Mexico City
I get the feeling that no matter how hard I try not to have preconceptions about places, I will still carry them in and they will all be thrown out soon after arriving. I went into Mexico City expecting a filthy, rundown, over-crowded second-class large city. While I can’t report that it is not over-crowded, it is not as densely packed as many cities due to lack of sky-scrapers. This is a world-class city that I truly believe is on par with New York, London and Paris. It has the architecture, history, culture, arts, diversity and worldliness of the others. And all at a fraction of the cost. I stayed at Hotel Isabel near the zocalo in Centro Historico in a very large, clean albeit rundown with a comfortable bed for $20 per night. It gets cheaper and more expensive in Mexico City depending on your needs, but specifically with my place, where in NYC, London or Paris could you stay for that? Aside… I am currently sitting in Guatemala on a deck off my room overlooking Heaven on Earth. I’ll save the location for a future post, but I will say that I am looking out over one of the most beautiful lakes I will ever see ringed by volcanoes with the last rays of sunlight shining. This makes it very difficult to go back to Mexico City and tell you about it…
As you know I lost two whole days in Mexico City due to becoming ill so I missed a lot of priority sites including much of Diego Rivera’s art, some art museums, fine dining, jazz clubs, nightlife in general, the national palace and other churches, historical locations around the zocalo and many kilometers of streets to be walked. I have many reasons to return. As far as food goes, Mexican’s love food and there is no shortage of unique restaurants with very tasty food. Cafe de Tacuba on Calle Tacuba became my favorite place. They have been in business since 1912 and the restaurant is filled with painted and tiled walls. They serve great local food for more money than I found in Oaxaca/Puerto Escondido, but, hey, we’re in the New York City of Mexico! Everything is more expensive. I traveled around by taxi, metro and foot. I was out to 3:30 AM one night. At no time on foot, taxi or metro did I ever feel a dangerous presence in this city. There are a lot of stories out there about the dangers that lurk in this city including warnings about taking any taxi that isn’t boarded where there is an official that writes down the taxi and destination information and I truly feel they are true stories that should be ignored. Let’s say that whenever 25 million people live in a metropolitan area, a lot of bad things can happen. Check out New York City’s news any day for an idea. But all of these stories really need to be weighed against the 25 million people. Your odds of running into trouble in Mexico City are no greater than anywhere else and may in fact be lower just like NYC is safer than many other places in the U.S. I’m starting to wonder if Rio is a safe place, too, although my preconception (damn!) is that I better be real careful when I am there.
The only danger with the taxis that I saw is getting into one that does not run the meter or that has no meter to begin with. The easy solution is getting the fixed price before you depart. The worst case is that you spend an extra $5… say a $9 fee rather than $4. See, taxis in Mexico City are really cheap especially compared to those thieves in the other aforementioned large cities. I took a thirty minute ride (traffic!) across town to the Bosque de Chapultepec park and it cost me 30 pesos. That’s less than $3. Now that was a funny ride. I was videotaping using my tiny camera basically just to show the traffic, sites and view from a taxi when I noticed a lot of people at the base of one of the memorials on Paseo de la Reforma. Hold it, they look naked! Sure enough, we start getting closer and there are nude people by the hundreds. The men had something over their genitals, but the women were wearing zilch. I guess there is something extreme about a man being totally nude versus a woman in Mexican law? I need to get one of their signs from the video translated, but I believe they were protesting something about nudism. Or was it something political and the nudity was metaphorical? We pulled up just past the monument and nude women pranced up to the parked cars asking for donations. One does not pass that civic duty easily and I handed over a few pesos while laughing. My only issue is that of all the beautiful women in Mexico, none of them were present at this “protest”. The other issue with taxis and driving in general is that they are absolutely crazy and I thought I would be in an accident a few times, but they somehow pulled off their stupid maneuvers without crashing.
