Mexico City

Regions and States

Mexico City crest

The state of Mexico City (formerly Mexico D.F.) is part of the Central Highlands Region of Mexico, along with the states of Guanajuato, Hidalgo, State of México, Morelos, Puebla, Querétaro and Tlaxcala.

The state of Mexico City is home to more than 14 million people. (The Mexico City Metropolitan Area extends into neighboring states and has a population of over 20 million.)

The city was founded (as Tenochtitlan) on an island in the middle of a lake by the Mexica people in the fourteenth century. Mexico City is one of the world’s largest and most dynamic cities.

Here are select articles and recipes related to Mexico City :

 

Holy Friday evening, Los Varones carry the coffin through the village. The procession walks on tapetes de aserrín. © Joseph Sorrentino, 2023

Holy Week in San Gregorio Atlapulco, Xochimilco, Mexico City

Like virtually every pueblo in Mexico, residents of San Gregorio Atlapulco (in Xochimilco, Mexico City) celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week) with processions, extra masses and a depiction of Christ’s crucifixion. But one thing sets San Gregorio apart from other pueblos: Holy Week is run by fourteen young men known as Los Varones. There’s no group […]

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This diorama in Mexico City's Templo Mayor museum shows a Tenochtitlan market selling agricultural produce © Anthony Wright, 2013

A Tale of Three Cities: Mexico City, Teotihuacan and Tenochititlan

1. Mexico City On the way to Ecuador, I took a five-day diversion to Mexico City. As souvenirs, I picked up a stomach bug and a rather extreme case of sun-burn. Neither were timetabled, but both easily gained with the correct measure of self-neglect. I was respectively supported by a high altitude that increased the […]

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The lintel above the door of this structure is flat. © Joseph Sorrentino, 2021

Site of sacrifice rediscovered in Mexico City: On The Trail Of Xipe Tótec

I first met one of Xipe Tótec’s priests on March 30, 2018. I know the exact date because, happily, my Nikon records the date of every photo I shoot. Me, I’m not that good at keeping accurate records. Fortunately, I didn’t actually meet the priest because Xipe Tótec was the Mexica god of, among other […]

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According to Soledad (cover)

According to Soledad: memories of a Mexican childhood

Katie Goodridge Ingram’s memoir According to Soledad is a rich and sometimes dark journey into her childhood years growing up in Mexico City and Ajijic, a small fishing village in the state of Jalisco. Her earliest years are spent in an affluent sector of Mexico City with her American parents who are constantly struggling to […]

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Monument to the Niños Heroes with Chapultepec Castle in the background © Rick Meyer, 1999

Child heroes and Mexico myths

The September 13, 1847 capture of Chapultepec Castle by U.S. Marines made a paragraph in a MexConnect listing of significant events by geographer, historian and all-around good guy Tony Burton. This was war. Fighting had reached Mexico City. Men were dying. Generals surrendered but there were numerous acts of bravery, including the celebrated stand by […]

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Chile Seed Pipian: Pipián de Semillas de Chile

It is customary for Mexican cooks to save the seeds they remove from dried chiles and store them, mixing several varieties in the same jar. This traditional recipe from El Bajio restaurant in Mexico City may be made with either boneless pork leg or beef shanks. Ingredients: 2 pounds cut-up boneless pork leg or beef […]

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Pork in Green Pipian: Puerco en Pipián Verde

After poultry, pork is the most popular meat to serve in pipián sauces, and goes particularly well with green pipián, where the fresh green chiles and herbs counterbalance the richness of pork. Made with vegetable broth instead of meat or poultry broth, pipián verde makes a good vegetarian dish. Cut into large chunks and cooked in broth or roasted in the […]

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Did You Know? The Mexican Wave and unruly mobs

Defined as “a rippling wave effect that passes right around a stadium full of spectators, achieved when all the spectators in turn stand up with their arms raised and then sit down again with their arms lowered” (Chambers 21st Century Dictionary), the Mexican wave or La Ola is a cooperative, coordinated and spectacular sight that gained popularity […]

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Travelling in Mexico City’s Zona Rosa

The Zona Rosa is located conveniently close to Mexico City’s Centro Histórico . It lies on the northern side of the famous Paseo de la Reforma (a long tree-lined street modeled after the Champs-Elysées with its many historic monuments and traffic circles, referred to here as glorietas. The Zona is also bordered by Chapultepec Avenue to the […]

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Mexico City's beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes, seen from the Torre Latinoamericana © Lilia, David and Raphael Wall, 2012

Mexico City: Urban deconstruction

With a population oscillating at around 20 million, streets jammed with cars, and buildings that range from sublime to ridiculous, it is hard to imagine that Mexico City was, for many years, a model of urban development and civility. The “City of Palaces,” as it was once known, was orderly and planned, with uniform building […]

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There's a skirmish at every intersection for the annual Cinco de Mayo parade in Mexico City. Costumed residents reenact scenes from the Battle of Puebla, and smoke in the air comes from simulated musket fire. © Donald W. Miles, 2009

Cinco de Mayo: What is everybody celebrating?

