Our hotel, Casa Mali, sits on the southern side of Parque Mexico, just a few metres from Cafe Ruga where we had found ourselves having a drink at the very start of January, and is one of the many buildings in the area, known as Colonia Condesa, built in the Art Deco style. The neighbourhood takes its name from the Countess of Miravalle, Doña María Magdalena Catarina Dávalos de Bracamonte y Orozco, who in the 19th Century owned this and surrounding enclaves in Mexico City.

The Condesa district was purchased in 1902 by the Jockey Club to construct a racecourse, but a couple of decades later it became a residential area with the architect José Luis Cuevas Pietrasanta given the task of designing its grand boulevards, beautiful parks and attractive roundabouts, emulating the designs of Paris, London, Madrid and Berlin. The buildings constructed around Parque Mexico were built in the newly fashionable Art Deco style, exhibited in Paris in 1925.

As a result it’s become the most sought-after area of Mexico City full of theatres, art galleries, book stores, bars and restaurants and is the perfect base for our final couple of days in the city.

For our first night we head out for dinner at Mai Vegan Ramen, which is a ten minute walk away and serves delicious Japanese food. On our stroll back we feel completely safe and at home, enjoying the architecture and the people-watching as hipsters, expats, gay couples and media types all populate the streets, like a sophisticated and elegant Shoreditch.

We finish the evening with a glass of wine at Teaconnection just a couple of doors down from our hotel on Parque Mexico, and get chatting to the waitress Lessia, telling her how much we are enjoying being back in Mexico City. She informs us that all is not always what it seems and vividly describes the underbelly of Mexico City we don’t see as tourists. She tells us that misogyny and violence are never far from the surface and residents are finely attuned to which areas they can go to and where to avoid.

Most people are kind and cheerful but there is definitely “malice”, corruption and unrest lurking in parts of the population, frequently directed at women. She believes that because we have had help organising sightseeing trips and haven’t used the subway or the small local public buses, just the more controlled intercity coaches, we’ve not been exposed to some of the darker aspects of Mexico City. It’s a sobering assessment and reminder that this huge metropolis has some dodgy parts, just like big cities and provincial towns in the UK if you don’t know what you’re doing.

However, in all our time in Mexico we’ve not experienced any worrying moments and the next evening we meet up with Beth who we first met on our group trip through Belize and Guatemala and became great friends with. She has flown to Mexico City from Costa Rica on a spur of the moment decision to meet another friend, and we’re delighted to be able to all reconnect again so soon.

We stroll through the streets of Condesa and into Roma Norte to join her at Rico Vegan Taqueria to swap tales of our adventures, drink margaritas and make plans for the future.

Sadly Friday morning, and our last day travelling, dawns far too soon but we’re determined to enjoy the tranquil beauty of La Condesa while we can. First we head up onto the roof of Casa Mali and indulge ourselves with a lovely al fresco yoga session, looking up at the blue skies of Mexico as we do so, and then once we’ve completed our packing and check out, one of the staff called Santiago takes us mezcal shopping to a store nearby.

We take our leave of him and walking through lovely Parque Mexico once more we reach the smaller Parque España, which is very tranquil especially as it has a space entitled the Audiorama. This is a garden for silence and meditation where zen tunes float across hanging chairs and beautiful plants. We spend a lovely few minutes chilling out there before walking a couple of blocks to have lunch at one of Mexico City’s finest restaurants. Azul Condesa is a gorgeous space, celebrating traditional Mexican dishes in a fine-dining style from the home state of its chef Zurita.

The meal starts with delicious espresso martinis and then fresh and delightful dishes are presented in an imaginative and pretty style. We choose guacamole exquisito, ensalada de rainbow tomate, espárragos enchipocladas and enchiladas de Jamaica, finishing off with our beloved cocktail, a punchy margarita. Very happy to have enjoyed a wonderful lunch, but rather sad our travels have come to an end, we walk back through Parque Mexico, stopping to admire the city centre Casa Azul, a blue townhouse where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera had an apartment for many years and sits a few doors down from our hotel.

At 5pm Dora picks us up to take us to the airport and we say our final farewells. She’s been great fun and hugely enjoyable company so we’re very happy when she tells us she’s just learned she’ll be coming to London next year. In a perfect turn of events, we promise her this time we’ll show her around our own city.

It’s a reminder that London is our home and we board the plane excited to be returning, even if we have to say goodbye to the beautiful Mexican sun. Hasta la vista, baby – we’ll be back!