CDMX Impressions

Obviously, we enjoyed our week-long visit to Mexico City. There is so much to do there, we look forward to heading back for at least another week. Here are some summary impressions:

Christmas is a great time to visit, as the exodus of Chilangos to visit family elsewhere combined with the extended holiday to reduce traffic and crowds. We noticed regular people were uniformly friendly; more experienced visitors tell us that varies with the time of year and the size of the crowds. On the downside, smog is more likely in the winter, and no doubt you noticed the haze in any of my panoramic pictures!

The most glaring fact about Mexico City is its sheer size. You drive from the city center for a half hour in any direction and you pass one cluster of skyscrapers after another; you change direction and it’s more of the same. The only thing masking its size is the number of hills, but as you pass them, you notice how urban sprawl is gradually colonizing even the steepest slopes. Traffic can still confound. Despite the sprawl, there are good bus and subway systems, Uber is incredibly cheap, and even the taxis are reasonable. I finally broke the code on the taxi service: private taxis are unmarked cars which may be cheaper, but could be perilous. The city taxis, labelled with “CDMX taxi” are very solid and economical.

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Architecture is all over the map. The occasional original Meso-american site, Spanish colonial, French (from Maximillian I’s brief reign), post-modern, you name it. The main Cathedral took 300 years to complete, so its a mixture of neo-Gothic, Romanesque and Baroque, for example. And oftentimes things sit at weird angles, due to a combination of lake-bed footings and earthquakes.

So much history and public art that it takes a longer, more leisurely visit to digest. Likewise for museums and galleries. There are statues and monuments and plaques everywhere, and whenever they dig, they uncover more.

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Mexico City has become a culinary destination with several of the world’s top restaurants. Our schedule (and the need for reservations far in advance) didn’t allow us to visit them, but there are thousands of good restaurants. I would suggest that any visit include a stop at two (gasp!) local chains: La Casa de Toño and El Moro Churrería. The first is a Chilango tradition, and when we went the lines of locals were long, but seating was fast. It serves Mexican comfort food, cheap and very quick. The second serves churros, fried dough in a long strand, much like a doughnut shaped as a stick. With dipping sauces. And ice cream and hot chocolate and milk shakes. Again, long lines, quick service, incredibly delicious.

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Which brings me to the subject of quesadillas, and superiority. Now even if you know only a little Spanish, you know a quesadilla is a grilled, cheese-filled bite of tortilla heaven. Everywhere, except Mexico City. There, they ask whether you want queso (cheese) in your quesadilla. They explain there are many things you could put in a quesadilla, so they don’t assume you want queso. Except this is true everywhere else, but when you order a quesadilla anywhere else, they know you want queso! When we pointed this little discrepancy out to our chilanga guide, she brushed it off as a provincial lack of understanding of the city’s cosmopolitan style. Every once in a while, she would provide an off-hand comment about how Guadalajara (or wherever) didn’t really understand the politics, or the cuisine, or the art of México (the city). It was good-natured, but very reminiscent of the way New Yorkers think and talk.

We never felt unsafe or at any risk. Our hotel was adjacent to the US embassy, so there was a constant security presence in the neighborhood. Yet we were also across the street from the Zone Rosa, or pink zone, an area full of free-wheeling bars, clubs, and night life with an anything goes attitude. As gray-haired gringos, we wandered through it to go to a restaurant and didn’t garner any attention.

Probably the biggest negative aspect of our visit was the poverty. Nearly every block has a beggar or two, but they are in no way aggressive, just persistent. We oftentimes saw whole families on the street, selling trinkets or candy, and they were in the same place all day (and probably all night). It is a sad fact of life here, and many folks carry some small change and drop a coin here and there. We had one episode at El Moro, when the family sitting next to us (obviously not dressed as living on the street), eating churros as we were, then sent their small child around with a cup looking for change! She moved away from most of the others quickly enough, but stayed at our end of the table, saying please and holding out a cup with one hand as she ate a churro with the other. Even after we said “lo siento” (sorry), she continued. One tip: after the third “lo siento” I wagged my finger back and forth, which is a strong signal in Mexico for “enough”, and she moved on.

Costs for Mexico City were on a par with Guadalajara and well above our small town, but most everything was still a bargain compared to US rates, especially big-city US rates. While English is not ubiquitous, many people have at least a few words, and are willing to help you even if they don’t. Probably my strongest impression was one of a friendly city with much to offer, and not much in the way of drawbacks. Highly recommend it even for a short visit!