Walk around Mexico city

I love cities. There is something in the cities that attracts me, and walking around in big cities is one of my favorite things (although I've to recognize that in Singapore I don't do it that much as the temperature is so high!).

Every time I arrive at a new big city I need to make a walk around, in order for me to get a glimpse of the life in the city, the people, the architecture: the spirit of the life. I didn't have the chance to so such thing yet in Mexico city, mostly because I didn't have the opportunity to do it: first weekend was spend with Varun and Ming Hwee in Santa Fe mall and the nascar race, second weekend was spent in Xochimilco and the Teotihuacan pyramids. As Varun left Mexico this morning to go back to Singapore, and Ming Hwee has left the city to enjoy some time in Cancun (he is getting a diving certification), I decided to do my walk today!

The "only" problem is that I had no clue at all where I should go and how to move around in the city (no map!, and no 3g access to get access to Google maps in my phone). I decided to start in the Zócalo, or Plaza de la Constitución, located in the middle of the Centro Histórico of Mexico city. It's one of the biggest squares of the world (for the sake of comparison, this square is 57600 m2, and Lyon's biggest square, Place Bellecour, is a bit bigger, 62400m2). Nowadays a huge screen is installed for Mexicans to see the world cup, so I just visited the Metropolitan Cathedral and walked around, as there were interesting people to observe (some person relieving stress with some herbs, some people dancing in the streets in antique costumes, and a lot of flee markets). Once I view everything in the square, I found a tourism office that gave a small map of the area, so I headed south as there seemed to be some point of interest. Then I headed back north to view the Bellas artes building and walk around the small park.

I stopped to eat something in an Italian restaurant, where I had some Parma ham with cheese and a salad with peach, chicken and nuts, with some sangria and red wine. The food was good, but the portions where way too big for me. Left half of both portions!

After the big lunch I continued walking along the "Paseo de la reforma", as this road is full of very nice architectures and statues and other cultural stuff to see. It even goes through the Chapultepec forest (that I'll pay a visit in the following weekends).

I actually knew roughly the way, remembering where the cab drove me in the morning. After exiting the forest, I saw the "Auditorio Nacional", and from there I was not really sure of the way, but I somehow found my way back to the hotel.

The complete itinerary I actually did today:

View Mexico City walking tour in a larger map

What to say about this walk? Well, it was longer than I expected (Google maps says that my itinerary was 10km worth), and it definitely was a good outing. Contrary to what everyone said to me I didn't feel in danger at any point (although I recognize I would not try to do the walk by night, especially the forest part), and it gave me a good overview of the city (even if it's a very small portion of it). Mexico is like a swarm: a LOT of people around, the streets are crowded (careful with your belongings!) and it's very noisy. But I kind of enjoyed the walk: the architecture is interesting, the flee markets are full of interesting stuff (I'll need to come back there for some shopping), and it's full of different colors, smells, people.

Photos done during the walk:

Visit to Teotihuacan pyramids, Shrine of Guadalupe and Square of the three cultures

Mexico is very rich in culture, and today Ming Hwee and myself went for a tour organized by our hotel, that would bring us to the Square of the Three Cultures, the Teotihuacan pyramids and the Shrine of Guadalupe.

The day started early: the tour guide went to pick us up at 830am sharp. We went around the city to get the other tour members, and started the tour by a quick stop at the Square of the Three Cultures. Behind this very nice name is just a square with very small pyramids rests, a church surrounded by some buildings. Nothing much to see, and we didn't actually get the chance to walk in.

We then headed for the Teotihucan pyramids, located east of Mexico, a 50km ride. During the ride we saw all the slums and I was shocked by the number of them, all at mere meters of the highway. Mexico is the largest city of the world, with more than 28million souls living there.

Before heading for the pyramids, we did a stop in a shop / distillery, where they explained us from where the tequila comes from and other usages of the plant itself (see the pictures in the picasa album). We spent some time there to taste the local tequila and buy some souvenirs (I bough a small statue made out of some black volcanic stone). I tried a very special tequila, that has a worm inside the bottle. The persons who finishes the bottle will have to eat the worm, hence granting him 7 years of good luck.

After the shop time, we went to visit the pyramids, where we were given 2h time to go up and down the two different pyramids and walk in the Avenue of the Deads. No need to say that under the heavy sun the ascension was tiring, but definitely worth it. The view was astonishing and the breeze at the top was sooo nice The only thing that went to spoil a bit the experience was the crowd of people trying to sell you cheap stuff at all cost. Kind of reminded me Bangkok and the hard core sellers there.

After the pyramids and a good lunch in a restaurant nearby (we managed to get a glimpse of the world cup match Germany-Australia, 4-0!) we went back to Mexico for our last stop: the Shrine of Guadalupe, the largest Latin American tribute to the Virgin of Guadalupe. The church was amazingly big, and there were a total of 6 f them in the site.

Nice journey, nice tour, but tiring!

