Coming back to Mexico City
I tend to think that very few latin-american cities combine the metropolitan flare and cultural depth of Mexico City. Rio is insanely beautiful in a very raw manner, and it is full of the architectural genius of Niemeyer, but there is something about the beachfront at Avenida Atlántica that seems adamant about uglifying what is one of the most beautiful sea-scapes in the continent. Mexico City, on the other hand, is not so much about the architecture (although there are some remarkable architectural works in there as well). CDMX offers many faces. There is an almost understated elegance in Polanco, with the old-money houses and their armies of maids and servants roaming around.
And let’s not forget that Mexico was the most influential exporter of culture in Latin America much before the times of Bad Bunny. Mariachis, telenovelas and tacos did not travel all over the world by coincidence. Roaming around the city exposes an onlooker to all the charm that comes with that legacy.
The city seems to proudly cement itself in all that heritage (dating back to their natives) to be one of the most progressive urban centres in the continent.
And then there is the art, of course: The music, the food (which is a very colourful art form in this part of the world) and muralism, which is one of the few universal art movements that was actually born in Latin-america. A visit to the Palace of Fine arts (although I am not very fond of the building) is a must do for anyone interested in contemporary art and includes the mural that a Rockefeller heir (according to Hollywood) disallowed at the lobby of the Rockefeller Center in New York City. There is Frida, there is Diego, there is Orozco, there is Siqueiros. If that’s your thing, you can also go on one of those colourful boats in Xochimilco, and lose yourself in the canals that used to be the land of the native Xochimilca before the Spanish came and even before what we now know as the Aztecs.
I would avoid Xochimilco at night, but that’s a separate, longer story.
And now, what Rio and others don’t have is the combination of the cultural heritage that comes with being the cultural capital of latin-america for many years and the archeological allure of the pyramids and temples of Teotihuacan, just an hour away from downtown. Matter of fact, very few other cities in the world offer this rare combination of modern world interestingness and real ancient world sites. Jumping on one of those air balloons to see Teotihuacan from the air is a remarkable experience.
Specially at sunset:
Some cities seem to never run out of stories to tell. Their ability to induce awe is near infinite. I think New York is one and CDMX is most likely its only latinamerican counterpart.
Full set of Mexico City pictures available here.
