole way. Now that I
would really feel super comfortable with your driving in Mexico anyways,
So I think that was gonna happen regardless.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
Do you remember what movie we played in the background,
Hillary Duff movie, Liz McGuire movie. But good job.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
So yeah, we drove the four hours up to Grutus Tillantongo.
Interesting place. It's very beautiful. I would say it's worth
it to go up there if you are into that
kind of thing. But if you're going up just for that.
It's it maybe would leave you wanting a more. It
is very more. It's a very busy, very crowded hot
(14:01):
spring area that's very beautifully done and like so aesthetic.
It's like up, I'm sorry, perched in these mountains up
on this cliff side, and there's probably a good like
thirty pools of hot spring that you can go in.
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say hot spring. It
was more of like a war a lukewarm spring. Remember,
none of them were like really that hot, and it's June.
(14:21):
You would think, well, the water temperature doesn't depend on
the season, it would just be the hot spring underneath.
You're right, I would think it could be wrong. I'm
no geologist, I'm a quadologist. But yeah, so we got
up there. We got up there like maybe you're on
sunset the first day and I was up there just
because I wanted to take photographs of everything and my
(14:44):
wife in a bikini, and it was just so crowded,
and so we were like, well, it's kind of hard
to get good pictures with all these people around, so
maybe we just get a hotel room here, the one
hotel on the property. You can't book an advance.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Oh I forgot about that hotel.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Maybe you can book an advance, but we couldn't because
we were stupid Americans and we don't speak Spanish.
Speaker 2 (15:01):
I don't know. I don't think you can.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
I don't think you can.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Either show up and you hope.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Yeah, and that's what we did. We hoped, and we
got lucky. We had the very last room available, but
it was like an interior room with no windows in
the middle of a loud hallway.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
It felt like, I don't even know.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
So we slept horribly, horribly.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
It was like the thinnest walls. You're literally just in
the middle of a hallway. You have no windows in
your room. It feels like a cell.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
Yeah it did. Yeah, like a very nice, very nice cell. Yeah,
with a bed and a bathroom and everything. Well, yeah,
that's a good point. That's a good point. But yeah,
so we woke up super early the next day. I
think that they don't open probably till like seven or
eight am something like that. And even though you're there,
you can't they like don't open the gates until then.
So we kind of got down there maybe thirty minutes
(15:46):
before they opened. Oh no, I'm sorry, so that there's
like one main pool area that is open.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
The front pools opened twenty four seven, right, it's the.
Speaker 1 (15:54):
Back pools that we got our picture that would hang
on a wall right here right now.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
I didn't know there are the back poles. I just
there were the front pools, and I was like, these
are cute, but not really that special because I didn't
know what Dean was really looking forward to. And then
we saw the main pools, which are gated off, and
we were second in line. I think we showed up
at seven thirty. They opened at eight. We were second
in line. And that's the thing about these Instagram places,
like if you're going to get a cool photo, you
(16:19):
have to wake up early. You have to be first
in line before it floods with so many people. So
we are the second person in. I immediately sprint down
these slick steps, so slick, and Dean's taking photos and
I think within fifteen minutes it was full.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
Well it was nice too, since we got there the
night before, we could kind of like scout it out
and be like, okay, this is this is where I'm
going to be standing. I want you to like run
down there and just like walk or something like that.
So we were able to kind of scout it out
a little bit before going into it the next morning.
And then obviously like when you're up there you can
kind of point it out too. But yeah, that's basically
what it was. The gate opened. I made Calen speedwalk,
not run, because you're not allowed to run. Yeah, around
(16:56):
around to the stairs that I wanted her to stand at.
It hard because I was like, I want you on
these stairs, and it's kind of like a mazy like setup,
so she wasn't super certain that it was the stairs
that I was talking about. Is that right?
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (17:10):
And then I'm like kind of far away and I'm
like yelling at her, like go upstairs, now go down
the stairs, now walk out on that ledge. Yeah, and
you're like cranky in the morning and I'm cranky in
the morning.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
No coffee. But I did say it was for Instagram.
It's it's like, I think this is what photographers go through,
not I think this is what photographers go through, not
that we are photographers, not that I am one, but
that's what people do for the shot. You have to
wake up super early, beat the crowds.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Or you don't get to show up for the consequences. Yeah. Yeah,
so that so we were up there and then we
kind of just spent the day walking around. There's a
cool suspension bridge. There's some cool caves you can explore.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Oh, the caves were cool. Caves are really cool, so
you can got drenched, Yeah, it was like waste deep water.
Remember that.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Well, I intentionally got drenched. Yeah, I'm an adventurer. Okay,
I'm not to worried abut a little bit of water
getting in my underwear.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
I aventure, but I've stayed back with the cameras. Does
that actually you brought your camera there?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
I did because I'm an adventurer and that's what adventurers do. Yeah,
there's some cool caves up north. There's a beautiful blue
river that kind of runs down It really is a
beautiful spot. If you have the chance to go check
it out. Don't do it in a day. It's too
far to drive for a day.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Also, bring lots of cash because hotel is cash only. Food,
all of the restaurants there cash only.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Yeah. There's some cool like vendors there, which is you know,
good good case and stuff like that. So yeah, that
was Grout's till and toong Go. If you're up there,
check it out. If you don't want to drive eight
hours round trip, don't check it out. Pretty pretty standard stuff.
