Mexico city

 

Mexico is one country that gives an image of a poor country with notorious drug smugglers in powerful positions 

So in 2021 post Covid when we needed to go to US for visiting our daughter USA had a criterion for those coming to US stay in a different country for 15 days and five countries were listed .

We had visited sri lanka ,Worked in Dubai ,did not want Qatar visited Sri lanka and Maldives so option left was Mexico but mo one said a good word on it .

My daughters classmates mentioned a WA group of Indian parents going to US via Mexico .

We joined in that group 

The group booked Hyatt usually 

we too booked same but only for three days .

when we landed in Mexico city the capital city we found we were staying in city suburb called Santa fe .

Most parents stuck to thier rooms .

we went out and found bus connectivity to 

downtown areas .

There are two types bus   Rapid transport and ordinary buses .Rapid transport buses had dedicated tracks 

The city is bigger in size than New York I heard ,its in an elevation like our hill stations ,but with pleasant climate not stark cold .

 Most places I went around in the bus in Mexico city today was  neat , well planned with multilaned disciplined traffic , multi exiting flyovers ,underpasses, pedestrian bridges ,cycle paths  broad boulevards ,miles of manicured greenery ,no garbage ,no plastic covers no dust ,no filth ,and orderly traffic .

Miles of special laned rapid transport buses plied downtown areas ,with unhindered driveways  bus bays to stop .

Travel was by E card only which was topped up and was reasonable though not cheap .

Most downtown central areas are tourist heritage spots , walk only areas with vast sqaures, stately buildings, Spanish villas, and Gothic churches .

When I saw all this it was mind blowing as to my assumptions Mexico a developing country like India is a poor disorderly country and has many desperately trying to flee to USA which had  built huge walls to prevent an exodus .

Even the suburb Santa Fe looked better than most of our metro cities 

Of course Santa Fe was the silicon valley of Mecico .

It had skyscrapers lot of modern buildings

Next day morning we walked to bus stand .

Biggest handicap in Mexico is no one knows English .

We could convey our intentions by a mixture of dum sharrat and Google translate .

We learnt to reach downtown we needed to take the RTS or Rapid transport system with its dedicated lane in the center of road 

Bus stations too were in center .

One needed to buy an E Card snd top it up 

No cash accepted 

So we bought an e card each and went in comfort in the RTS 

Most bus stations had Police in battle gear very friendly to tourists .

Once we learnt the trick uding RTS we flew like we had wings .

In city we booked Holiday inn and checked in .

It was downtown and one could walk a lot since we went in fall it was getting cold .

City was spell binding ,broad huge well marked roads 

Pavements were as broad as biggest road in say Cochin !

Traffic was well regulated and people were civil and drove respecting rules .

Later we used Metro train too much cheaper than RTS and with wider coverage .

Zoccolo was city center with huge heritage churches Govt buildings etc 

Faith healers practicing Indian medicine were seen here .

Mexico city had lovely huge parks .

One could stroll through or watch public dancers or musicians 

We flew to Oaxaca for two days 

The city was unique in being mother city of Cactus based drink and Mexicos branded drink Tequila .

The city had lot of touristy spots Tequila or Mescal bars 

Schools had opened after Covid and children were gingerly stepping in .

Once back in Mexico city we did visit Teotuhican pyramids in a conducted tour and enjoyed it .

We tried Mexican street food in mexico city and many of thier dishes were spicy and vaguely reminded us of ours 

We had to get certificate showing covid negative and it involved specific clinics ,we went to one found a pharmacist who knew some english explained to him we had to fly to US 

He was used to seeing Indian tourists coming for this purpose  do he put us in slot

We had to come next day meet Dr do test get result in English and we did all thst

Mexico was truly a surprise