| | |  Travel & Outdoors | October 2008 
Vast and Vibrant, Mexico City Thrives
 Pablo Fernandez - Sun Media
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| | Although Mexico City is more widely known for crime than its colourful street culture and 800-year history, horror stories of tourists being victimized are rare. (Chris MacAskill) | | |
It's not hard to understand why, in such a vast country flanked by warm, sandy beaches, most foreigners who go to Mexico choose Puerto Vallarta, Cancun, Cozumel, Acapulco or other sun destinations.
But the lure of the sun and the sand may be keeping travellers from exploring the essence from which Mexican history and spirit stem - Mexico City.
With an estimated population of 25-million people, the Mexico City Metropolitan Area is the largest metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere, and as such has activities, shopping, sightseeing and culture galore.
But unlike most major cities in North America, Mexico City wears its heart, and history, proudly on its sleeves.
The many incarnations of the city have played pivotal roles in the creation and exportation of civilizations, religion and culture throughout the Americas.
The city's defeat and destruction at the hands of the Spaniards on Aug. 13, 1521, while it served as the capital of the Aztec Empire, became the springboard for the eventual annihilation of American civilizations at the hands of the Europeans in the centuries that followed - a history that begs to be explored.
Like the proverbial onion, Mexico City is a layered delight with a flavour not readily found in New World cities. But even on the surface, the Mexican capital makes a strong first impression.
It's vast, it's crowded, there's often a brownish hue in the sky and the traffic habits of local residents are enough to unnerve the most seasoned travellers.
This first impression can be daunting and exciting.
But the beauty of Mexico City lies in accepting that it is large, it is busy and that things are as they are because of a careful balance that has developed over the hundreds of years the city has been growing and expanding.
Although it can seem overwhelming at first, the vibrancy of the city is seductive.
Cafes and outdoor restaurants line sidewalks in the Zona Rosa, Mexico City's financial and nightlife district.
High-end boutiques, museums and galleries crowd the boulevards along Paseo de la Reforma, the city's main artery and thoroughfare.
And in the Centro Historico, Mexico City's historical district - what was once the physical centre of the Aztec capital - baroque palaces and statues co-exist with Aztec ruins and monuments. Warriors and medicine men in colourful ceremonial dress or battle armour perform dances and rituals, while business suits rush to and from work.
Also overwhelming is Mexico City's architecture, which is breath-taking in detail, grandeur and scale.
But the architectural aspect that makes the biggest impression is that many of Mexico's best-known landmarks, including the Catedral Metropolitana, located in the Zocalo - Mexico's political, judicial and religious heart - are actually sinking, bending and tilting, as their weight pushes them deeper into the soft earth.
When the Aztecs built the first incarnation of the city, they built it on five lakes and when the Spaniards razed it, they built their city on the same reclaimed and unstable real estate.
Now, Mexico City is sinking anywhere from three to nine millimetres each year.
Ironically, the weight that's pushing modern-day Mexico City onto the old lake bed is pushing the old Aztec monuments back to the surface.
The Templo Mayor, the Aztec's great temple, located near the government palace and discovered only 30 years ago, is now rising from the ground at an average rate of 3 mm each year.
The shopping here is also of historic proportions.
When it comes to shopping for Mexican souvenirs, such as pottery, intricate silver jewelry and indigenous clothing, Mexico City street vendors and markets actually sell those goods for a fraction of what they retail for in the tourist traps on the coasts.
And in the air - behind the colourful sights of long-dead cultures, the glory of a colonial jewel, the sound of mariachis and the pulsating energy of its street life - there's always the thunder of traffic and the ever-present aroma of corn and tortillas.
At more than 2,000 metres elevation, the thin air can throw a curveball to those learning the finer points of tequila tasting, while the high altitude also means temperatures are normally cooler than they are in Mexico's beach resorts.
Although Mexico City is more widely known for crime than its colourful street culture and 800-year history, horror stories of tourists being victimized are rare.
What isn't rare is the sight of police officers on every corner and police cars driving with their lights flashing - it's regulation that whenever a police vehicle moves, it must have its service lights flashing.
Mexican authorities do that to raise their profile, but as a cabbie said while running a red light, "they have to have their lights on because what if they're sitting on a corner and I run a red light and I don't see them?
"It wouldn't be fair for them to give me a ticket."
And apart from what's inside Mexico City, there are also boundless opportunities to explore just outside, such as the magnificent Moon and Sun Pyramids in Teotihuacan and quaint mountain towns, such as Real del Monte. |
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