Mexico City - the Center of It All

Pollution, crime, kidnappings, poverty, slums, traffic, smog, crazy drivers, overpopulation. That pretty much sums up Mexico City in the minds of most Americans (or United Statesians, as latinos would be quick to point out...after all, anyone from North or South America is technically an American...though they claim to be strict on this point, you hear them slip once in a while, too). Why would anyone want to visit a city like that? Other than making a quick connection through the large airport, why even take a second look at such a city? Or so we all thought...

Mexico City, I owe you an apology. Of course the stereotypes and superlatives had to come from somewhere, and those maladies can all be found, but surrounding those parts is an attractive, alluring city. It is a city with culture, history, notable architecture, a few nice green spaces and a long list of things to occupy your time. The people here, known as Chilangos, are said to be proud and often arrogant, feeling that other inhabitants of the country are inferior to those who make the capital district, called Mexico DF in Spanish or usually just Mexico, their home. Before making it to this behemoth city, I found this attitude odd and a bit misplaced based on my preconceptions of the place, but now it makes a bit more sense. No, Mexico is not the grandest of all cities, nor will it captivate a person unlike any other place in the world, but it certainly deserves a look.

Riding into town on one of my familiar buses, a long way from the city center, the urban sprawl began. Being located in the middle of a huge central valley with hints of mountains in the far distance, little hills pop up all around the city, and I began to see these being covered with simple, tiny concrete houses, nothing more than a tiny plot of land just big enough for a bed and table or two, covered by four flat concrete walls and a concrete roof. Often built on top of each other and almost always adjoining, these concrete type slums pack many, many people into such a tiny area that problems with sanitation and hygiene are inevitable. Soon, the hillsides and valleys were covered with these mini houses, sometimes giving way to more proper neighborhoods, not often leaving much of the countryside to be seen. Finishing up our Keanu Reeves movie, we arrived at the bus station, much to my dismay, as the ladies in the back row had been blocking the way to the bathroom for the last half hour of the ride, meaning that I'd have to pay to use the bathroom at the bus station. I guess it's only 20 or 30 cents, but it still annoying. The bus station was everything that you'd expect from the city, a massive structure with huge hallways and people moving in every possible direction. And this is only one of four major bus stations in the city. As this is a prime spot for crime, I kept a close watch on my bags and my back as I found a taxi and headed towards the city center. Being known in the past for VW Beetle taxis (which were produced in Mexico long after production ended in the US - as taxis, they have removed the front passenger seat, giving legroom for the occupant in the back seat), I was a bit disappointed to have a regular taxi. As usual, he tried to talk me out of the long, traffic filled ride into the city, saying how I'd certainly want to stay in the zone that was conveniently near the station. Not falling for it this time, I decided to keep going, and we hit a few huge blocks of traffic before arriving right at the center of town. A massive plaza, known as the Zócalo, stands in between some impressive cathedrals and government buildings, surrounded by six lanes of one-way traffic. Knowing that I was near the hotel, but not knowing where it was, the taxi driver abruptly stopped around the corner, told me he didn't know where the place was, and there I was. Fortunately, I only have to walk a block or two to find my hotel, hidden in a little sort of alley of the main road.

Hotel Juarez was cheap, but it wasn't without charm. It had a little fountain and a narrow frame with five stories all perched around an open center with the courtyard down below. I was given a little room on the 4th floor that actually had a minuscule balcony, overlooking the alley and a bit of the road below. In addition, I was excited to see that the bathroom not only had a shower curtain, it had a separate enclosure with functioning doors and everything, meaning that the entire bathroom wouldn't be wet for a few hours after showering. I even had a little tv in the room, so, at $18 a night and a good location, this was a pretty good deal. Leaving the place, I decided my first move would be a double decker, open top bus tour to get acquainted with the enormous city. Obviously, this only visited the central and main attractions, but it was a great way to see some of the monuments, museums and notable buildings, along with audio commentary in 7 languages. We passed lovely tree-lined avenues, Bohemian neighborhoods, massive structures, traffic filled freeways, a huge park and a few other key attractions, all the while hoping that the overhead clouds would pass. The first day in the city seemed covered in white clouds, surely a mix of smog and rain clouds that would be common to the area. Eventually the rain clouds won out, and we get a bit of rain, just short of being enough to bring me down from the open top bus. The brave tourists got a little wet, but it was nothing to worry about, as we were enjoying the sights. We also hit another snag in the tour as a big parade/protest was taking place (it was unclear which it was) on the main road returning to the center, creating traffic jams and altering our route. After waiting a while in traffic, I decided to cut the tour a few stops short and just walked back to town. Not wanting to take my chances in a big, unknown city after dark, I headed back for the hotel, surprised to have found a likeable city. Perhaps I'd have to stay more than just a day or two.

