A three-day weekend says to me “where shall we go, Nailah”. My answer this time was “How about Mexico City?”. I don’t know when my interest in going to Mexico City started. I feel like it was before I watched the movie Frida and I fell in love with all of the vibrant colors of the D.F. I feel like it was before a bunch of friends I was meeting in Brazil got stuck for a day in Mexico City which ended up delaying their arrival. While my friends were envious of me for having a direct flight to Brazil, I was envious of them for getting to spend an impromptu day in Mexico’s capital city.
I also don’t know why it has taken me this long to finally get there, being just a short flight from Los Angeles. Perhaps I subconsciously heeded the many warnings of how dangerous the city could be for tourists. Or maybe it’s just my desire to go as far as possible (even when it means I spend as much time in transit as in the location) that someplace that is “just around the corner” wasn’t quite as tempting? Well, for whatever reason, I finally got my act together and booked a ticket to the largest metropolitan city in the Western Hemisphere. How was I going to tackle that in a weekend? Well, clearly I wasn’t. But I at least wanted to dip my toes in and get a feel for what the city is like.
As I headed to the gate to board my flight, I didn’t know a soul in Mexico City, my Spanish language abilities consisted of only passable Portuguese (so basically none at all), and I barely even knew how the city was laid out. Some people may be intimidated by all that I didn’t know, but in my eyes this has adventure written all over it. I will have follow up posts about the city and what I did while I was there, but for starters, here are some images of what I found to be an enjoyable, vibrant and accessible city. I can’t wait to go back and see even more.
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| Mexico City is a city of dramatic murals… |
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| …and not all murals are created with a paintbrush. |
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| Brightly beaded wall hanging at the Frida Khalo museum |
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| Luchadores everywhere…loved this bus stop advertisement |
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| Walking down a residential street, I came across this neighborhood shrine |
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| Colorful marzipan candies for sale |
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| Paper flower for sale at the market in the San Angel neighborhood |
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| Tables full of colorful sweets |
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| Flowers and murals |
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| Aztec performers at the Zocalo square |
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| Enjoying a sunny day at the park |
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| Occupy Mexico City? |
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| Roadside candy vendor…I hope the cigarettes aren’t for sale too. |
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| Kicking back after a long day of sight seeing |
Mmmm! Looks amazing! Such color! Such life! I can’t wait to hear more about it!
Akemi, between the artwork, the food and the natural beauty, Mexico City is a very vibrant, vivid place!