I shake my head recollecting the period of time I believed Mexico City to be a polluted, dirty, crowded, dangerous and ugly city not worth visiting. I’m not exactly sure why I came to believe this but it probably had something to do with an American bias that perceived things happening south of the boarder generally repugnant. This same perspective admittedly also inhibited me from choosing to learn Spanish in school as a second language (instead I chose Latin — who chooses Latin?) — a limitation I am currently working to overcome. It’s a shameful memory to remember a time when I could off-handedly intuit a city, and probably its nation, as not worthy of my interest without ever visiting.
I was thankfully forced to reconsider this perspective as friends (many of them) kept relating how wonderful Mexico City was. I looked at them unconvinced — “what about all the kidnappings and murders?” — then it was my turn to be looked at strangely, “uh — it’s not like that at all.” And just like that I became one of those people I encounter all the time in the USA who are guilty of being a little out of touch with the world outside of the awareness curated by the view screens and news sources comprising their conceptualization.
They told wonderous tales of food that combined Michellin star restaurants with omnipresent street vendors — delicious and inexpensive. Instead of a super Bogotá-sized urban chaos jumble apparently wide pedestrian sidewalks, a multitude of parks and a wide sprawl gave it a personality very different from what I had imagined. As for my fear of heat and humidity compounding discomforts inherent in crowded busy streets, Mexico City is at an altitude of 7,350 feet above sea level giving it a dry and much cooler temperature than I had imagined. It’s no happenstance that three of my favorite cities in South America are at high elevation: Quito (9,350 feet), La Paz (11,942) and Bogotá (8,612); as you probably guessed, I ended up adding Mexico City to this list as well. As for endemic culture Mexico City has 141 cultural buildings, among them many museums. As so often happens I was learning that my intuition and prejudice had been inhibiting discovering a very special place.
We stayed in two separate Airbnbs in different neighborhoods but near the center of the city. Mexico City is a big city in that it takes a while to get different places in the city because it is a very wide city; where else can you take a 45 minute taxi drive, without much traffic, and still be in the same city? The weather was perfect for pants during the day and hoodies in the evening.
It seems in retrospect that Mexico City maintains an understated coolness in part by having so many unexpected surprises. Biblioteca Vasconcelos is a huge library with very unique architecture and interior design. I was so surprised to find it in a non-descript neighborhood in Mexico City, along with the suspended whale skeleton hanging in the atrium near its entrance. We attended a Lucha Libre wrestling match (an amazing experience that I very highly recommend); we had great seats and the experience surpassed our expectations it was tremendously, unexpectedly, entertaining. My arrival was fortunate to coincide with chile verde season in Mexico. I just could not stop eating chile rellenos. If I saw a street vendor selling them I would eat one — stuffed with cheese, lightly fried, cut and served as a taco in a corn tortilla. Imagine the crisp, crunchy texture of the fresh chile now mix in some hot salsa and lime to it with a smoky flavor. I could not get enough.
Another highlight was the museum of archaeology which showcases an immense collection of artifacts and information surrounding ethnography across the varied Mexican and southern continental geographies. I found the indigenous art to be fascinating — so distinct from any I have seen with imagery I found dark, terrifying and completely unexpected.
I look forward to returning to Mexico City again! One of the most livable, lovable and surprising places I have visited.