I really wanted to go check this out, but we were
just kind of over the driving. It's in Hidalgo, the
(18:43):
Tarzan swing in Mineral del Chico, Meaner del Chico. I
didn't get to do it, but it looks really fun.
It's kind of like a via ferrada and then you
get roped up into this big rope from above and
you swing across these huge rock walls from one wall
to the next wall. Sounds pretty epic, right, Kayla? No,
but maybe I'll save that trip for a solo adventure
(19:04):
one of these days. Anyways, then we went to So
we got the boot covered, we got Maroma covered, we
got grutus tole top. Let me just say it right
one time, groutzos Tolentango. You don't even know what the
word that I'm looking at, So how can you stark
at me with that face? We got that covered, and
then we got that. I mean, that's that was basically
our Mexico City experience.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
Roma was the restaurant. Roma is where we suggest people's day.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I said, Maroma.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Maroma is the restaurant.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
I know. I said that we got Maroma, right, I say,
go to Maroma. Remember that restaurant that we went to
with the ants? We ate the ants?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh yeah, Oh my gosh. Yeah, there's like one of
the most highly acclaimed. That's probably wrong.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
It's like it is a Michelin Star restaurant.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Michelin Star restaurant, but I it was. I don't know
why it's so famous. I think it's because that Netflix
show Chef anyways, one of the Netflix shows about Chef's
the chef the chef there. Okay, so this place is
(20:13):
so hyped up. My brother, who doesn't travel all that often,
has been dying to go to Mexico City specifically to
go to this restaurant, and so he's like, you have
to go. We went not that impressed.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
No, it was good.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
We're just not Michelin Star people.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
My thing with the Michelin Star it was poohol pool Yeah, pujol, pujol, poujol, yes,
puj ol poojole. The thing that we don't like about
Michelin Star, or at least I can only speak for myself,
but I think this applies to you as well. Is
the portions are really small. It's more about the experience
than it is about the food in the way where
(20:47):
it's like the food is delivered to you, it presented
to you in a way that's extravagant and unique. Yes,
but I don't really care about the presentation.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
And then you get a five hundred and fifty dollars
bill and you're like, I'm still hungry. I want to
go get street to me.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
And it's a lot of strange things like like bug
like bug paste. Yeah, and it's cool. I I do
think that this Michelin Star restaurant, it was I've only
been to two. This is my second one. It was
this best Michelin Star restaurant that I've been to.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Because the other one we were Pigeonnut and which I.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Was, Yeah, you were sick and we were still just
learning things about each other that that trip, like what well,
we had only been dating for like a week at
that point.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
I just real quick, I know this is about Italy.
This Michelin Star we're talking about. I told Dean we
were on the beach in I'm sorry, Spain. We were
in the beach in San Sebastian and I was like,
I want to go to a really nice dinner tonight
and dress up. So Dean books a Michelin Star restaurant,
which was my first time as well. That wasn't that,
but I was thinking, just like something a little elevated.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Sorry, my Michelin Star restaurant choice wasn't good enough.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Great. It just surprised me.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
It is funny. Alon Gail, who was a producer on
the Bachelor, is a big, big foodie and I post
that I went to that restaurant in San Sebastian. He
was like, I can't believe you got seats at this restaurant.
I've been wanting to go for years.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
Oh wow.
Speaker 1 (22:06):
And I was like, yeah, I just went online and
booked at It was super easy.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
It's called Astar.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
No, this is this is this is the Spain. This
is the Mexico Citty, not the Spain episode. Yeah, Poogel,
it was good, But yeah, it's not. It's not that
it wasn't really good. It's just that it's not our
our personal style.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
And it's the price that gets to me. I'm like,
why would I pay for this?
Speaker 1 (22:28):
Listen, honey, money is no object what to you? But yeah, Poojel.
If you do want a Michelin Dining Star Michelin Star
Dining Experience, check it out. I think it it was.
It made it. It was more worth it to me
than I thought it was going to be. I was
like dreading going to that because yeah, you know, you're
gonna get stuck with a six hundred dollar bill and
you're probably not gonna like the food. And that's kind
(22:49):
of the thing too. You don't really get to choose
your food items. They just like you choose a menu
and they're like, all right, here's your six courses. It
is what we tell you it is.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
You know, I would like to go to sushi Michelin
Star restaurant.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
I tried to go to one in Japan once.
Speaker 2 (23:05):
I think I would love that.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
And they didn't let me in.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
That makes sense.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I went to like this again, this is the Mexico EPI,
so I'm talking about Youaipana. It's like the fish market
section of Tokyo. And I went and I was like
told that there's this crazy Michelin Star sushi restaurant. It
might not even be sushi, just like fresh fish restaurant.