Mexico City is a great walking city. It is non-stop so there is something to see, smell and hear around every corner. The traffic and pollution are horrible, but there was enough of a breeze while I was there to not make the pollution affect walking around. It is a very friendly city and I never felt like I had entered any dangerous areas even at night. There is nothing you can do to not look like a tourist – I stuck out enough not being Latino or indigenous so I did carry my small camera and a pack with rain clothes. I liked the area between zocalo and the Alameda park, Zona Rosa and Coyoacan for walking. The city has many beautiful parks and I found walks in Chapultepec and the others to be splendid. On Sunday, the Alameda was filled with families, couples and groups enjoying the day off. There was a lot of music and dancing. Walking is always the best way to see a city and I found a number of gems just ambling around. I found a pastry shop that is way better than anything I have found in France. The place is huge with table after table of pastries, cakes, cookies, you name it. Mexicans are serious about their sweets. You get a tray and fill it up, take it to someone that inventories your selections and boxes them (I probably had the only small bag’s worth that day) while you pay at the teller. I could have purchased at least one hundred different delectables, but I settled for three eating half of each with coffee in a local park. Everyone else bought multiple boxes which I would see being carried many blocks away. I walked by the same place late in the afternoon and it still had as many items with at least a hundred people buying. They keep pumping out the sweets all day long. Upstairs is a cake exhibition where you can choose a cake design for the wedding, birthday or whatever festivity you are planning. Some of these cakes were eight feet high dripping with frosting. I thought the most gaudy and fun one is this bright green frosting Barbie cake where I suppose you get to keep Barbie once you are done with the cake. How fun!
Aside from the interiors of the cathedrals, the most stunning thing I saw was the mural by Diego Garcia in the Alameda. It depicts maybe fifty different Mexican people of fame or historically representative caricatures. There is an English guide to each one and it is very thought-provoking. The classic Frida is standing behind a child Diego in the center of this large (20 x 8 meter???) mural and the guide says he is young and dreaming of the Frida yet to come into his life. I am really disappointed that I did not get to see more of his work other than what I saw here and at the Museo de Frida Kahalo. The museum in her home is spectacular. When I entered her kitchen/dining area painted in BRIGHT yellow and blue, I thought about my previous home and Frenchman Claude’s as well. I smiled thinking Monet, Kahalo and Cummings 🙂 I have really fallen in love with the Mexican bold and bright color styles and I know my next home is going to go even further than the previous. Cummings’ Casa Color…
In the zocalo I found the communist party’s booth. Above it hung banners including ones with pictures of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin. Let’s say there is some appeal with the theoretical Marx and Engels. But using Lenin and Stalin as your poster children to attract followers? Obviously, they are aiming for the ignorant. I wish I knew enough Spanish to approach them and question their sanity… I mean ask them why a mass-murderer like Stalin should attract anyone. I guess I will just have to get used to a bit of communism here in Latin America. I understand the appeal to the masses of the impoverished, but anyone paying attention to the world over the past fifty years can see that the communism experiments have basically all gone bust with a huge penalty towards human rights. After talking to so many Cubans and gringos that have visited that small country, I look very much forward to seeing how “well” it is working on the small scale.
Mexico City has a world-class subway system. It was easy to use, clean, ran very regularly and it was very safe during the day and early evening. I bet it is not as dangerous at night downtown as the knowledgeable information reports. At two pesos (less than 20 cents!) for as long as you stay in the subway system, mass transportation can’t get any cheaper. Next time you are thinking about London, NYC or Paris for vacation and the cost makes you cringe (or not), head for Mexico City for an experience that may even be better.
Tags: Central America, Mexico, North America, Travel
vagabondrick
Ah Coyoacan – where I grew up – I wonder how different it is now? I sued to walk home from my best friends house (about 18 blocks) and get talked to by the locals all the way along – rubia, rubia, gringa, etc. Hard being an adolescent with bright red hair in Latin America.nrnrAnother friend lived in the house next to the Frida Kahlo house – which wasn’t yet a museum when I was there. Coyoacan was a lovely quiet neighborhood – with large walled houses on themain streets nad hovels in the alleys.nrnrMy brohter invited a bunch of the alley kids home to play with his electric trains – seeds of revolution – he had no idea how foreign it all was to them. Boy, do I envy you this trip.nrnrAnita