There are Mexicans these days who have never attended a Cinco de Mayo celebration. The holiday has taken a back seat to the many saints’ days and other festivals. The growth of celebrations in the United States was initially triggered by a lawsuit from LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens, several decades ago, […]

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Aztec calendar stone

Mysteries of the Fifth Sun: the Aztec Calendar

-Valley of Anahuac, New Year’s Eve, 1507. Tenochtitlán, the great island city, capital of the Mexica empire, lies cloaked in darkness. An eerie silence pervades the vast ceremonial center — the Teocalli or Templo Mayor — spreading out over Moctezuma’s splendid palace, with its botanical gardens and well-stocked zoo, across the market places, canals, aqueducts, and within each of […]

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A walking tour of historical Coyoacan

Walking through Coyoacan, I imagine how it must have looked in the early 1900s, when Frida Kahlo was born in the now-famous “Blue House.” At that time, Coyoacan was a small country town. Even though she and Diego Rivera shared a city home, they frequented her birthplace often, and it was here that she chose to spend […]

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Dining in the DF: food and drink in Mexico’s capital

Last month’s column focused on the gastronomy of the Estado de Mexico, the state that nearly surrounds Mexico’s capital. This month, we’ll take a look at the myriad dining experiences to be had in the capital itself, Mexico City, commonly known as “el D.F.”, short for Distrito Federal. The city has been a center of migration […]

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Did You Know? Birth control pills come from Mexican yams

The oral contraceptive pill, often referred to simply as “the Pill” was officially fifty years old on October 15, 2001. In the words of The Economist: it “was arguably the first lifestyle drug to control a normal bodily function – fertility – rather than a dread disorder. It transformed the lives of millions and helped reshape […]

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October in Actopan: Mexico’s National Mole Festival

One of the most popular of Mexico’s many fairs and festivals is the Festival del Mole, the National Mole Fair, held each October in the village of San Pedro Actópan, in the Milpa Alta delegation of the Federal District. This part of the D.F. is unlike any other, a mostly indigenous area with landscapes of rustic beauty which include […]

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Chicken in almond mole: Pollo en mole almendrado

This recipe uses more almonds than most and eliminates the chocolate. It is a Oaxaca style, rather than a Puebla style, almendrado. 1 3-4 pound chicken, cut into serving pieces salt and pepper corn oil for sautéing 4 cloves garlic, peeled 1 medium onion, peeled, halved, and stuck with 2 whole cloves 1 piece cinnamon stick […]

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Panoramic view of Teotihuacan looking south from the top of the Pyramid of the Moon. You can see the Pyramid of the Sun. © Rick Meyer, 2001

The great pyramids of Teotihuacan, Mexico: Place of the gods

We were lucky: we managed to visit the famous pyramids of Teotihuacan on a rare sunny winter’s day, when Mexico City’s air was clear and, from our bus, you could actually see the snow capped volcano of Popocatepetl some forty miles away. I should explain that it was Christmas Day, a time of year when […]

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Mexico’s Olympic memories: 1968 and all that

2004. It’s showtime in Athens. The Greeks are all stirred up about the Olympic Games, worrying about terrorist threats and who’s going to pay the bills when the party is over and everybody goes home. Thirty-six years ago, it was a lot like that in Mexico City. Before you read what I remember about those […]

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Mexico’s hidden black trick

This is the story of Mexico City College and the hidden black trick. Some of you may have missed Morris (Moe) Williams, even though he was out and about for more than four decades. Beginning in the fall of 1947, he was an Azteca, a player on the American-style football team at Mexico City College. […]

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A train roars off in the underground. This is the Mexico City metro. © Anthony Wright, 2011

Mexico City report

Please pardon me. I have neglected Mexico City. It has been years since I have told you how much I love it. Don’t laugh. For much of our time in Mexico, the really big city has meant life-threatening smog, bumper to bumper deadlocks and keep your hand on your wallet. Careful on the metro and […]

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K’inich Janaab’ Pakal death mask in jade.

