Mexico City, This Small Little Town

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

If you are staying downtown or at the hotel zone, you can walk your way around, just avoid little dark streets. Bring sunscreen, you will need it.

Subway
The most economical and easiest way to travel around the city is the subway, commonly called "el Metro", the STC Metropolitan Transport System, is the cheapest in the world, a ticket is two pesos (less than 20¢ in May 2006) for a ride, no matter the distance. There are 175 stations and 11 lines to make you reach your destination. Not all the city is covered but this is a good starting point.

Try this:
Metro It´s only in Spanish but there is a good map of the system and you can find about each individual line and station. Not very advanced for planing origin-destination. http://www.metro.df.gob.mx/red/index.html.

Taxis
The most common thing I have heard from visitors is that everybody has told them not to use the green taxis, this is a nonsense, in the past (4 years ago) all the taxis were painted green, so you didn´t have more option that radio-taxis (those you call by phone at their base). On average taxis are OK, and your chance of being mugged are low, but if you are nervous have your consierge or your captain at the restaurant get you a radio-taxi.

Collective Taxis "Microbuses" or just "Micros"
This are large min-buses that can hold between 15 to 30 passengers all cramped like sardines, most of them standing, you see all variations of chasis and decorations. They are cheap and charge a minimum of 2.50 pesos for 5km. they have fixed routes but depending on the driver, it can be an adventure riding with a Fitipaldi wannabe or a guy with the stereo at maximum volume. They are all but picturesque. Is your call if you want to use them, I would recommedn the bus, if available, or to wait for a better driver, wait for the next one.

Buses
The bus system cover all the city, but there are no guides or system map to help you. Frequency is not stablished and depends on the route, time of day and traffic.

Renting a car
Is not cheap and if you have never been in the city, I don´t recomend it, as drivers tend to be agressive and won´t let you pass even if you have the right of way. Lack of signs is common.

You are here to have tacos mainly, and Tacos Arabes specially, since there is a difference between both: Al pastor normally have a pineapple roasting on top of the meat and you get a chunk of it in each taco, and the meat is normally marinated with achiote and other secret recipes so it will look orange-reddish on the rotisserie; Meanwhile Tacos Arabes won’t have neither of those, is the plain meat on a vertical rotisserie served on a tortilla or more correctly on Pan Arabe, which is very similar to a Flour Tortilla but larger and thicker, almost like a mini-pizza.

Today I had a Quesadilla Arabe (thick flour-tortilla and larger, with lots of meat and melted cheese) one Taco Oriental con Queso (almost the same, but smaller, on a corn tortilla) and a large Agua de Jamaica (half liter, Hibiscus soft drink) and the bill was only 56 pesos (less than $5, May '06) and I wasn't able to eat more, though I wanted some dessert I didn't order one as it would have been too much.

The flavor is different to the traditional taco al pastor, because here they don’t marinate the meat and neither put the pineapple. Different also in texture as the slices of meat in the rotisserie are thicker than the average Al Pastor, but you also get the Mexican Salsas to go along, don’t forget the ever present Limón (lime for you Americans) as its acid flavor combines neatly with the meat.

You can visit their website (sorry, only in Spanish) to check the menu and a little bit of the history of the founder.

http://www.tacosarabes.com.mx/

The name is misleading but it has stuck in everybody´s mind, the gardens are not floating at all.

Chinampas. This is the proper name of the parcels where people grow from vegetables to flowers all year round (the area is extremely productive, with as much as 3 crops a year).
The word comes from the Nahuatl word chinamitl, meaning "square made of canes." A chinampa is an artificial patch of soil, a man made island, it starts with a wooden barge that is steadily filled with soil until it slowly sinks to the bottom of the lake, in the sinking process the "walls" of the parcel are kept above the level of the water by adding more canes on top and more soil. The lake was never too deep so it´s not a difficult process. The idea was to make some landfill without killing the lake at the same time, and also having a very fertile parcel with full access to a year-round supply of water.

The trip. You go to one of the several docks embarcadero available and agree with the driver a price per hour (last time I was there it was 140 Mexican pesos (2005) for one hour, in a 12 passenger boat (blue roof). The boats are called trajineras and are driven like the gondolas in Venice by a guy pushing on a large pole.

During your trip you have a view of the parcels and some greenhouses, in the touristic area is mostly flowers or plants to sell, you normally don´t go to the orchards unless you specifically ask for that. In the main channel which is very wide you will find musicians (mariachis, trios, duos) to sing for you (it was 50 mxp per song in 2005) they may travel in their own trajinera, boat or just transfer from boat to boat. The trajineras are all roofed and decorated with fake flowers and each has a woman's name, if you are lucky you may find the one you like. Inside the trajinera there are benches alongside all the boat and tables in the middle for you to throw a party or enjoy a picnic, you can bring your own food or buy at the many trajineras that sell all kind of food from corn on the cob, quesadillas, tacos to pollo con mole and arroz. Beers are easily available.

To arrive you have many options, the cheapest is to take the subway and transfer in Taxqueña station to the "A" line which uses trams on rails to get to Xochimilco, ask which station is more convenient to get to the dock you choose. It may take you an hour or 1:20 min. to get there from Polanco or Downtown. By bus, take any going directly to Xochimilco (ask the concierge at your hotel) or if Periferico is near, take the one heading south and transfer in Villa Coapa. By taxi, don´t worry on the way back, there are many safe taxi hubs.

This plaza is special because in the same view you get three different cultures: Aztec, Spanish, and Mexican.
Yes, there is a difference between Mexican and Spanish, the Mexican culture is a blend of the Mesoamerican people with all the Spanish word. There are things unique to Mexican culture that has not been reproduced in other conquered countries in Latin America or the Caribbean.

In Plaza de las tres culturas you find the encounter of these differences with the Aztec ruins of Tlatelolco, the Spanish temple, and the Mexican modern (1970s) buildings, and concepts.

This is a heavy thing, so heavy with Italian Carrara marble that this colossal building is sinking!!!

The architect had a great, grandiose idea, but it was too much for the terrain sustaining it, every year the building sinks a few millimeters, but the sum over the years is more than a meter.

The sinking problem is nothing from this century, it began during the initial phase of setting up the metal structure, but the architect thought that with some corrective procedures it would be enough, he was so wrong but still decided to continue with the edification.

In 1908 some engineers suggested some corrective measures but as the administrators considered it too expensive, opted for the cheap way. After the injection of about 1859 tons of cement and limestone between 1910 and 1912 the sinking process slowed a bit, but in the years after, more injections have been required, fortunately the compaction of the soil due to the great weight of the building has helped to slow the sinking in recent years.