The next morning, I returned to a few of my favorite sights from the tour. Paseo de la Reforma, one of the major streets in the middle of town was amazing, so I ventured back along the side roads before finding it again. Lined with tons of trees, monuments adorning the roundabouts, pedestrian walkways, plants in the median and 20 or 30 strange, artistically designed benches along the way, walking along the Paseo turned out to be one of my favorite things in town. The tour guides and guidebooks are proud to point out that it was modeled after classic European streets such as the Champs Elysees in Paris. There were benches shaped like animals, people, strange geometric shapes, playing cards...anything you could imagine. Along each of the side streets were numerous options for eating, shopping or whatever else you wanted to do. So, I basically spent the day meandering around the area, relaxing in the nice climate of the city (which is very pleasant thanks to the high altitude) and not really noticing much of the smog. At one point on the first day, I thought I might have had a slight headache due to the air pollution, but that also could have been just being hungry. It's hard to differentiate sometimes, and hunger undoubtedly is a driving force in my life. Uneventfully passing the day, I was still surprised and impressed by how pleasant the center of the city was.

The next day, Sunday, I was on a mission. I searched online, and I searched in person, and this search ended up taking up a good part of my day. I was searching for a service center for my defunct iPod. Normally, I wouldn't have taken the time just to have the luxury of music, but, thanks to some great research and trouble-shooting by Marcelle, I found that the iPod warranty is applicable even without the original receipt and can be verified on the Apple website. And, since my iPod is about 11 months old, the warranty would be expired by the time I got back to the US, so Mexico City was a big enough place to give me a chance at having it fixed. I found a few places in the technology sector of town, walking up and down streets of electronics stores selling everything from tvs to computers to bootleg software of every sort. Finding basically any store that could help me to be closed, I decided to resume my search the next day, instead focusing my energy on the alluring black market stalls that lined the street of Lazaro Cardenas. Fake polo shirts, sunglasses, movies, music, hats, software...this place had so much, and each vendor had crammed their tiny spot on the sidewalk full of interesting offers. I couldn't resist a few of the mp3 cds, offering the whole collection of an artist on one disc of mp3s, going back and forth and sorting through countless collections to see what they had to offer. In the end, I got a nice combination of Spanish music along with classic rock.

The next day, I returned to Uruguay Avenue to try again with the iPod service centers, which all seemed to open way later than the other businesses. Going back and forth from one to the next, I was told that they don't do service here or there, and one place hidden on the third floor of an office building basically only opens when it wants to do so. Eventually, one of them gave me another number to call, and I found an authorized service center, though the address turned out to be the name of an obscure river (Grijalva), so I wasn't even sure if I had heard correctly over the poor phone connection. After a while, I found the road on my map and started the long walk over there. (Side note: it turns out that Grijalva was the last name of one of the Spanish that first explored the Yucatán and Southern Mexico, finding the mouth of the river in the Gulf state of Tabasco.) An hour or so later, I finally found the tiny store, hidden on the bottom floor of a building in a residential area. They said that they may be able to fix it, but I'd have to leave it for a while, and I needed to call back every day or so, as I didn't have any local contact information or phone numbers to give them to get in touch with me. If they could fix it, it would be about $25, but if they had to replace it, it would be free, so you could tell which one I was hoping for, though I wasn't quite sure if I had understood that policy correctly. Since I was in the area, I also decided to check out the big park, Bosque de Chapultepec, again and perhaps the zoo. So, I walked through the leaf laden park, surprised to not find many people around. Then, as I finally got to the zoo, I realized why. Apparently the whole area, along with some businesses, decides to close every Monday, so my plan was foiled. So, I took a minibus back down the long road, got off and headed for the speedy subway, said to be the 4th busiest in the world. With 11 lines all over the downtown area and only costing 20 cents a ride, you can't go wrong....unless, of course, someone in the crowded cars steals your stuff...but luckily that didn't happen, so I'm a fan of the subway, at least for now...

(The main cathedral of the Zócalo, the town square.)

(One of the many alluring streets of the historic center, with a strategically placed green and white VW taxi.)

(A random white building.)

(More buildings, more green taxis. They weren't absolutely everywhere, but you could definitely find one if you were looking for it.)

(The Museo de Bellas Artes. This lovely building marked the end of the black market along Avenida Lázaro Cárdenas.)

(Taxis, cars, monuments and parks. You get the picture.)

(The Torre Mayor - meaning Biggest Tower. It's the highest building in Latin America, but it's only somewhere around 700 or 750 feet high. Atlanta can beat that.)

(The angel is one of the famous symbols of Mexico City, located in a roundabout on my beloved Paseo de la Reforma.)