Café La Habana, Mexico City, Mexico | March 21, 2025 ( Ariel Rubinstein's Atlas of Cafes where one can think special)
Café La Habana, Mexico City, Mexico | March 21, 2025 ( Ariel Rubinstein's Atlas of Cafes where one can think special)
When we start to plan our Spring Break Mexico trip with friends, I have nothing but one condition for Airbnb: being close to "Café La Habana." As the only morning person in the group, I should be able to walk by myself before everyone wakes up in Mexico City and see Ariel Rubinstein's suggestion. We ended up in a very historical (!) Airbnb in Mexico City, which is 23 minutes walking away from this cafe. This means a 15-minute walk with my walking speed :).
The cafe was huge. Even though it was super early in the morning, tourists were coming, a very historical place. It has its own taste, you can tell. They decorated accordingly. Even large, old trees in front of it scream I am old (and proud!).
Unfortunately, this was not one of those "Coffee Shops" where you can sit and work with your computer. Despite the place's historical beauty, I was dissatisfied with the coffee, the pressure to order breakfast from a limited selection of pastry items, and the very fulfilling breakfast options.
My dissatisfaction ended while looking for whether I ended up in the right place or not on Rubinstein's website. The place was nominated by Andrei Gomberg, and he noted, "The Cafe is where Castro and Che Guevara met to plan the revolution. Certainly a place where one can think.."
When I am travelling next time, for sure, I will continue to visit Rubinstein's suggestions. Just this time, I will take nothing but maybe an empty paper and a pen.
So that I can evaluate these opportunities to force myself to only think. Who knows? Maybe I will come up with my job market paper idea in one of those trips... (That would be an awesome story to tell!)
I do not know whether I will visit Mexico City again, but if I ever visit, I will sit down in Café La Habana, in spite of amazing smells coming from streets of Mexico City, I will order one of those very fulfilling Mexican Breakfast whether with myself or friends, or family; and I will force everybody to think...