Check the photos:

Visit to Xochimilco: the little Venice of Mexico

Time in Mexico goes at weird speeds, and, as weeks are quite boring I'm going to make sure to make my weekends worth it

Today Varun, Min Hwee and myself have gone to Xochimilco. Located in the south of Mexico city (~30min cab ride), this maze of canals was originally a lake. The Aztec (or Mayas, I don't remember what the boat driver told me), back at their time, started to put soil and sand in the lake to gain land to cultivate. During the dry seasons they would plant trees in those artificial islands in order to avoid the sand to go away. Over the time, the lake was not really discernible, and only remains the 184km worth of canals that we can visit today. The site is actually considered as a World Heritage site by UNESCO, and families and friends go there during the weekends for relaxing time.

In our case, we reached there around noon, and rented a whole boat for the 3 of us (around 600 pesos in total) for approximately 2h. Funny thing about the place: you basically go through the canals, and all along the way you will have the merchants and other people (like music bands) that will offer their service, hook to your boat and such. We just ordered some corn along the way as we were a bit hungry. We also stopped in one of the gardens to see the flowers. Nothing exceptional, but nice flowers!

Very relaxing time indeed, and I loved the colors of the boats.

Oh, some story our boat rider told me along the way. I asked him why there were some trees with very creepy tolls hooked to them. Apparently, far away in the canals there is a 70 year old guy who hangs these tolls in the trees of his island. He says that they look at him while he is planting the flowers and such, and that he believes they actually move their eyes to him.

You will find the pictures in the Picasa album

First week-end in Mexico

The first week in Mexico has been tough on me.

Mostly not because of work, as it has gone smoothly, no major problems, just doing some hand over of procedures, attending some meetings and trying to get my emails (my mobility card is not working, but it's getting solved) and such things.

The hard part has been to get used to life in Mexico, with the jet lag hitting me. Why hard? Well, the city itself is very different of what I'm used in Singapore or back in Europe: very dirty, chaotic, polluted. Plus I don't really feel safe in the place. I mean, I'm sure it's not as unsafe as everyone pictures it, but I do not feel comfortable walking around alone (although at least I can speak Spanish!).

Also, one of the hardest things is that I'm really missing my life in Singapore. I mean, more than the life and place, it's the people there that I miss.

These trips that get you out of your comfort zone make you realize how important are some persons and things in your life, that you take for acquainted and therefore cannot see how precious they are to you.But even if it is indeed hard, it's something that will make the come back even sweeter.

Anyway, this weekend was quite calm. Saturday we went to the Santa Fe shopping mall, shopped around and finished by watching "Sex and the City 2" movie. Sunday we went to a Nascar race in the circuit of Mexico. I have to admit that the Nascar race was not as exiting as I expected: I mean, it's just powerful cars racing in a circular track. Nothing much except when an accident occurs. But it was still a good outing, spending time with my colleagues, and getting to know them more than the office environment (although I also got hard burned haha).

Oh, also: food here is quite different than what we are used in Singapore. I feel it's more fattening, and I'll need to be careful with what I eat in the future. I also tried some exotic local food: some worms with guacamole and tortillas. A bit crunchy but not bad!

Pictures of the Nascar race:

Next stop… Mexico

Hi there!
It’s been a while since my last blog entry, and it has been mostly due to some rushing time in both my professional and personal life
As you may have notice from the widget on the right, I’m in Mexico right now. Yep, that’s right, it’s quite far away from my current residence, Singapore (actually its 16607.01km to be exact), with 13h time difference (when it’s 8am here in Mexico it’s 9pm back in Singapore, 3pm in Madrid/Paris).
I’ve been sent here for a business trip, doing some client support and meetings. I’ll be staying here for 2 months and a half, followed by some time off in USA.
The trip to here has been veeery long, but as I was travelling in business class (first time ever!), the trip was quite good actually: at least I had a very good seat (enough space for my long legs, and we could switch the inclination to a 180degrees, woot!), nice food, and the service was excellent (the stewards even knew my name).
It’s very weird: I left Singapore the 1st June at 940am and I arrived to Los Angeles at 11 something of the same day. Weird right? First think that surprised me about LA is the fact that I could hear Spanish nearly everywhere. Apparently it’s the influence of the Latinos over there, a lot of immigration. Spent most of my time in the Mexicana lounge, mostly sleeping and checking emails.
I cannot say the same thing for the flight from Los Angeles to Mexico with Mexicana than the one from SQ: crappy flight but I was so tired by then that I spent most of the time sleeping.
I reached Mexico around 1130pm, waited for ages for the luggage and once I finally went out, managed to meet the person that was picking me up. We reached the hotel quite late, maybe around 1am, where I meet Varun, one of my colleagues.
Since then the days have been quite similar, spending most of the day at the office, working, and then having all of us diner at some various restaurants. I’m still quite jetlagged, so having some trouble sleeping at the correct hours.
Here are some photos taken during the flight and also some photos of my hotel room (although I might change, as I don’t have a working desk in the current room, hence it’s a bit tedious and uncomfortable to work…

Stay tuned for the next blog entries!