Mexico City Transport:

As the world's third largest city, a city of gargantuan proportions sprawling over an enormous area, it is surprising just how easy it is to get around, although I also do a LOT of walking.

The newest addition to this transport system s the Metrobus, which have their own dedicated transport lanes over 3 separate lines. The main line travels the full length of the mighty Av. Insurgentes, the main north south artery. The buses are doubles and move rapidly along their lanes, with buses entering the stops every few minutes.

As with the Metro, there is an area reserved only for women and children and the elderly and infirm, and all the platforms are staffed by guards. As with every other public service here in DF, the buses and platforms are kept spotlessly clean.
The Metrobus is a great way to go, as above ground you see the world go by, you even get to see 5 car nose to tail accidents as I did a few days ago - whoops!!!!

 As apposed to above ground travel, the Metro spends most of it's time underground, but is vast and covers most of the metropolis, again with such frequent service that there is never the need to hurry for the train. For me hurrying is not an option, as the floors are all shiny, polished tiles and at times quite slippery, so I just amble along knowing another train is not far away.
The trains are fast, efficient and clean, but you do have to take care getting on and off. They are usually only stationary for a short time, and last week as a group of us waited for the alighting passengers, as you do, the signal sounded, the doors shut and the train left, with us still standing there looking a little perplexed.

 I was glad I wasn't the only one.


All the lines are colour coded and the transfer between lines clearly marked with the colour and the destination of the train. The passage ways between lines are ordered so that all traffic is flowing in only one direction and it all moves very efficiently, as there is often long distances between lines and platforms, and lots of stairs to go up and down.  All the stations have a symbol, so reading the maps is also made easy.

 And you can even do your shopping on the trains. At just about every station, a vendor hops into the carriage selling something. The guy below is selling CD's - a very popular item. They have enormous amplifiers on their backs and blast the music throughout the carriage, whilst at the same time yelling the name, contents and price. You can buy books to change your life, covers for your mobile phone, Chicle (chewing gum), maps of the city, geographical data, fingernail clippers, DVD's and he carries the player to demonstrate, and I am sure just about anything you can think of. I would be surprised if any of the vendors have a voice at the end of the day, as they all yell their speil continually at the top of their voice. At times there are several in the one carriage, although they seem to have an unspoken arrangement and share the talk time. I have seen a few sales, so I guess it must be worth their while.

And this is just part of the transport system. There are also small above ground buses that cover enormous areas and of course the taxis, which are everywhere and quite adequate and the best thing about the whole of the transport system is

IT IS INCREDIBLY CHEAP

I wonder why we can't do the same in Australia?

 Family Relations:

Olive and Desi are happy when we are out walking or when they are relaxing around the house, and for Olive there is nothing in this world better then FOOD, as Judy says, "she inhales it" in less time than it takes for me to put it on the floor.  They have been pretty easy care and after the first few days have seemed as happy as can be, although I know they will be very happy to see Judy and Cristina home

 As for this one... well every day he is into more mischief: dabbles in the loo are common, open windows are proving very interesting, the tops of tables, shelves and cupboards are being explored - I have already found a few photos and treasures knocked over. We are starting to put things higher and on a more safe surface.
My legs and arms have the scars to prove his climbing prowess, he just digs in and climbs up. He chewed his way through my headphone wires, luckily that's one thing cheap on the streets here. He has that Siamese yowl and is very demanding when not getting his own way, or just for more attention.

And then there is poor, long suffering China, it doesn't matter how many time she indicates she just doesn't want to play, Chaco just doesn't give up and provokes her to distraction. Desi will give him a run for his money, but he walks all over the rest of us -literally.
Chacho has his own special food, but happily eats China's, the dogs and has even tried mine when I was preparing it. He sleeps in all their beds, drinks the water out of the dogs' crates and sleep in them, and generally thinks that this world belong to him - and it does!

You can do anything on the street:

This gentleman was having documents copied and then sent over the internet, all from this booth on the local street. The girls had a copier and a computer set up and were sending off the copies as I watched - amazing.

There are vendors who only appear in the morning and are there until they sell out or the rush is over. I walk with the dogs around 7.30 and see all these daily. This guy on the corner has hot drinks and rolls

 Then there are the ladies with tamales and rolls who have quite a breakfast following.

