Farewell to Mexico City

Well, I’ve been in Mexico City for about a week and have trekked from one end to the other. Normally, a week is a long time in a city, but not Mexico City. I feel I’ve only sampled a small part of this city. So, do I love it or hate it? Yes!

Mexico City is one of those cities which you alternatively love and hate. Sometimes both at once. It’s an amazingly large city, but the bits that are interesting to tourists are concentrated in a relatively small area. Some areas of the city are very rough and don’t like tourists snooping about.

This has been one of the few cities where I’ve actually been conscious about my personal safety. Most cities I go to, I wander around aimlessly, pausing frequently to take photos and stick my nose into things. Not here. I was very conscious of the high personal crime rates in the city. Holding a camera to you face with one eye shut is an open invitation for someone to come up and steal something from you. I was probably being a little paranoid, but you can never be too careful, especially in a city as notoriously dangerous as this one.

Despite the security issues, the city was an amazingly place to wander around. You can get a really good sense of the history of the city. From the Aztecs to the Spanish, you don’t have to look far to find a historically significant building. The layering of history is also interesting. The Aztecs were found of building new buildings on top of older buildings. The Spanish continued this trend. Dig anywhere in the centre of Mexico City and you’ll find a whole sequence of history.

This has the interesting affect of making everything crooked. While Pisa might have a leaning tower, Mexico City has the leaning tower, leaning cathedral, leaning church, leaning statue etc. etc. Everything more than a hundred years old is leaning in some way! It can be a bit disorientating, but it makes things interesting – who needs straight lines anyway!

I was also amazed at the difference between various suburbs. As I mentioned elsewhere, Coyoacán still feels like a small village in the countryside. Closer to town, the Zona Rosa and Condesa also have a unique vibe. Zona Rosa is full of boutiques, discos and restaurants. It’s a little bohemian, but very interesting. On the other hand, Condesa is lush, leafy suburb full of 1930s apartments and hip and groovy people. The difference from the stark Zocalo is amazing.

The people of Mexico City are an interesting lot. Within Mexico, they have a reputation for being snobby, rude and generally a bit up themselves. I can confirm this. In Guadalajara, a little bit of Spanish went a long way. In Mexico City, if you didn’t speak perfect Spanish, they really couldn’t be bothered with you. As a result, I ended up speaking a lot less Spanish and pretending to be an ignorant American. Not the best look, but it seemed to be what the locals were looking for in a tourist.

I had an amazing time in Mexico City. It’s a fantastic place. I’m not sure that I’m in a hurry to go back though. For all the interesting places to visit, it’s a lot of hard work. I’m glad I went, but a little Mexico City goes a long way!