Postcard from Mexico City: 3 Things I Love About CDMX

A hot and fast three day pass through Mexico City—time to fire off a first impression that will have to suffice until I get a moment to sit down and do it justice.

Mexico City is my kind of madness. It’s the human condition on steroids. It’s full Hieronymus Bosch—a real Garden of Earthly delights. All three panels. There’s so much to look at that you’ll never see everything in it.

But because I am worn the hell out from airplanes and airports and shuttles and mezcal and the loathsome & clearly ineffective Random Deep Search and hangovers and writing the article about Puerto Escondido (more of a stream of consciousness confession, if I’m to be perfectly honest), for now I’m sticking to three quick things I love about Mexico City:

1. The art

Public art is everywhere and the museums are incredible.

I’ve only had the chance to check out three:

• Museo Tamayo (Contemporary art; great, bizarre madness; surprisingly excellent restaurant)
• Museo de Arte Moderno (Modern art; outstanding collection of everything from Frida Kahlo to Guillermo Gomez-Pena; addictive statue garden; some real weird, excellent interior design)
• Museo Nacional de Antropologia (Epic building; easily 4 hours of wandering through the weird shit humans have been creating for thousands of years; pass on the restaurant)

And I didn’t have a chance to dive into the famed local art scene, but the Roma and Condessa neighborhoods both have that youthful, creative atmosphere that you usually find wherever drunken weirdoes are painting and performing and recording and such.

2. The architecture and design

Everywhere you look is some extravagant design. A total lack of uniformity that makes up its own eclectic cohesion.

And it’s flat and walkable, and seems pretty good for a bike with all of its Cadillac-sized, well-marked and night-lit bike lanes.

Lots of green spaces. I was particularly amazed at the sensory park in the Bosque de Chapultepec. It’s quite something to be in one of the most densely populated places in the world, and to find yourself totally alone in a massive, psychedelic-impressionist naturescape.

And of course everywhere are the historic dinosaur buildings alongside the beautiful monstrosities of the Blade Runner skyscrapers.

3. The people

Almost without exception, every person I met or interacted with was what I call a Kind, Well Intentioned Person.

I’d say 95% of the people I spoke to were from Mexico City—bartenders, cab drivers, fellow bar and museum goers, bouncers, dates, et al—and kindness and generosity pervaded, along with an eagerness to talk about things that are bigger than the weather.

Three days, three nights, three museums, maybe a dozen restaurants, some 25 miles of wandering the streets. And I’m sold on it. I’ll be back to spend a few months and give CDMX the attention it deserves.