This vendor down on the main street sells prepacked salads and fruit salads ready to go for lunch. There are others with sandwiches and other cooked goodies.

After the breakfast rush they disappear and another group of vendors take their place.

These stalls are in our local fast food alley, at the other end of the side street, and yesterday, Sunday, most received a make over. These guys were spray painting and the vendors were cleaning and polishing ready for another busy week. Every afternoon after business the stalls and the surrounding street area are washed and scrubbed down and the cooking pots and implements are left gleaming. They certainly work hard.

 What You See When You Are Walking:

One of the main purposes of yesterday's outing was to visit the city's Monumento A La Independencia, the "Angel", which forms a roundabout in the middle of the multi-laned Paseo de La Reforma. As usual, still not accustomed to traffic direction, I was nearly eliminated by multiple lanes of traffic belting around the roundabout. Took me a while to work out the flow before I managed to get back from the middle again!
After that little adventure I stopped  for a drink break only to see hundreds of naked and near naked cyclists riding along the Paseo. I guess they were protesting something, some were painted with slogans, but they weren't that easy to read!. Most of the men were totally "starkers" and the women mainly topless.  It was a hot day, I only hope they didn't get too sunburnt!!

Another day: more markets

Yesterday I headed to the Zona Roza area, and again discovered more markets.The first at the Plaza del Angel, which is full of Antique shops, but on Saturday also has dozens of individual traders selling everything from books and paintings to jewellery and silver ware. There were some great things, but as usual all spread so close, it was difficult to get through and to see things.

Then heading back to the Metrobus I visited the market in Calle Oro, which sells mainly clothing and handbags etc, although I did manage to also supplement the DVD collection. There are so many sellers with all the latest movies at incredibly cheap rates.

 Funny the way it all works:

The world is such a wonderful place. I have just returned from a delightful lunch shared with the owner of another potential  house sit opportunity, in the very same suburb that I am in now. When he listed his property - those are his views - I couldn't resist writing and say here I was right here on the spot. So we exchanged a few emails and today I went to see his apartment, 16th floor with spectacular views, meet his dog, very important, and then we went to lunch and a chat at Los Primos. Lunch was great, not the cheapest meal I will have here in DF, but well worth it and always great to have company when eating at such a nice restaurant.It wouldn't be half as much fun eating there alone. Los Primos is very  popular with the locals,and was completely full by 3.00, the usual eating time here.
Whether I get to housesit for the owner or not, it was great to share a meal and some time and make a new friend.

Nopales:

Are a very popular Mexican vegetable made from the young pads or paddles of the prickly pear.


 The are covered with spines which are deftly removed by the sellers and are sold fresh in large quantities at all the markets. The smaller paddles are the most tender. Nopales are slightly tart in flavour with a mucilaginous texture when cooked, this liquid then becomes part of the dish being prepared. They form large part of the Mexican cuisine and are widely used. I have been including the raw flesh in with my juices  prepare, it's supposed to be very good for you. The fruit of the prickly pear is also sold in the markets.

Polvos & Pociones

 Authentic dusts contained in these sachets provide all these amazing results.

In the single sachet with the brown picture is Authentic dust from Cuba, doesn't say what it does and in the other white sachets you can find the Authentic Dust of Witches

Authentic dust against dangers 





                  Authentic dust to bring Them to Me




And this one I really liked Authentic Dust to Clean Houses, I should have bought a truckload! I                                        wonder how it works?

El Mercado Jamaica:

In addition to being a normal mercado selling everything from fruit and vegetables, meat of all types, household goodies to magical curative herbs and sachets to help with just about every problem imaginable, el Mercado Jamaica is also the city's wholesale flower market. Here you can find all varieties of beautiful flowers, armloads of gaudy gladiolas, orchids, buckets full of multicoloured roses and you can even but rose petals by the kilo. There are lilies, babies breath, piles of greenery to be mixed with the flowers and the fragrance is wonderful.
In addition to the bunches of flowers you can also find all types of flower arrangements, from the sombre wreaths to the gaudy animal posies and even some containing bowls with live goldfish. I noticed that many of the flower sellers seemed to be men, and many were young men who got a little techy with me taking photos. They communicated ahead with whistles  and many didn't want their arrangements photographed -  fair enough I guess.

Goldfish anyone?