Mexican investigators may get bad rap

The reputation of Mexican criminal investigators is often somewhere below zero, except on this occasion. They don’t even hear about a lot of crimes. They seldom solve cases. Even when they think they have caught a crook, they rarely gain convictions. Judges shake their heads. Maybe the warrant was defective, wrong address, misspelled name. Or […]

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Infernal Drums

Infernal Drums A novel by Anthony Wright Moon Willow Press, 2011 Available from Amazon Books: Paperback The primary story of Infernal Drums, to this reviewer, is not very interesting. The protagonist, Jonah Everman, is not very interesting — a drifter who lacks both common sense and any commitment whatsoever to the society, however seedy it can be, in […]

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Tourism in Mexico City, Cancun and Ajijic

Mexico’s economic downturn may be worse than those of other nations, because so much of Mexico’s economy depends on tourism. Mexico City is desperate to restore its tourism industry; perhaps they’re suffering from an abundance of media coverage of killings, kidnappings, and cartels. What can Mexico possibly come up with to attract tourists under this […]

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Mexico City Christmas light

Mexico City Christmas lights – a photo gallery

Mexico City Christmas lights Published or Updated on: January 12, 2009 by Daniel Wheeler © 2009

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A return to the city: How Mexico seduces

I recently returned from three weeks in North America’s highest and oldest capital— La Ciudad de México, La Capital, el Distrito Federal, or simply “ De Efe” for short—researching Moon’s new Mexico City Handbook, and I fell in love. Maybe I always fall in love with cities I write about, but It’s difficult not to be impressed […]

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The passion of Christ in Ixtapalapa

The passion of Christ in Ixtapalapa, a Mexico City neighborhood

The first traces of an awakening sun touch the morning horizon, brushing aside the night’s long shadows. On the streets of Ixtapalapa, a working class neighborhood 30 minutes by cab from the center of Mexico City, young men – some in the dress of the Jerusalem of 2000 years ago – shuffle by hurriedly. Many […]

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Frank Henry, an English silver mining engineer who worked in Mexico during the Revolution of 1910. This is part of a letter written by his wife Edith on December 23rd, 1915, days before he was killed. © Julia Swanson, 2006

Murder in Mexico: an English family during the Revolution

My grandfather, Frank Henry, was an English silver mining engineer in Mexico during the Revolution of 1910-16. This is the story of a family’s harrowing escape from marauding bandits at the height of the Revolution. Sadly, it was without my grandfather, as he had been brutally murdered by the bandits while defending their home from […]

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It’s a man’s metro in Mexico City

Some of the longest lasting and most useful lessons in life come at the worst of times and in the most dreadful of ways. It’s because life is so unpredictable, I suppose. We become all the better for it. The anguish suffered from a painful experience must really stimulate those nerve connections in the old […]

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Virgin of Guadalupe - Tree of Life sculptures by Juan Hernández Arzaluz of Metepec.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

We possess an extraordinary account of this beautiful story, dated in the 16th century: the Nican Mopohua, written by an Indian nobleman, Don Antonio Valeriano, who was baptized and converted to Catholicism. He was a very educated man. The language he used was Náhuatl, the one the Aztecs spoke. The story is called the Nican Mopohua […]

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Museo Nacional De Acuarela

Alfredo Guati Rojo. Painting With Light – Museo Nacional De Acuarela

“Without watercolors we wouldn´t know nearly what we know about the ancient Mexicans,” said the gentleman across the expanse of polished desk with a sweet smile. “All of the codexes were painted with colored pigment in water on amate paper (thick, handmade paper from the inner bark of the amate tree that only grows in the State of Morelos). […]

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The boats at Xochimilco, Mexico, are often hired for birthday parties and family celebrations © Edythe Anstey Hanen, 2013

Xochimilco – Up A Lazy River In Mexico City

Not a river exactly, Xochimilco is a vast system of canals and gardens at the southern extreme of this megalopolis called Mexico City. It was a lake at the time of the Aztecs. They floated rafts on the shallow lake´s surface and heaped them with rich soil and compost and grew enough produce on them […]

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As if gesturing to pedestrians to not cross the Paseo de la Reforma until the traffic clears, a monument to one of Mexico's heroes gazes into the Zona Rosa. Photography by Bill Begalke © 2001

Mexico City’s miracle mile (or two)

“Wait,” she protested. She bent over the crouched photographer busily framing the pleasant scene for posterity, his camera at the ready, shutter cocked. She spoke loudly into his ear. “Wait!” On the very street – no, more like a boulevard in a city of grand boulevards – where being seen is becoming the number one […]

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Trotsky's Desk

The Leon Trotsky Museum – murder and Marxism in Mexico City

On a balmy summer evening in August 1940, a young man gained admittance to the study of Leon Trotsky’s heavily guarded house near Mexico City. He asked Trotsky to read something he had written. While Trotsky was poring over his article, the visitor removed an alpine climbing axe from his overcoat and sank it into […]

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Trotsky’s belongings still sit on the desk in his study.

