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While a substantial number of English speakers live in Mexico City, the Web offers paltry resources in English about the world's largest megalopolis. Yet for those Mexicophiles who feel the need to stay on top of city politics and tourism, government offices offer content-rich websites. There are also bulletin boards and specialty guides and an online "rating" courtesy of Deja.com. Here's your key to Mexico City on the web.

Mexico City Government

http://www.df.gob.mx/
***** (Out of five *)

Mayor Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and the Angel of Independence greet visitors on Mexico City's official website. While the front page is slick, it's also fast loading. There are no windows or frames within frames—an annoying feature present on far too many websites. Here the design is impeccable and, best of all, there is a great deal of content. If you're interested in city politics and administration, track down the addresses, phone numbers and emails of the city's precinct leaders or participate in the online chat forums (http://www.df.gob.mx/foros/index.html) on topics including public security, tourism and environmental affairs. Mixing thoroughness and creativity, the Mexico City website exemplifies what a government website can be. The only thing missing—and on top of my personal wish list—would be an email mailing list that provided press releases and announcements from specific departments. This information is posted online (http://www.df.gob.mx/noticias/index.html), but you have to hunt for it.
For more information about the website, contact Luciano Pascoe: lpascoe@df.gob.mx

Mexico City Government Tourism Office

http://www.mexicocity.gob.mx/
***

The city's new tourism office has a fairly fancy website viewed with or without the Shockwave Flash web application. I'm not sure what this "ap" does beyond producing some quirky stop-action movies. As a cyber-Luddite, I chose the simpler version once I found too many of the links on the high-tech side weren't functioning (including an English-language version of site). With that in mind, check out the Centro Historico page (http://www.mexicocity.gob.mx/paginasinshock/zonas/cuauhtemoc/index.html) and the links work well for museums, theaters, cinemas and walking treks. You can also get the addresses for tourism kiosks in the real world (http://www.mexicocity.gob.mx/paginasinshock/modulosdeinformacion/index.html).

What is missing - from this—and most other tourism websites—is a complete list of hotels. Kudos to officials for posting Mexico City tourism press releases (http://www.mexicocity.gob.mx/paginasinshock/prensa/index.html) and an archive of statistics (http://www.mexicocity.gob.mx/paginasinshock/estadisticas/index.html) which are a great resource for journalists and anyone interested in current affairs. This site shows great promise.
Contact email: turismo@df.gob.mx

Mexico City Bulletin Board

http://www.InsideTheWeb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi/mb14769 ***

While this message board could be updated more regularly, moderation does guarantee that it's not littered with commercial ads and nonsense. This bulletin board with postings in English and Spanish assists travelers and locals alike. The postings range from personals to academic queries about the city's history or current politics. This site links to the popular Mexico City Virtual Guide (http://www.mexicocity.com.mx), previously mentioned as one of Mexico on the Web's best sites of 1998 (Business Mexico, Special Edition 1998) that deserves kudos again for providing a terrific introduction to Mexico City.

Other interesting sites focusing on Mexico City:

• Traveler's Guide to Mexico City
  http://www.travelmexico.com.mx/cities/mc.html
  Be sure to visit this impressive collection of travelers' resources, including photos, history and hotel listings.

• Deja.com
  http://www.deja.com/rate/item.xp?CID=12256&PDID=867
  See how Mexico City "rates" in comparison to other Latin American cities in terms of services, friendliness and "travel value."

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