Rachel and I had almost 2 full days to explore Mexico City
and it was CLEARLY not enough time to even scratch the surface!
I’ve learned that Mexico City is one of the biggest cities
on earth—Mexico City proper (meaning within the District limits set us ages
ago) is home to roughly 20 million people.
If you include the rest of the city though (since the city has
exponentially grown since its conception) the number dramatically jumps to 38
million people!! To give you some
perspective, we stayed in a house on the northern side of the city (outside of
the District but still within the sprawling city’s reaches) and we took express
transport to the city center and it took us 1 ½ hours! Still a bit fuzzy on the immensity of
it? Ok, that’s about as many people that
live in the entire state of California. That’s
insane! The outer parts of the city,
where most people live, are also the poorest sections of the city—only those
who live within the original District limits are eligible for city benefits
like water, electricity, schooling, etc.
And the city doesn’t want to claim the rest as “their own” or they’d
have to provide them with benefits too and that would be extremely costly. Driving through those outer areas was like
being in the midst of a gray cinderblock sea, horizon to horizon an ocean of
simple stone-block houses. Very few of
them were even painted. It was kind of
depressing….
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| (Left to Right) Christmas decorations on old buildings, memorial to the plaza, indigenous dancers, cathedral |
One of my dreams has always been to visit the Zócalo, the giant square in the center
of the city. I had always imagined it
filled with hundreds of people, cars circling it, the huge flag waving in the
middle, the church and palace lining either side. And I wasn’t disappointed, but neither was it
exactly as I had pictured it. For one
thing, there was no wind (so the flag wasn’t flying). And it was filled with people, just not as
many as I had expected and all of them were tourists. And the buildings lining the sides were
decorated for Christmas (except for the cathedral and palace of course)! Lights, garland, gaudy candy canes and
snowflakes—it was crazy. But it got
weirder: right next to the cathedral, with the flashy Christmas decorations in the
background, was a group of Mexicans dressed up as their Aztec ancestors and
singing and dancing in a traditional style.
There was incense, there were drums, there was chanting, there were a
lot of feathers and ankle bells, and in the background of it all the church
bells were a ringing. Talk about culture
clash!!
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| Mural by Diego Rivera |
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| Mural by Diego Rivera |
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| Palace fountain |
And to make my day that much more amazing and fulfill one of
my other dreams, Rachel and I stumbled into the Imperial Palace only to
discover a national treasure! We first
had explored a bit of the cathedral, a prominent and beautiful display of
Catholic wealth and reverence. The cathedral
itself is huge, complete with inner chamber and side chapels. Biblical murals adorn the walls, statues of
saints and biblical personas fill every corner and alcove, and everywhere you
looked there was gold. It was
magnificent. And I am so glad our
churches don’t look like that. I’d be
way to distracted during the service.
That and I think our money can go to better use. But I digress… Rachel and I then wandered our
way over to the palace and happily discovered that admittance was free. So we continued on in, turned to the left
towards the staircase and found one of the most famous and important murals in
Mexico painted by none other than Diego Rivera.
I simply was stunned! It was so
beautiful! And there wasn’t just one of
his murals but several that were painted on many walls in the palace. And to think we had almost missed it!
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| The Pink Line for women and children |
Rachel and I also had the amazing experience of navigating our
way through Mexico City using public transportation. Their subway system is enormous! There are, I kid you not, 12 lines that
zig-zag their way around town. Each
train stop has their own name and logo—a fun and easy way to remember which
stop to get off at. And their fast,
easy, and cheap to use. Their bus system
was just as easy. What was even cooler
was that in the city they have taxis, express buses, and train cars that are
only for women and children. Their
called the Pink Line. The hope is that
it will lower the rate of sexual harassment, assault, and rape cases. I don’t know if it’s working but I know I
felt safer riding in them!
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| The Metro System |
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