D.F.

D.F. stands for distrito federal (federal district). That's how most people here call la Ciudad de México (Mexico City) although that is not 100% correct. The federal district is just a part Mexico City. Anyway, most sights are in the distrito federal and it's much shorter so why not say D.F.

Why do I explain all that? Last weekend I was in D.F. First of all, don't worry: I'm still alive, I wasn't kidnapped and I wasn't robbed. Second, the city is really amazing! I really don't know where to start...

Facts & Figures

• about 9 million inhabitants in the city itself
• more than 22 million inhabitants in the greater city area
• density: 5.900 inhabitants/ km²
• about 5000 km² surface of the greater city area

Smog
Smog really is a problem in Mexico City. Although I was there during the weekend (when it isn't really bad) I could sense it a bit. And when I returned on Sunday night I had really dry eyes. I guess it was an effect of all the exhaust fumes in the air.
Smog is such a big problem not only because nobody cares about catalysers and filters but also because Mexico City is situated in a valley so that the polluted air cannot escape. The production plants on the hills around the city also contribute their part to pollution.
To reduce smog and pollution, the government has introduced a system which takes part of the cars off the road. I don't remember exactly which numbers are affected on which day but it is as follows:

• cars with a 1 or 2 at the end on the number plate are not allowed to drive on Monday
• 3 and 4 have to stay at home on Tuesday
• etc.

The only problem is: Most people who live close to the city centre are rich people. Those usually have more than one car and of course they don't have two cars with the same number at the end!

Traffic

There is really a lot of traffic in D.F. and in a way it is even cazier than anywhere else. I even saw a traffic circle which was used in both directions. It's on the picture but, yes Michael, you can hardly see it;-) Well, to be honest I didn't understand the system behind it.

Bochos
In Mexico City and anywhere else in Mexico you still can see many Käfer (Beetles) which are called bochos here. A lot of them are used as taxis. By the way, a lot of people here call Volkswagen la bocho although they haven't been produced any more. But the Mexicans are very emotional about that. The shop floor where el bocho used to be produced is also called "hall of tears".


Sights
There are so many sights in D.F. that it's unpossible to see all of them on a weekend and I struggle a bit choosing some to present them here.

What is very famous is the Museum of Anthropology where you can learn a lot about pre-hispanic Mexican histroy.



There is the Metropolitan Cathetral as a repre- sentative of the Spanish colonial era.









Furthermore, there is the Templo Mayor or better it's ruins. It was the great pyramide of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan.


Situated on the zócalo is the Palacio Nacional where Diego Rivera painted his great murals.









And the Palaco de Bellas Artes is quite nice, too. As long as you are interested in arts at least a little bit;-)

Transportation

When you drive on Mexican roads, you can see a lot of interesting and strange things...














People don't seem to care about safety too much. It's not only watermelons that are loaded on the back of a pick-up and hardly fixed. Often there are kids or women instead of the watermelons...

Note: I wrote "kids or women" on purpose. The roles of men and women is another interesting topic. Maybe I'll write about that next time.

Views

Have you ever heared about Popocatépetl? It is quite famous, I guess. It's the second highest mountain in Mexico (5452m), the second highest volcano in North America and what I see when I look out of my window (más o menos;-). It looks nice, doesn't it? But it's not that nice all the time. This volcano is still active and we sometimes can see smoke coming out of it. The last breakout was in 1996. Well, ten years ago... time for another one. I don't hope so!

Popocatépetl has a "twin" called Iztaccíhuatl (never mind the pronunciation, it's of Aztec origin, I have my problems with that, too) which you can see on the next picture on the right. Some of my colleagues have climbed it and I'd like to do that, too. I just have to do a bit of training! And even if you are well-trained, people say that you have a strong headache and hardly can breathe. By the way, it's not possible to climb Popocatépetl any more; except for those how have a special permission (journalists, scientists etc.).

Some people say that Iztaccíhuatl looks like a lying woman (make up your mind yourself). There also is an Aztec legend which says that Iztaccíhuatl was a princess once and Popocatépetl a soldier who were in love with each other. When Popo had to go to war, Izta killed herself. When Popo returned he found her dead but ever since then he watches over her. And when he is really sad and cries, smoke comes out of the volcano.

And that's me in front of them...