I just like showed up like an hour before they
opened and wearing a T shirt and stuff and try
to get in and by the time the restaurant opened,
(23:31):
it was packed full of like forty people that all
had reservations for exactly when it opened. And I would
like ask them and they're like, no, what do you
think you can just walk in here with the no
reservation and a T.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Shirt and a T shirt.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah. So yeah, that was my Japan Michelin Star restaurant experience.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
But back to Mexico.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Back to Mexico, Let's let's take a let's take a
quick little puddle jumper over to Zeewatah.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yeah. So this was a really fun trip and I
want to go again. And I would love to go
to ziwatinego again because that was really fun too. So
the way Dean travels, he likes adventure, constant adventure, constant adrenaline.
The way I travel, I like a little bit of
adventure just to smitch and then I just like to
relax and eat and drink and just lay by the pool.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
I think it's my ADHD is why I'm like that.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Do you think you have a Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Probably what I mean, I'm not going to self diagnose,
but I do have a not like an addiction, but
I just need to be stimulated at all times, and
it's hard for me to do that when I'm just
sitting on the beach.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
But yeah, you want today How? It was beautiful? We
flew in. So if you're listening to this and you're
saying to yourself that name sounds really familiar, is you
want today How? It's because that's where Dufrain goes when
he runs away from prison in the movie don't remember that.
I cannot remember the name of it right now, Shashank Redemption.
That's where Dufrain goes after he runs away, or that's
(24:53):
where he writes about in the note or something. I
haven't seen that movie in a long time, but it's
pretty famous for that, which is pretty funny that a
movie made kind of made Americans more aware of a
small little town in Mexico.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Yeah, it's namous for that. And surfing, I think, or
which we don't.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
We don't really watch movies and we don't really surf.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
So yep, but it was beautiful.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
We did enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
We stay. I don't remember the name of the hotel,
but it was gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I don't remember the name of the hotel either. But
there was tennis courts there.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, we played tennis and it was so hot and humid.
We're drenched in sweat, but oh my gosh, it was
a blast.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
I remember driving around. Remember we got pizza at that
one restaurant.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
Like right next door.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Where were we going? We were we just driving around for that.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
No, it was a like ten minute walk from the hotel.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah. I think when we went to ze Wa Tona Joe,
we did not rent a car because we had someone
pick us up from the airport and it just kind
of made that a little bit easier. But that was
because we knew that we were going to just kind
of be staying by the beach the whole time.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Yeah, we stayed at Thompson See whoat Toah. Yeah, and
there are like that's a great place. You don't necessarily
need a car. There are plenty of restaurants within walking distance.
Also amazing restaurants on the property. And it was just
such a beautiful hotel. I loved it so much.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
The hotel was beautiful, is very cute. We had like
this nice little balcony that overlooked a lot of it
and the beaches were really great down there.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
The people, it was very calming.
Speaker 1 (26:14):
The people, as with everywhere in Mexico, are just so
nice there too.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
I love Mexico so much. I don't like Cabo.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, I was just about to say he hates caboost.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Thanks, but everywhere else it's just magical.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
You don't like to Loom.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
I didn't mind to Loom so much.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
I bet it's changed a lot since we last went.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
It's probably continue to get worse in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Yeah, but the Thompson was great, and it's just like
a very relaxing place, like very slow paced and just
if you're looking for something relaxing that's not Cobo, because
Cabo is just a little too crazy, party crowded. This
is the perfect spot.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Yeah. We don't really have much to sare about Ziwataho, just
because we didn't really do much down there. We just
like relaxed, which was great. It was great for my
ADHD and there's not really much outside of surfing and
stuff like that. I do think I was looking for
like adventurous things to do during the day. But we
took a nice cooking class that was.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
Really my gosh. Yeah, yeah, we did take a cooking class,
and I loved taking cooking classes. We learned how to
make well. First of all, this kind of crushed me.
But there we cooked lobster and the chef was like,
all right, now, just put your knife down here, and
he's like, you just killed a lobster. And I was like,
(27:29):
what the heck. He's like, yeah, we freeze them and
then you just killed it. And I was like you,
maybe you should have told me that. And Dane's like,
she's a pescatarian, she really cares about animals. I was
a pescatarian at the time.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
But lobster's fish, So you can sill lobster.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
No, but I don't want to kill it.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
Or lobster's crustacean. It's in the genus of pescatarian.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah, so that broke my heart a little bit. But
we learned how to cook lobster. We learned how to
cook cook fish and banana leafs, so they just like
tear banana leaves down from the trees and then wrapped
their fish in it. We made salsa, all sorts of things.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, it was a great trip. So yeah, check it
out ise Watsondayjo if you stay in Mexico. City stay
in the Roma district. I'd recommend that and Grutus Tilatoano.
If you have an adventurous spirit and want to do
the Tarzan swing, let me know because I want to
see what it's all about. But that's gonna do it.
For this week's episode of Been There Dean That with
b Shu to turn in next week where maybe we
suck just a little bit less
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