Three days in a cleaner, more modern CDMX--Ciudad de Mexico

Mexico City's huge cathedral hasn't changed a bit

Forty-one years ago, back in 1977 when I visited Mexico City for the first time, it was simply known by two letters, D.F. "De Effe" stood for Distrito Federal, the same as the DC modifier that we still attach to our US capital. But it seemed to me that the De Effe is out of vogue as there seems to have been a major rebranding of the city as CDMX, Ciudad de Mexico. Municipal metro busses sport the logo, tourist ventures make use of it, and more than just a few oversized four-letter logos are installed in parks, in squares, and in front of banks.

If you need drinking water, call your friends at the
 relevant CDMX department for free service

It was my first visit to Mexico City in more than 30 years. Quite frankly, I can't remember the exact last time I was down here; I'm sure that my buddy Howard was still trying to eke out a living before finally throwing the towel and moving back to the UK, only to eventually end up in Madrid. So maybe closer to 35 years? Regardless, Mexico City is still Mexico City, but some changes are obvious.

Blue skies over Mexico City? You gotta be kidding!

Let's start with the most obvious: Back in the '80s, during my usual December visits to the city, I would never see a blue sky. It was somewhere out there, but you simply couldn't see it. The city, already huge back then but now being the home to more than 21 million people (largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere), was choking in its self-inflicted pollution. The sky always looked brown, as if fires were raging all around. It was only on rare occasions, such as after a hard rain or unusually strong winds, that the citizens would actually see the sun. It was hell. Howard always was glad when I came to see him because it gave him an excuse to escape to Puebla, or Cuernavaco, or Taxco, where one could actually breathe.

Modern buildings and a cleaner atmosphere are now part of Mexico City

Well, I don't want to say that CDMX doesn't have a pollution problem. That would be sugarcoating the issue. But the improvements are not just noticeable, they are dramatic. The traffic is still dense, dense, dense, but what about the dedicated bus lanes, docked and dock-less bike share services, an electric trolley system, and expansion of green spaces? If you want some data and figures (number of registered vehicles in CDMX, percentage of trips by bike, etc.) you may be interested in this interesting link I found. Please come back to the blog after digging into those statistics.

Overall, the city seemed to me much cleaner and much more civilized than thirty years ago. Mexicans are very proud and clean people who value the neat appearance of their homes and towns--but that's not always apparent in the large cities where different socio-economic patterns govern than in smaller towns. Well, let me tell you: CDMX is cleaner than most big cities I have visited in the past few years. Maybe it's the armada of public-service street sweeps, maybe it's the more affluent folks who are walking their dogs and are cleaning up after their pets, maybe it's just a general pride that has now swept over the anonymous masses--the city is clean as a whistle (with the occasional exception of a side alley)! Even the metro is spic-and-span.

More civilized? Sure, once in a while a frustrated driver will honk, setting off a cacophony of claxons that you will never hear in the US. But if that was pretty much the way traffic worked years ago, it now is the exception. People queue up to enter the bus, there's none of that mad shoving and pushing in the metro, and drivers stop for pedestrians when taking right turns. Gees, you could think you're in Germany!

While all this is for the better, thankfully (at least to this nostalgic geezer) so many other things haven't changed. Christmas lottery tickets are still being sold, taco stands are everywhere and patronized by everyone, 95% of ice-cream shops still have the place name Michoacana in their logo, street sweeps use old-fashioned brooms made of reeds, some cars are being held together by bailing wire, schoolgirls still wear their immaculate uniforms, taxis still outnumber Ubers, women who should not wear a size 46 still squeeze into a 36, anything one can possibly need is available in some obscure shop that you will come across if you just walk far enough, and loudspeakers are still being used to peddle anything from today's restaurant menu to the fact that "we service microwaves regardless of manufacturer," in endless loops. Oh gosh, how I love all this and have missed it without realizing it!

Just as I did in San Miguel, I stayed in an Airbnb in the very heart of the old historic centro de la ciudad.  It was clean, secure, quiet, and inexpensive, and I had all the privacy I could ask for. One day I took a tour of the city with one of those hop on / hop off buses, which showed me how many new buildings have been built. I was able to see my good old friend Ludwig, who works for the German School in CDMX and is a colleague in the field of anti-doping. And yesterday afternoon I participated in a "beer walk experience" courtesy of a $25 coupon from Airbnb. 

My $25-a-night Airbnb's bedroom--I also had my own dining room/kitchen and bathroom

The largest collection of tequilas I have ever seen

Ludwig and I had dinner at Saks San Angel, which also houses the Tequileria de San Angel

Cerveceria Cru Cru was one of the stops on our beer walk experience with Paola

The best beer I had in Mexico City was born at Falling Piano

Without local guide Paola I would have never found the rather obscure location of Cru Cru

Most of the time I just wandered around fairly aimlessly, mingling with the crowds, having a drink here, dinner there. I didn't want to overload myself with visits to museums, but I dropped into the occasional church to marvel at how imposing they are in light of all the poverty that still exists.

Opulence

And so I ended my eight days in Mexico, rekindling an old love affair. I am determined to make every attempt to come back more often and revisit and discover other colonial towns. Mexico is so varied and has so much to offer, and I really should seize the opportunity more often. With today's tools--smartphone, GPS, all those apps--there's no excuse not to run away from home and experience how other folks live. Next stop: Christmas markets in Germany, but that will have to wait for five days....

Jürgen