“Is this your first time down here?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think?”
“This is a really nice city.”
Sitting in the back of a transport van, this was the exchange I had with a traveler who was fairly well seasoned in visiting Mexico City. He didn’t know me from Eve, but I sensed his mind making certain presumptions as we jolted through the various delegaciones of the city and I silently stared out the window. My guess is that he imagined I was a wide-eyed ‘Merican who had never seen the likes of corrugated shacks vending amazing street food of questionable sanitation.
I could be wrong about his estimation of me. But then again, maybe not.
I’m not so big on talking about things. I’d rather sit back and have a good look around before I open my mouth and say stupid stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I still contribute my fair share of idiotic statements, but my style is usually to fill a room with silence until I decide that I’m ready to speak. It’s always been this way, and people have told me that at first blush I come across as “La Petite Blanche”– someone who is probably stuck up and unlikely to have ever done anything outside of her comfort zone.
I’d like to think that’s not the case. I’d like to think that I’m not a total asshole.
But I’m rambling here, and my objective is really to post some photos of what I got to see in five days of Mexico City dalliance. In no way do I feel qualified to tell you anything of substance about the city– but I do want to talk about how I misjudged this place before I even got to know it.
Although I have lived in Africa and blah blah blah, I’m a bit ashamed to admit that I had preconceived notions about what Mexico City might be like. Everything I Know About Mexico comes from living in San Diego and reading about border crossings, corruption, and drug cartel activity. Paints a real nice picture in the mind’s eye, doesn’t it?
Shame on me. I should have known better than to use headlines as a measuring stick when I only glanced notions of the Distrito Federal from afar. It wasn’t until I was actually dumped in the city center that I found the place to be much greener, more culturally engaging, and even more (gasp) developed than I might have expected. All things told about my own life and experiences abroad, I really should have known better.
So, without further ado, here’s a quick photo essay about a place that I would love to get to know better. Feel free to castigate me for my intransigent, American, preconceived notions. I still have a long way to go:
Wait for it…
No mom and dad, they are not real.
Okay, so that’s it from Mexico City. I was grateful for the opportunity to get out of my own District and experience something new. Not only did I learn a few new things about a new place, but I also learned a bit more about myself. No matter how old I get, I think I’ll always need to be better about scrubbing the preconceived notions from my eyes before deciding how I feel about something.