Bye bye Mexico City

After two wonderful days in Mexico City, we finally hit so-so weather in the morning (only 10 degrees!). The shakey weather matched my digestive track. I guess I had a few too many tacos and tamales.

Adrienne went to the pharmacy late in the morning, and I think I am on the road to recovery; also the sun is out again!

One of the unique things of Mexico City is they shut down several of the main roads downtown for a considerable distance. Sunday is the day that those roads are for the exclusive use of bicycles, skateboards, rollerblades, and runners.

At 8 o'clock in the morning the street was basically deserted. Later on

it was quite unusual to see that out in front of our hotel (Fontan Reforma) there are many many active people using the six Lane thorough fare. We are only a few hundred yards from the edge of the old city so there are many, many people riding into it from the numerous hotels in the area.

Even this back road was blocked off. 

I wish we had more time to spend in Mexico City. The hotel and location are fantastic. However, we feel that if we are ever going to get on our way down to Panama we better start moving. I do hope that we return in the next few years, but it will definitely be more than for just three days.

Because the whole of Mexico City is built on a former lake, the water table must be very high in the ground and there is evidence from time to time with little lakes within the city. Building these enormous structures that are everywhere throughout the city must have been quite in engineering feat, what with the very silty former lake bed. They had to overcome engineering challenges that they had never seen before--this must have been doubly tricky as the areas also prone to earthquakes.

The many millions of people that live in this town are packed in like sardines. Entire hillsides are covered with houses made out of brick and plaster, and there is absolutely no green space between them. They are all touching.

Pic...

Because they are stacked together on the hillsides, when the torrential rains hit, there are numerous bad situations. It is not uncommon for the water to move houses on their foundation.  It seems like The government is allowing developers to build these in enormous subdivisions, but not ensuring that drainage is adequate.

I guess problems are not unlike several other is supersized cities throughout the world. The real problem is so many Mexicans are poor and migrate to the city in hopes of a better life. Once there, they manage to find accommodation, and with their Catholic background, have lots of children.  It almost seems a status symbol for young girls under the age of 18 to have at least one child on her hip as she does her daily routine in the city. The lack of birth control only perpetuates the downward spiral into deeper poverty.

Sent from Tom's iPhone