From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

Since arriving in Mexico City, we have to learn how to deal with this sprawling megalopolis, and we’ve even started to enjoy it.. well maybe enjoy is a bit too strong a word to describe our somewhat ambivalent feelings towards this capital city.

We’re staying with Patrice and Fabienne, a French couple that moved here more than 25 years ago. We learned a lot about Mexico from them and their advice has been valuable, especially with respect to safety here. Just like in any big city you need to be prepared for everything. Except that here we could be robbed at gunpoint in the middle of the street, a taxi driver could drive us into a little alleyway and make off with everything, and there are pick-pockets everywhere… So we’ve been trying to make sure that we only carry the bare minimum: we left the camcorder and our nice camera back at the house, and we only take a little bit of money. When we get into a cab, we check the license plate (legitimate ones start with “A”), that there is a meter, and we scope out the driver. We’ve also got our little self-defense spray cans that we bought in the States and that we hadn’t even taken out until now. But we also make sure that we are home before dark.

23 million people live here, and so far everyone that we’ve met has made a point to watch out for the inhabitants of Mexico City…

We’ve been able to see a fair amount of the city by visiting the IMFs and meeting with their clients. We walked around the historic centre of town and we visited 2 museums (Muséo Interactivo de Economia and Muséo de Anthropologia). We even got the chance to see Teotihuacan, the famous Aztec site in the north of the city. It was spectacular! 

We discovered that the subway stations here have names and symbols, so that people who can’t read can use the system and not get lost. There are special cars for women and children during rush hour and a police officer is there to make sure that people stay orderly. After passing through all those charming villages and beautiful colonial towns, we don’t exactly find Mexico City very attractive. But we guess it’s just that it seems too big for us….

Sara & Sébastien