Up to now

I have been in Mexico City for um, what day is it? I think today is Thursday, which means I´ve been here for 5 days depending on how you count. I have found it to be more enjoyable than I had imagined. Mexico City, seething metropolis, overcrowded with displaced rural poor looking for a better life, riddled with crime, overcome by choking smog and streets clogged with traffic. How could such a place actually be a good destination for a vacation? This is my fourth visit here (again, depending on how you count), but it is the first time I´ve spent any time here. I´m so glad I came. Here is what I have learned. Yes, it´s a big city, and yes, supposedly there is crime, traffic and pollution. But there is so much more. I´m sitting here in this very pleasant internet cafe at Insurgentes Station of the Metro looking out on to the central plaza of the metro station. There is a very cute young guy who works here and keeps us all entertained by a diverse selection of music. Police zoom by on their segways and every now and then I get a whiff of some spices from nearby restaurants. The weather is very pleasant and the air is really not that bad. This is Mexico City, the enormous capital of a hugely diverse and rich country. Unlike our capital, which is more of a monument to an ideal and and otherwise ignored population who can´t even vote, this is where all of Mexico meets. This where it happens. This is where it began and ended. This is a place of history, culture, infinite sites and sounds and experiences. It is not a place for the unitiated traveler, and I like that - no tour buses full of Iowans looking for a quick and easy getaway. This is where most people might just spend a few days. I´m thinking it is worth coming for a few months. That is why I decided to start this blog.