Trotsky’s Ghost

I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of the Communist Party (although I did subscribe to the Daily World during the wild and woolly Sixties), but a visit to Leon Trotsky´s house in Coyoacán has affected me beyond all my expectations. It reminded me of my youth when I imagined, however […]

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Raymundo Becerril. Untitled

Creating is being: Mexican artist Raymundo Becerril Porras

“The faculty of being is born in the habit of creating,” says multi-talented artist Raymundo Becerril Porras, whose very life seems to personify this idea. Creation, after all, is an integral part of who he is, with his career encompassing that of painter, dancer and writer. As Becerril notes, “for me, art is my life.” […]

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"Road to Light"

Frozen moments: the photos of Mexico’s Ricardo Gomez Jimenez

Photographer Ricardo Gómez Jimenez has been snapping pictures most of his life. “From childhood on, I have always liked the camera,” says the 34-year-old native of Mexico City. When asked to recall his first memories involving photography, Gómez recounts how some of his initial artistic experiments involved taking shots of keys. “I would grab a […]

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Pipián de Semillas de Chile

Es costumbre para los cocineros mexicanos guardar las semillas que le remueven de los chiles, mezclando diferentes variedades en el mismo frasco. Esta receta tradicional del restaurante Bajío de la Ciudad de México puede ser hecha con piernas de puerco sin hueso o con chamorro de res. Ingredientes Para la carne y el caldo: 2 […]

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Raul Ybarra: Embryography of a Mexican jeweler

Churubusco, Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones

If you would like a glimpse of several slices of Mexican history in all their messy complexity, with its heroes and villains, both local and foreign, the National Interventions Museum should be on your list of places to visit. Located in the Ex-Convento Churubusco of Mexico City, the museum [Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones] offers exhibits […]

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'Compassion'

A million meanings: the art of Mexican painter Raul Lopez Garcia

For artist Raúl López García, it is the language of his subconscious that manifests itself in his paintings. “About two years ago, I realized that I wasn’t inventing anything, but that I was simply transporting my own experiences to a canvas,” says Raúl, who uses just his first name in connection with his artistic endeavors. […]

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Mexico City's urban sprawl extends to the mountains that ring the Valley of Mexico. © Anthony Wright, 2009

First Stop in the New World by David Lida: an interview with the author

Available from Amazon Books: Hardcover “Mexico City offers us a mirror of our urban prospects, and Americans ignore its example somewhat at their peril.” Mexico City has long exercised a fascination for writers of varying foreign stripes — Graham Greene, Aldous Huxley, Jack Keruoac, D. H. Lawrence, William S. Burroughs, B. Traven; not to mention Latin […]

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Anthony Wright pens his first Mexico novel: Infernal Drums

MexConnect contributor Anthony Wright has published his first novel with the Vancouver, Canada-based independent publishing house Moon Willow Press. The novel, called Infernal Drums is set in Mexico and is a heady mix of road tale, occult drama, and dark comedy. Anthony, an Australian, spent a number of years in Mexico City during the 1990s, […]

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Tlalnepantla – the land in-between

Some time around the turn of the eleventh century indigenous tribes from the Valley of Anahuac trekked north and settled in the land that Franciscans, half a millennium later baptized, “Tlanepantla”. Today Tlanepantla thrives among Mexico’s largest populations, with nearly twelve million (12,000,000) inhabitants. Below the gray stones of Chiquihuite Hill, smelting, metalworking, machine-building, and […]

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Down and Delirious in Mexico City by Daniel Hernandez © Anthony Wright, 2011

Down and Delirious in Mexico City: Memoir by Daniel Hernandez digs deep into youth culture

Mexican-American author Daniel Hernandez has hit a fresh nail on an old head by exploring different youth cultures in Mexico City. Youth is a favored subject for a modern mass media obsessed with this demographic, and one would think the market was pretty well saturated by this point. Moving rapidly from an emerging subculture in […]

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Apache shows Jocelyn the ropes as she trains for Mexico's lucha libre. © Annick Donkers, 2012

Mexico’s lucha libre: Dreams of professional wrestling

It’s surely one of the coolest jobs in the world — donning a glittery mask and playing superhero or villain every night, flying around a packed arena. These are the men and women who aim to make their living as luchadores — athletes-cum-performers in the unique and very Mexican sport (or whatever you want to call it) […]

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Maldita Vecindad y Los Hijos del Quinto Patio

A riotous image of a storm of people bolting down a wide Mexico City avenue, in the midst of a live Maldita Vecindad rock performance from the back of a moving truck, comprises one of many memorable video images from that band’s new, self-produced history of itself. The scene describing the pandemonium on the day […]

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Es plata, cemento y brisa, México D.F., 1989 © Pablo Ortiz Monasterio, 1989

Mexico City’s “apocalypse” has come and gone: Mexican photographer Pablo Ortiz Monasterio

In the novel “Virtual Light,” cyberpunk author William Gibson envisages a Mexico City of the near future where the air is a sooted ebon and the populace wears oxygen masks. It might seem far-fetched, but with the city’s population topping 20 million, and the city’s cars about a third that number and all of it […]

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A lone foreign tourist (back left) carefully carries out an inspection of the wares.

