I had an extraordinary week in Mexico City, a place I had never seen before; I figured it would be fun for me to re-live the trip in the next several blogs – and fun for you to experience it vicariously without having to leave your comfortable couch (or wherever else you do the day’s reading.)

Let me start with a general description of experiencing the city and some facts or interest. Later I will devote time to individual sites I saw, things I learned, and thoughts that still linger.

When you arrive by plane on a day without smog you can see the vastness of CDMX (Ciudad Mexico) – estimates are that the city holds between 21 and 25 million people. The city, founded in 1325 by the Mexica people, now has 16 districts which are divided into smaller neighborhoods, known as colonias; it was built on the unstable lake-bed of lake Texcoco, is surrounded by volcanos and seismically unstable (the last big earthquake was 8.1 on the Richter scale in 1985) and it shows:

the sidewalks are to be navigated with caution and buildings a listing in a way that occasionally makes you hold your breath.

My first impression was that the city is unbelievably green – trees line the streets almost everywhere and parks, small neighborhood ones and large municipal ones, are ubiquitous.

The subtropical climate helps – the location is tropical but the high altitude (7300 feet) moderates the heat. Many of the commonly found trees are scented – the wax leaf privet my favorite – add that to the smell of juice vendors’ carts and the food stands at every corner and you have sweet scents mingling, making CDMX one of the best smelling places I’ve ever visited.  And people DO like to snack…

The enticing smell is not only good, but also surprising given that there is only semi- organized garbage removal. Private garbage cans do not exist – people wait until they hear the collection trucks coming and bring out their bags, or hang them in visible places or rely on the hundreds of street sweepers that are in the employ of the city.

Or you just leave it all in the middle of a church.

The other sensory experience – waves, ripples, oceans of color –  was even more intense. The photographs will speak for themselves.

Public transportation holds the city together; it is cheap, efficient and clean. Subways have a front car for women and children only in case you are into that; they also have symbols painted in each car next to the words naming the stations and transfer points for all the people who are unable to read. Many middle class people have never ridden the subway, since cabs and Uber are insanely cheap as well. You pay around US$5 for a 35 minute ride.

Or you could bike. On Sundays they even close entire traffic arteries that cross large parts of the city and open them for bikers.

The gap between rich and poor is as visible as in most large urban centers, but there is so much police presence in the historic center and other areas frequented by tourists that you see few homeless.

That changes when you explore areas off the touristy path.

The political situation is complex – on the one hand there are progressive victories in legislation about abortion, no-fault divorce and same-sex marriage, surprising in a traditionally religious, strictly catholic country. On the other hand there is a government that is intricately linked with capitalist interests https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jun/28/billionaire-airport-last-act-mexico-city-ruin-carlos-slim

and, some argue, organized crime. The daily rate of murder across the country is 72 dead; political assassinations are common and aimed at independent journalists in particular.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/30/mexico-spying-scandal-pegasus-opposition

Here is last week’s NYT column that illuminates the presidential complexities:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/opinion/atenco-mexico-pena-nieto-yosoy132.html?_r=0

As a tourist in the city you can stay blissfully unaware of all that and just bask in the architectural beauty, a sense of history and the kindness and warmth of basically anyone you encounter. People are extraordinary helpful, and art surrounds you wherever you look. Mexico City has more museums in the world than any other city but London. A week is not enough to even scratch the surface. But I tried!