Rose petals by the kilo

Eco-Bici, an alternative transport

In an attempt to break the city's reliance on cars and the over burdened public transport system and improve the quality of life, Mexico City has introduced an alternative, and by far the cheapest form of public transport - the Eco-Bici.
The first phase has been introduced in this area and consists of 86 bike modules which hold 1,114 bicycles, and a $25 membership provides an access card, an instruction CD, a brochure and a map. The system provides an alternative for moving short distances, with approximately 300 meters between stations. Daily use is unlimited and the bikes are available for most of the day.

Way to go.

Palacio de Belles Artes

Ballet Folklórico de México.

After an early Sunday morning trip into the beautiful Palacio de Belles Artes, seen here from the Cafe terrace of the Sears building, I spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching the Ballet Folklórico de Mexico

 It was worth the trip if only to see the inside of the Belles Artes theatre, as it is only available for performances. The underside of the dome is magnificent,as is the glass curtain and the murals, it is absolutely beautiful.

Inside that magnificent dome

Mural under the arch

The beautiful Tiffany stained glass curtain with a view of the Valle de México.

The Ballet company, which is celebrating it's 60th anniversary this year, performs "ballets" based on folk dances from all over the country, and gives a colourful and lively performance. I am just not used to going to the theatre at 9.30 am on a Sunday morning. It was really strange as almost nothing here starts before at least 10.am and many not until 11. In fact I am always everywhere way too early. There were very few people there, but it was a great morning.

 Coyoacán  and the Frida Kahlo Museum

On Saturday I again caught the Metro to Coyocán, a suburb 10 kms. south of the city and the suburb in which Frida Kahlo was born and lived a great deal of her life.
Coyoacán or Place of Coyotes, is a distinctly different suburb and is the home to many artists, writers etc. With my trusty Lonely Planet guide in hand I followed the "Frida's Neighbourhood" walking tour, which meanders for 3.7 kms through the area and visiting the Casa Azul,   Frida's Blue House, now a museum.

It is a beautiful, tranquil setting and contains many of her things and that of Diego Rivera also, as they lived here together at some times. Many things that had been walled up in 2 rooms at the house for 50 years are now on display. Naturally enough when I got back to the apartment I had to find a copy of the movie Frida and watched it yesterday afternoon.

A Touch  of Home

I had walked past the base of the tree 3 or 4 times daily and the dogs stop there regularly, but had never taken any notice of the trunk. I guess I am so used to seeing Eucalypts. It wasn't until I was closing the window that I realised that it was a Eucalyptus tree standing there at the front door, you can't really see the leaves from the street, but from up here it's gorgeous. I can't see any others on the street - just lucky I guess

The Workshop:

Just around the corner is a mechanic, I'm not quite sure where, there doesn't appear to be a shopfront anywhere, but every  day there are at least half a dozen cars being worked on in the street. Often all 4 wheels are gone, other time just 2 and a mechanic is working away repairing whatever. There are trays of oil, tools, jacks and all the usual garage paraphernalia, just in the street
I don't know how they manage to keep the parking spaces, as there is never a parking space anywhere, cars are often parked across corners, but they are always busy. Most apartments have a garage for the residents at street level under the apartments. but the cars are really packed in.
There are always car washers working on the street also, with their buckets and cloths, people seem to have their cars cleaned there.

Rubbish:

In New Zealand and Canada, the rubbish still goes out weekly in plastic bags, which the householder has to buy -incredible, but at least it is sorted into recycleables by the house holder. In Oz we have 3 of those lovely big wheelie bins and all is collected y one driver weekly, with the householder doing the sorting.
Here in Mexico City it's a big job. Rubbish is collected daily and the rubbish collectors do all the sorting. Household rubbish all goes into clear plastic bags in the apartment, then down to the apartment rubbish holder, usually a 44 gallon container which is then left out on the street at the time of day your particular pick up is. When the truck arrives it parks and the collectors roll over the bins and the sorting begins. All the individual bags are emptied onto the back tray and the guys sort everything, glass, plastic, greens, cardboard, paper into it's appropriate container or bundle. By late in the day the trucks are piled high with stacks of cardboard and bags of all the sorted materials.I always worry as toilet paper isn't flushed here and goes out into the rubbish - yuk, but that is in a white plastic bag, but also to dog poop and the kitty litter all go into the one rubbish bag.

                                            I wouldn't want to be a garbo in Mexico City