To market, to market: treasure hunting in Mexico City’s flea markets

Some time ago I was exploring the Mercado de Antiguëdades de Cuauhtemoc in downtown Mexico City with my brother-in-law and an entrepreneurial young Mexican named Carlos Villasena, press officer for the Philippine Embassy in Mexico – who was at that time just breaking into the antiques game, teaching himself to spot a bargain in the […]

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Ancient pottery on tasteful display. © Anthony Wright, 2009

Anahuacalli: Diego Rivera’s gift of indigenous treasures

Legendary Mexican artist and master muralist Diego Rivera spent so much time avidly collecting pre-Hispanic art it’s a wonder he ever got around to painting. Rivera amassed a collection of thousands of objects: pottery items, stone and jade figures of animals, gods and humans. Many of the purchases were made on the black market. On […]

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The Sanchez Ghost – An original short story set in Mexico

Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. -Song of Solomon Summer day of bougainvillea, wild poinsettia and swaying jacarandas – carefree, carefree – a dry wind carried the restless spirit of the future on its back, fanned by strange […]

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Despite the outbreak of swine flu, life goes on for this organ grinder in Mexico City. © Anthony Wright, 2009

Swine flu at Ground Zero (Mexico City): life in a masked city

People are still going about their business as usual, only we’re all wearing surgical facemasks. I can’t decide if this whole fear campaign is a massive media beat-up or if it has some credence. Greetings from Mexico City… On the subject of the city – and schools, and cinemas, and restaurants, and bars, and churches, […]

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A 1954 Dodge announces the raison d'etre for Mexico City's Automobile Museum. © Anthony Wright, 2009

Vintage cars in a Mexico City museum

Has anyone heard of a Rio Flying Cloud? A Whippet? A Phaeton? They sound like the monikers of mysterious yet amusingly kitsch vessels that move through the air in old time superhero comic books. They conjure a weird parallel universe where history is a malleable substance and citizens go about their lives with no sense […]

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This magical portrait of the Virgin carries a message of peace. It is one of many graffiti murals on the Estadio Azteca (Aztec Stadium) in Mexico City. © Anthony Wright, 2009

Graffiti: the Estadio Azteca and Mexico City’s new wave muralists

Art and sport seem rarely intertwined. There is the American cliché of the muscle-bound football jock bursting with idiotic energy, indulging his time off the field to torment the nerdy, isolated artist (who invariably exacts his revenge by growing up to become a Hollywood screenwriter and perpetuating the cliché in teen flicks — wherein the […]

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"Permanent revolution," stencil grafitti art from Mexico City. © Anthony Wright, 2009

Graffiti: the wry humor of Mexico City street stencil art

Most modern art aficionados know that if mysterious British artist Banksy didn’t create the urban world’s love affair with quirky riddles in stencil art on public walls, then he certainly spearheaded its emergence into light — at least from a broader (if somewhat bemused and undecided) public’s point of view. Those in the know will […]

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The graffiti artist's tools of the trade-spray paint cans-lie at the base of a dramatic impression by a wall artist in Mexico City. © Anthony Wright, 2009

Graffiti: Mexico City’s wall art emerges from the shadows

In Mexico City, graffiti is a bit like prostitution. Nominally, it’s illegal — carrying a $1,000 peso (100 dollar) fine or a day in jail. But like the hookers plying their trade in mini skirt collectives along infamous thoroughfares such as Sullivan and Tlalpan, the rule of law doesn’t seem to stand in the way […]

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Andy Warhol art in Mexico City: The Bazaar Years (1951-1964)

Andy Warhol art in Mexico City: The Bazaar Years (1951-1964)

Mexico City is a center of art and culture, a required stop for world class traveling exhibits and concerts. Pop Art makes its presence known in Mexico City’s Museo de Arte de la SHCP. Pop Art is said to be the first movement to straddle two aesthetically opposed dimensions, arriving at a fresh place where […]

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Místico, La Sombra, and Volador Jr., photograph by Diego Gallegos © Anthony Wright, 2013

Mexico’s lucha libre: Street art in a Coyoacan museum

A new exhibit running through January at the Museo de las Culturas Populares in Coyoacan, Mexico City, celebrates the “wow” factor of the wrestling phenomenon known the world over as lucha libre (free fighting) — that is as famous a Mexican cultural export nowadays as Frida Kahlo, Day of the Dead, and tequila. It’s also big in […]

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View of Mexico City's Templo Mayor from the onsite museum © Anthony Wright, 2013

