Though the entire Los Angeles Chargers team won't take the field at Estadio Azteca for another four months, last week, Isaac Rochell got an early preview of everything the stadium's city has to offer.
Rochell spent a few days in Mexico City with NFL Mexico ahead of the Week 11 matchup between the Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.
"Mexico City was unreal," Rochell said. "The things you'd think would be good about Mexico City were good; the food, culture and energy. I was also pleasantly surprised to see such an intense football culture. It seemed like there were a lot of NFL fans. I fell in love with Mexico City and thought it was really fun."
To Rochell's point, football as we know it in America has been popular among the locals in Mexico City for a while. As a player, it was a really unique experience for him to see that and got him pumped to play on Nov. 18.
"Traditionally, I think you'd associate Mexico with traditional football (soccer)," he said. "But American football is gaining popularity everywhere. I thought it was cool and definitely got me excited for the game. I know Mexico City and NFL Mexico, they're all extremely excited about having us down for the game, and I think it adds to the overall experience. I wish everybody could go down there before and experience it (because) I think Mexico City is a really unique place. I think their culture is really unique and their excitement about NFL football coming to Mexico City is a huge part of the experience."
While there, Rochell participated in a few NFL PLAY 60 camps encouraging the local youth to get 60 minutes of play a day. Besides that, his time was spent immersing himself in the city's culture. One of his favorite parts of the trip was the cuisine. He learned how to make tacos al pastor and sampled the wide variety of foods the city has to offer.
"My favorite moment was probably just eating the food! It just kept getting better and better. We didn't have one bad meal. I definitely attempted to make tacos al pastor. It takes time to learn how to do it, but little things like that really added to the experience. According to them, the al pastor tacos, that is Mexico City. It was really cool."
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