Mexico City (CDMX) with Aire Libre

After an incredible experience with Aire Libre running through Oaxaca and the Sierra Norte, I signed up for another Aire Libre experience, a weekend retreat exploring Mexico City and its surrounding mountains.

Aire Libre adventures are uniquely intimate and focused on experience and community over sport or speed - running simply happens to the medium by which you explore the city. Similar to my previous Aire Libre trip, I left with a renewed sense of connection to myself, to nature, and to my community.

Group shot during a night run through CDMX

CDMX is an incredible amalgam of fantastic food, art, and history. Unlike the week-long Oaxaca excursion, the Mexico City trip was only four days, yet an immensely packed experience that included exploring corners of the city and surrounding communities and mountains.

Fitness

In all Aire Libre trips, a good baseline fitness is helpful, but you'll never be pushed to go faster than you're comfortable with. The altitude of Nevado de Toluca put even the fittest in our bunch to the test, but CDMX, at over 7,000 ft, allowed for a particularly gentle pace as we navigated through the city. We never had fewer than three guides with us to ensure all paces were accommodated and no runner was left behind.

Running Nevado de Toluca at 15,000 ft

Experience Highlights

Xochimilco - We skipped the touristy floating gardens and explored the original "chinampas," canals used for farmers' floating gardens. Our guides from Pachoa led us through Pre-Hispanic San Gregorio Atlapulco, followed by a yoga session in the garden and an incredible homemade lunch.

Lunch and a tour of the chinampas

Outside the city we ran Nevado de Toluca, an extinct volcano and Mexico's 4th highest peak. At nearly 15,000 ft, it's breathtaking in more ways than one. After a hard run, we enjoyed tasty quesadillas and cafe de olla (spiced coffee) at one of the many spots outside the park.

I was lucky to experience a Temazcal sweat lodge ceremony during both of my Aire Libre trips. Temazcal is an ancient ritual conducted in what looks like a clay cave intended to feel like returning to the womb. The experience, led by a native healer, is deeply emotional and spiritual and at times, physically challenging due to the intense heat and darkness inside. A prehispanic indigenous tradition, many temazcals were destroyed during the Spanish conquest, so participating in one is not only a beautiful refresh of your spirit, but an incredible privilege.

A brilliant aspect of Aire Libre is that every trip includes a photographer. Being a trail photographer means not only being an artist but one heck of an athlete. Having a guide who is also a photographer not only meant that we left the trip with professional, stunning photos of the experience, we could also truly disconnect from our phones.

Temezcal preparations

A note that all of the experiences mentioned above are available to the public (Xochimilco and Temazcals do not require any physical fitness).

Running through Bosque de Chapultepec; Yoga in Parque México

Food and Accommodations

Each evening of the trip we returned to Itza54, a sweet hotel of small apartments in the upscale, trendy neighborhood of Condesa. Aire Libre gives you the option to book a solo or shared room, depending on your preference and price preference.

CDMX is a foodie's dream filled with hidden gems, Michelin starred restaurants, and sweets galore. While our trip wasn't focused on culinary delights, we had ample free time to enjoy some of the famous panderías like Maque and Rosetta. My personal favorites included coffee, lunch and tamales straight from the gardens that Pachoa shared with us after our visit to Xochimilco and the huitlaoche quesadillas we devoured outside of Nevado de Toluca park.

Huitlacoche and veggies prepared for quesadillas outside of Nevado de Toluca park

Aire Libre Leaders and Group Dynamics

When so much of day to day trail running and training seems to be focused on how hard we push ourselves physically, Aire Libre leaders quickly set a tone of connection and appreciation over any iota of competition. Their mission of enabling participants to leave with a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationship to nature and community reverberates within every activity. Whether it's facilitated discussion and reflection after an emotional Temazcal or centering yoga in the middle of a city park, Aire Libre's deliberate curation of a supportive group environment creates the most caring group dynamics.

If an Aire Libre trip piques your interest, you can get $100 off your trip by using discount code AL_REFERRAL and provide my full-name in your registration: Allison Slater

All photographs on this page shot by Ricardo Mejía.