Mexico City’s Templo Mayor connects Mexicans with their past

Despite years living in Mexico City, I had never been to the archeological zone of Templo Mayor — once the heart of the Aztec empire of Tenochtitlan, now located in the heart of the Historic Centre next to the National Palace and the Cathedral — right off the Zócalo, until very recently. It was something […]

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A metro station sign at the stop in Mexico City's Colonia Los Doctores © Peter W. Davies, 2013

Mexico City metro adventure: 148 stops

As I have said before, Mexico City, to these old eyes, is too big, too hectic, too crowded, too liberal, too much of several things. Mexico City is very exciting, prosperous, problematic, fashionable, contradictory. As I have said before, there is so much to see, stately cathedrals, marvelous museums, magic marketplaces, significant statues, almost perfect […]

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The tailor of Mexico City

The tailor of Mexico City

David is more than a little disgruntled this morning. He limps out of the bathroom of our Mexico City hotel room and like a disgusted pet owner of a wet and smelly dog that has been too long in the rain. He holds out what he refers to as his “leg,” an unwieldy contraption that is actually […]

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At Xochimilco, Mexico, pots of flowers and plants are sold by gardeners who live along the waterways © Edythe Anstey Hanen, 2013

Mexico City’s Xochimilco Canals

For anyone planning on spending time in Mexico City, the Xochimilco Canals (pronounced: so-chee-MIL-ko) is an experience not to be missed. After a first glance in any guide book, the traveller would be forgiven for dismissing Xochimilco, expecting it to be a little garish perhaps, probably overrun with tourists; a place relegated to the bottom […]

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A manger scene on t he Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City. © Edythe Anstey Hanen, 2012

Christmas in Mexico City

The flash of skate blades against gleaming ice. A cold-edged wind that creeps into your bones. The sharp, metallic smell of snow in the air. Winter. These are the images that most of us connect to our vision of an outdoor skating rink. But the rink I am standing beside is in Mexico City‘s Zocalo (main […]

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Bored passengers at a station stop on the Mexico City metro © Raphael Wall, 2013

Moving millions through Mexico City’s Metro

For big cities worldwide, transportation is a major issue. Regular streets, avenues and boulevards may not be sufficient for growing traffic levels, so new streets are constructed, old streets re-routed, and mass transit systems established. Since 1863, when the first subterranean railway was opened in London, many cities have opened completely new transit routes by […]

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Altar a la Patria in Mexico City's Chapultepec Park. Chapultepec Castle can be seen in the background © David Wall, 2013

Chapultepec: Mexico City’s urban forest

City parks were not an important part of my life when I was a child. I was raised in the country on a farm which, for all practical purposes, was a park. Growing older, though, I learned to appreciate the importance of city parks, especially in large urban areas. In fact, I wound up residing […]

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Mexico City's beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes, seen from the Torre Latinoamericana © Lilia, David and Raphael Wall, 2012

Mexico City: Forward looking city with a pre-Hispanic past

What can one say about Mexico City? It’s the capital of Mexico, the biggest metropolis in the Western Hemisphere and the world’s eighth-richest city. It’s also a first-rate tourist attraction. Located in the Valle de México (Valley of Mexico), a natural bowl ringed in by volcanoes and mountains, the city sits at an altitude of 7,350 feet […]

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Leonora Carrington. Aurora.

Leonora Carrington in Mexico City: perspective of a person, place, and time

The year was 1966. America was mired in an unwinnable and unconscionable war. The Civil Rights movement was about to burst on the scene after generations of festering below the surface of White consciousness. And all over the so-called free world, a restless energy was growing among the youth that was to become a formidable […]

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Juan de la Granja, who introduced the telegraph to Mexico, Juan de la Granja, is buried in San Fernando Cemetary in Mexico City. A bronze sculpture of De la Granja sits atop his tomb. © Anthony Wright, 2011

Mexico City’s San Fernando Cemetery for famous sons, present or not

Some years ago an Australian TV commercial extolled the virtues of a non-alcoholic substitute called “Claytons.” A famous actor refused his last strong one at the bar, telling the barman: “Make mine a Claytons,” over which the voice over intoned: “The drink you have when you’re not having a drink.” Since then, the word has […]

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Mexico City's Modo Museum: Museo del Objeto del Objeto

Mexico City’s Modo Museum whets the collecting appetite

I once lived next to an elderly woman in Mexico City whose home was a veritable museum of unique and occasionally bizarre collectibles. Her living room was given over to the collection and there was barely space enough to sit. Among the many items the woman possessed were several 19th century, German-made porcelain dolls — […]

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Diego Rivera, Mexico City mural.

Diego Rivera’s monumental stairway mural in Mexico’s National Palace, Mexico City, D.F.

