Return home

It was a quick visit, but a good one.  Still, it was good to get home again, with the exception that all of the Immigration officials on duty when I arrived in the line went off duty precisely 5 minutes after I arrived.  Every booth on my side of the line closed at the same time.  It took another 45 minutes to get through immigration with half the officers on duty.  I'm glad I didn't have a close connection!

Hasta Luego Mexico!

Taxis / Trip to the airport

I was a little worried about how to catch a cab to the airport from the historic district because in the past it has been very dangerous to catch a cab on the street.  I decided I would go to the Holiday Inn in the the district and ask them to call me a cab (the preferred practice).  This worked fine.  I think its interesting to see how the taxi industry is regulated.  From the airport, you pay a person at a dispatch stand and he gives the taxi driver a token to redeem for payment.  This way the rider doesn’t get ripped off,  and the driver doesn’t have to carry as much cash around (and risk getting robbed).  It works the other way from hotels as well.  There are also set zones in the city with fixed rates.  One of our colleagues took a cab on a meter for a return trip to the hotel and it cost less than the amount he paid to get to his destination originally.  Interesting.

Apparently the airport has recently undergone renovation.  It is all shiny marble and metal and glass.  Its attractive enough, but not very comfortable.  I (mistakenly) thought I was too early to check in since I arrived 3 hours early, so I had to search for somewhere to sit and chill until I could get checked in.  I found a food court, and confirmed what another member of the group had noticed …there seems to be a real affinity for Asian food here.  This is not a “business traveler” friendly area.  Few outlets for charging devices, etc.  In fact as I look around, only one or two other people have a laptop out. 

Mexican Pleasantness

There have been several instances when I was impressed with the pleasant nature of the people I have encountered.  When I mentioned to the concierge at the hotel that I didn’t have a hat for the trip to the pyramids, he went to the back office and gave me one that the hotel sells (for free).  When I was walking on the street and was approaching a man head on, he went out of his way to step aside and let me pass by him.  In many streets that I’ve walked, its more like a game of chicken where the weakest person steps aside at the last minute and usually brushes against the other one on their way.  I already noted that cabs and other drivers seem to take turns as they merge and move in busy traffic without much animosity.  Its probably too much to chalk it up to a national culture, but it has been a good experience.

Dia de los Muertos

So many different images for this holiday that people seem to really enjoy celebrating.  My colleague for Sweden seemed to find it surprising that children were not scared of all the skeletons everywhere.

I found it amusing that some of the skeletons were seemly dressed like supermodels (or barbie dolls or something).

Or just naked bodies

This one at the Holiday Inn had a skull with every employee's name on it divided by the different divisions (maintenance, front desk, etc.)

This one was my favorite

A stroll in the city

My companion was heading to the antiquities museum, but I didn’t have time to see the museum and still catch my flight, so I decided to stroll down one of the pedestrian ways that criss cross the historic district.  It was about 9:30 in the morning and there was a lot of activity in preparation for a busy day.  Shopkeepers were busy sweeping and scrubbing the sidewalks in front of their stores.  (There was quite a bit of trash in evidence).  Cops were on every street corner in force.  I just looked at the different stores and people going by.  Lots of pedestrians mostly heading toward the central plaza.  I didn’t feel too conspicuous even though I was dragging along my suitcase with me. 

People will laugh at me, but I stopped for at least 10 minutes to watch a trash truck crew at work.  I stood unobtrusively on a corner across the street.  The truck was stopped along a side street with a giant pile of trash bags and boxes behind it.  Two men were in the bed of the trash truck ripping open flimsy trash bags and pulling trash out of them, then all four men in the crew would start pulling out recyclables and sorting them into different sturdy trash bags.  Once they finished sorting, they hauled each of the bags with the glass up to the top of the truck.  They were quite heavy from the way they strained to get them on top.  I was really surprised the bags didn’t break.  A guy on stop started stacking the bags full of glass way up on the top of the truck and tying them down.  I was surprised to see how compact they could get with those bags.

Then they started breaking down all of the boxes and stacking them carefully on a length of rope so they bundle them tightly.  I wanted to stay to watch them load up the giant reinforced bag that they sorted the plastics into, but some raindrops were falling and I didn’t want to get caught in a rainstorm.

Latin American Tower

The construction of the Latin American Tower began in 1949 and was completed in 1956.  A year after it was finished the building passed the seismic test, surviving an earthquake.  It survived another major quake in 1985.  It has 43 office floors and an observation deck.

Manual Labor

I’m always fascinated with the degree to which many tasks that are carried out in less developed countries are done with manual labor.  In a 30 min period, I must have walked past 20 different men and women who were city street sweepers, each with a small broom attacking a small section of a large sidewalk (or an entire plaza).  The trashmen sort trash by hand.  Delivery people load up hand cards and push heavy loads up the street for delivery to businesses.  My first thought we I see such things is to think “they sure do things the hard way”, but on further reflection it makes a lot of sense.  A single drivable street sweeper would put a lot of people out of a job.  It might be more efficient, but sometimes efficient isn’t the most important factor to consider.

The willow stick brooms seem to be quite popular.  I’m curious how well they work…

Cathedral

At the time we arrived it was pretty quiet.  I got to go into the cathedral and a church next to it. It took three hundred years to construct and has Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical elements.  The exterior wasn't finished until 1813. . The cathedral had the main nave blocked off, so you could not get a good view of the main alter.  There was a beautiful smaller worship space right at the entryway however.  The side aisles were filled with well kept chapels and one was in use for a lesson or prayer service of some sort.

It was apparent that a lot of restoration work was in progress.  The organ was in the center of the nave and looked pretty magnificent.  I saw a sign advertising an upcoming concert.  The furniture was apparently brought from the Spanish Empire's Asian colonies, with the choir stalls from Macao and the lectern from the Philippines.
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Historic District > Party zone

Got up early to take a cab to Zocolo (the Historic District) before catching my plane today.  I shared a cab with another member of our conference group.  The ride was very quick and took us through a very high class residential area with gated mansions on both sides of a beautiful tree lined street with a park-like green space in the median.  We  passed through La Zona Rosa which appeared to be the business and high end retail district.  Many of the intersections were roundabouts with beautiful fountains in the centers.  The historic district is a bit less flashy, but still attractive.

Our cab driver had to stop to ask directions twice, I guess he is either a new driver or doesn’t drive people to the cathedral frequently.  We eventually made it to the cathedral and discovered that the central plaza was being transformed into a major party zone for the celebration of Dia de los Muertos tonight.  Large tents were set up, really fancy Dia de los Muertos displays were laid out in smaller tents, a stage with lighting, and a ton of police all outfitted with riot gear (helmets, shields, etc.) 

Giant skeleton sculpture riding a skeleton horse.

I noticed a bunch of plastic containers full of water along the back side of one of the tents.  I think this is likely for emergency fire control.  I also walked past many piles of plastic wrapped items on pallets that were in front of one of the beautiful historic buildings.  Upon closer inspection I discovered that among the different items were packs of toilet paper…supplies for the party tonight I guess!

On one side of the square was the National Palace, other impressive old buildings were on the other sides (I don’t know what they were, there was an absence of signage and it was kind of difficult to move around because things were blocked off.)

National Palace

Unknown building on Central Plaza (which I found more attractive than the National Palace)