Roads

Mexican roads are quite "interesting" (from the German point of view). Sometimes I have the impression they consist of more chuckholes than paving;-) Of course I'm exaggerating a bit but honestly, it's terrible sometimes. It's a question of knowing where the holes are to avoid ruining your car.
Well, sometimes they try to repair the roads but that doesn't last very long...

Another important requisite of Mexican roads are the topes (humps). They have them almost everywhere here to make you reduce speed. On the one hand I can understand that they are cheaper than signs, traffic lights etc. but they are quite a nuisance. And they are quite dangerous because sometimes you can see them very good. At least you can hear them. At the latest when you hit the ground with the car. Furthermore, they prevent any economic driving (my opinion) because you are forced to reduce speed but everybody accelerates right afterwards.

Stones

When I asked other interns at Volkswagen what they had seen in Mexico, they often told me "stones". Of course this is a kind of ironic answer but I tend to agree with them.

On my second weekend here, I was in El Tajin where you can see the remains of a number of pyramides which is really great. But of course it's just stones;-).






I was there with 3 other interns and what shocked us a bit was how our guide talked about the self-sacrefices which took place there some hundred years ago. You can see that on the pictures. Now a question to you? Can you see what shocked us so much about it? Let me tell you that the guide talked about it in an absolutely calm voice while he got excited about how painfull it was for women to but a bone through their tongue.


And just a nice picture to end this post:

Finding your way

Finding your way is not always easy in Mexico. In most cases you have to ask someone. After some time I found out that it is better to ask several people because it increases the possibility that one person gives you the right answer. In most cases Mexicans don't tell you when they have no idea where the place is you are asking for. It is considered as inpolite to give a "negative" answer. Difficult to understand for Europeans, I agree. A very common answer if you ask for the way, is todo derecho which means something like "Just right this way." With what I wrote above you can imagine how often it is REALLY "Just right this way."















What helps a bit finding your way is that most Mexican cities are structured systematically: like a chessboard. Most cities have a central square called zócalo. The streets leading direcly to the zócalo have a real name like "5 de Mayo" or "Avenida Hidalgo". The streets which lead to one of those streets to the west are called ponientes, those to the east orientes, to the north nortes and to the south sures. So far, so good. You still understand the system;-)? Of course not all streets to the north can be called nortes etc. Therefore they also have numbers. The start with the small numbers from the zócalo but not like 1, 2, 3... In one direction are the even numbers and in the other the odd numbers. For example the nortes that are in the west of the city have the numbers 2, 4, 6... and those in the east 3, 5, 7... (the 1 never exists).

Buses

During the last few days I used the buses several times. Guess what? The bus drivers drive even more crazy than the car drivers. Maybe it's because it's not their buses. Or they think they know the streets. But I think more probable they just think they are the best drivers on earth;-)
What may appear stange to most Europeans is that there are no timetables for the bus! It is just there when it arrives;-) And if you ask people on the bus where you have to get off, you always get a different answer. But to be honest it's not that easy. If you ask in a nice way, you can get off almost anywhere. Nonetheless, I took the wrong bus once and couldn't get off where I wanted.

Houses etc.

Water
What you have to know about water in Mexico is that the water which comes from the tap is not drinkable. You can use it for brushing your teeth but for cooking etc. you have to buy water.
The thing is that the water quality isn't that bad originally. However, they have a special "system" here how the water comes to the tap. As the pressure which is supplied isn't very high, every house has a pump here which pumps the water into those black reservoirs you can see for example on our house. With this "trick", water pressure is a bit higher.
By the way: We have WARM water only in the shower.

Special note to those who have been to China: Here they clean the clothes with cold water in the laundry, too. And if you have a spot on them: Just tell them, they will use more chlorine!

Electricity
Electricity is another interesting topic. The general system here is very similar to the one in the USA: the same plugs, the same voltage (110 volts). The latter causes some problems. 110 volts cannot be transmitted over very long distances. Therefore, you find a transformer close to your house. And how the current comes from there to your house can look a bit chaotic...














And in most cases it does.

Gas
Gas is very common here. Most cookers work with gas which was a big change for me. Cooking with gas is really not the same!
Also the WARM water in the shower is heated by gas. To do so, they use those boilers you can see in the picture. To be honest the don't look very safe to me. And the stories about exploding boilers don't make me feel any safer.