The center arch of the wall contains the Mexican eagle holding a serpent that showed the end of the Aztecs’ migration. Included on the current Mexican flag, the eagle also represents a resurgent Mexico with resistance and self-assertion. Above the eagle Rivera painted the leaders of Mexico’s independence from Spain: Father Hidalgo, Salvador Allende, and […]

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The fiery spirit of Mexico’s Carmen Mondragon

During her heyday from the 1920s to the 1930s, unconventional artist Carmen Mondragón was demonized in much the same way as the fire-breathing creature of legends past. A defiant voice in the midst of a repressive era, she was mischaracterized as a madwoman and even a witch. So pervasive were these falsehoods that even after […]

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Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas artes features a facade of Carrara marble © Anthony Wright, 2012

Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes

While perfect storms have been ravaging parts of America north of the Mexican border, Mexico itself — and especially Mexico City — is currently enjoying idyllic weather, a veritable Indian summer ahead of the approaching winter. For visitors to the capital, particularly the Centro Histórico, it is a delightful time to make the most of […]

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Mexico City airport

Mexico City Airport

The Mexico City airport is the gateway to Mexico City and Central Mexico. The Mexico City airport is also the airline hub for the entire country. If you are flying to a destination in Mexico not served by direct flights from the USA, you will probably change planes in Mexico City. More than 20 million […]

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A once and future hotel of mystery and rumor, this is the Posada del Sol on Niños Heroes in Mexico City's Colonia Doctores. © Anthony Wright, 2012

Mexico City legends: City of ghosts

Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice, That alone should encourage the crew. Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice What I tell you three times is true — — Lewis Carroll Are there ghosts in Mexico City? Built on the ruins of the grand Aztec City […]

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Mexico City's Revolution Monument, or Monumento a la Revolucion, seen from Ignacio Ramirez Street. It is also known as the Arch of the Revolution, © Anthony Wright, 2012

Mexico City’s Revolution Monument: Monumento a la Revolucion

An icon in Mexico City, the Revolution Monument or Monumento a la Revolución is also known as the Arch of the Revolution. It is located on Plaza de la Republica between downtown Reforma and Insurgentes, and has long been a premier tourist attraction, one of the capital’s architectural must-sees. Only in recent times, however, has the Monument […]

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Did you know? The Green Revolution began in Mexico

Most people probably have a vague idea that the Green Revolution was something to do with improving crops in the developing world, but how many realize that it began in Mexico? In fact, the Green Revolution continues in Mexico through the pioneering work of CIMMYT, the International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center based in Texcoco, […]

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The Frida Kahlo Museum

For an offbeat travel experience in the Mexico City area, consider a visit to the Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacan. Hidden behind high cobalt blue walls at the corner of Londres and Allende in this charming southwestern suburb, the museo is where the surrealist artist Frida Kahlo was born, grew up and later lived with […]

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Mixquic: the Day of the Dead and the Day of All Saints in Mexico

In Mexico on the first two days of November, the dead are remembered in a very special celebration which is one of the most hallowed traditions in the Mexican culture. Each year, a series of unique events are held in several parts of the country to commemorate family members who have passed away. In the […]

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Inspired by Spain's Gothic churches, The Metropolitan Cathedral is built on the site of an Aztec temple © Raphael Wall, 2014

The Zocalo is the heart of Mexico City

Many cities worldwide have famous downtown squares, or plazas. Notable examples include London’s Trafalgar Square, Moscow’s Red Square and Beijing’s Tienanmen Square, among many others. Such a plaza is an essential part of a city’s history and identity. Consequently, it is a major draw for tourists. Mexico City’s principal plaza, called the Zócalo, fills such […]

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A Mexico City photo by journalist Enrique Metinides

Mexican photographer Enrique Metinides: The man who saw too much

Exploring Enrique Metinides’ images is to immerse yourself in those depths of humanity awash in raw emotion, as the 79-year-old photographer has captured some of the most poignant moments to unfold on the streets of Mexico City across the span of five decades. Much like the many accidents Metinides spent immortalizing on film throughout the […]

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Waterworks in the gardens provide background for family photos. Here the water flows out of Aztec looking figures protruding from the wall.

Pictures of Mexico City, Mexico

“Mexica” is the word the Aztecs used to refer to themselves. It became the name for the city and the country of Mexico. There are about as many tourist attractions in and around Mexico City as you will find in the entire country – making it a city not to miss in your travels.  Photos […]

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Convent of Santa Paula of the Order of San Jerónimo

Searching for Sor Juana – Mexican poet

In the preface to his monumental biography Sor Juana, the late Octavio Paz wrote, “In her lifetime [1651 to 1695], Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was read and admired not only in Mexico but in Spain and all the countries where Spanish and Portuguese were spoken. Then for nearly two hundred years her works […]

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The summer of ’57 in Mexico City

We had come down on a chartered bus from LSU with our professor to study Spanish. A classroom had been rented and arrangements made for us to stay in private homes. Classes were held in the morning and we were free to do what we wanted to do with the rest of the day. The […]

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Did you know? Mexico City’s charwoman-businessman: Conchita Jurado

A charwoman-actress once captivated Mexican high society in her alter ego as Don Carlos Balmori. An elaborate tomb in Mexico City’s main cemetery, the Panteón Civil de Dolores, is a lasting reminder of one of the nation’s strangest ever spoofs. Hand-painted tiles once decorated the tomb depicting Concepción (Conchita) Jurado as both an elderly grey-haired […]

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Map of Mexico City urban system

Map of Mexico City

This map shows the Mexico City urban system. Map showing growth of Mexico City  (formerly known as México D.F.), 1700–2000 Tony Burton

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The graffiti artist's tools of the trade-spray paint cans-lie at the base of a dramatic impression by a wall artist in Mexico City. © Anthony Wright, 2009

The graffiti artist’s tools of the trade

For the full article and image gallery please visit: Graffiti: Mexico City’s wall art emerges from the shadows

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Patrick Dennis, art lover

Patrick Dennis found me in Sullivan Park, just behind El Monumento de la Madre in Mexico City, one fine Sunday, and changed my life. His buddy, Nina Olds, Gore Vidal’s mother, and my mother’s buddy and neighbor in Southampton for years had asked him to check me out, “for Sue”. Was I a starving artist, […]

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Did you know? Mexico has five of the world’s most endangered heritage sites

Five places in Mexico are on the list of the world’s 100 most endangered heritage sites. “The World Monuments Fund (WMF) is the foremost private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of endangered architectural and cultural sites around the world. Since 1965, WMF has worked tirelessly to stem the loss of historic structures at more […]

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TAGS – States, Regions, Cities

Aguascalientes, Baja California, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México (State of), México City, D.F., Michoacán, Morelos, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Tlaxcala, Veracruz, Yucatán, Zacatecas,

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Mexico City Memories

There is absolutely no place in this world or any other quite like Mexico City. I don’t quite understand why so many people avoid it. One of these days, whenever I can get together enough money or land that job I’m looking at, I expect to live there. Again. My first recollections of Mexico City […]

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Liliana, mi corazoncita

Corazoncita, or little heart, is a Mexican expression of affection, similar to ‘sweetheart’. This is a story of my first visit to Mexico, and how a sweet, little Mexican girl became mi corazoncita. The only deviation from reality is the use of a false name for her, necessary because of her current participation in Mexican politics. […]

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Taxi driver in Mexico City

Entering a Mexico City taxi means entering the special world of cabbies – a place where two traffic lanes can swiftly become three, seatbelts generally are very few and far between, and where there appears to be very, very little change for large bills. Those who have hurtled down Insurgentes Sur or zoomed around Reforma’s glorietas while […]

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Calle Moneda in Mexico City dead-ends at the zocalo, and is virtually a pedestrian walkway. © Rick Meyer, 2001

The renovation of Mexico City’s Historic Center

Mexico City is one of the world’s largest urban centers, and its population continues to grow at a rate unequaled by any other area in the nation. The Mexico City region has long been the center of economic and political activity in Mexico. The area where the City lies today has been a center of […]

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Around and about in Mexico City: Tlalpan, a hidden spot

As I become familiar with Mexico City, I’ve come to believe that this city is best taken in small pieces. To try to understand the whole city, one can easily become overwhelmed and jaded by the urban sprawl and terrible conditions in some areas. I’d like to pay homage to one of the first places […]

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Did You Know? Mexico in the Guinness world records: part two

An earlier column described several Guinness records and their connection to Mexico and Mexicans. This month’s column examines four more very different Guinness records which do not involve quite as much physical activity. In movie images, Mexico is almost invariably associated with cacti and it should, therefore, come as no surprise to find that the […]

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On the edge of Mexico City: barefoot monks in a national park

Which village in Mexico celebrates the passing of the Old Year and the entrance of the New in the most unusual way? Almost certainly, the village of Santa Rosa Xochiac, just thirty minutes by car south-west of Mexico City, and still inside the Federal District. There are two churches in this village and, on December […]

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Damage from Mexico City’s 1985 earthquake. Photo: Tony Burton; all rights reserved

The 1985 Mexico City earthquake: an excerpt from “Shooter”

Shooter: Network slang for a cameraman A book in progress by Bob Dutru Being a “shooter” was “A Job” that kept me nervous, excited, slightly off balance most of the time; kept my adrenaline pumping; took me in luxury and squalor to places that in my wildest imaginings I never dreamed I’d ever go to; […]

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2 thoughts on “Mexico City

    1. Larry, We are pleased that you like MexConnect. We are an open access electronic magazine and no subscription is required. Saludos, TB.

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