There's no other one word to sum up Mexico City but enormous.  It's the 4th largest city in the world with 18 million people, yep, bigger than NYC.  So it might be what you expect that it's a mixture of a modern cosmopolitan city that's still a bit rough around the edges.  It may not be what you expect that I saw 5 Starbucks in a 10 minute walk (not exagerating) and that the air here feels about as clean as Chicago.  They've got tall shiney buildings, museums, a mega-subway system, soccer fields and lucha libre.  It's everything Mexico's capital city should be.



Likes:
Pleasantries: The entire city has wireless internet, sweet!  (Come on, Chicago!)  There are a number of large parks here that are great for a stroll.  One even had 20+ painted chili peppers like the Cows on Parade, and another had these crazy tame squirrels that we're eager for peanuts. 


The Metro: By nature I'm a big fan of major transportation, and Kyle and I were pretty elated to see this one after two months without.  The lines are color-coded, and stops all have a picture so you don't have to remember Coyoacán vs. Chapultepec, just the eagle head stop.  You can ride across the city for 2 pesos < $.20, sweet! 

Sports, Sports, Sports!!:  We didn't skip a beat on this one, Mexico City meant sport time.  We yelled along side raucous soccer fans and crazy plastic mask wearing wrestling fans.  (We would have gone to a professional baseball game too, but they were away this week.)


Dislikes:
It's not very cuddly: Well, the city is crazy big, and it's Mexico.  By that I mean, people aren't the friendliest.  By nature, Mexicans are super caring and family-oriented and would run in front of any car to save anyone's run-away buggy, but their spanish can be pretty sharp and commanding.  Combine that with natural hustle and bustle of a huge city, and people can come off rude.  Life goes on though...

The Metro: The Metro also goes into my major dislikes column for the machismo men that get more than friendly in the crowded rush hour trains.  People shove into the cars - I literally saw Kyle get lifted up and pushed in as we got on.  So the shoving combined with groping makes the rush hour trains my most hated spot in this city.  There are actually women only train cars and buses so the frisky men can't get them.  My Happy Hour is in the bars, not on the trains.


What street are we on?: For some reason streets here have a habit of changing names, a lot.  A few major streets don't change identities, but otherwise, the names might as well not exist, because in a few blocks it'll be called something else.  It's not a town to town thing, more like an every few blocks thing.  Makes navigating unfun.

Noteworthies:
Cool People: We met some super great Chilangos (people from Mexico City).  We do this Couch Surfing thing (see link in the right column) where once you pass some tests you're part of this online network of other people that love cultural exchanges and meeting new people.  Normally it's what you'd guess where you sleep on someone's couch for a few nights like a foreign exchange student, but there's also get-togethers.  We met a great group of people (most of which we did the right cheek to right cheek kiss thing with - fancy fun).  They were great for lucha libre tips and sharing a drink in a cool pool hall.

To see more Mexico City pictures, click on Photos above or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/bessieandkyle/collections/72157604032121655/

To be consistent and because I am lazy to find my own format, I will just use Bessie's.  I can steal ideas from my wife, right?  Anyway, in general Mexico City is not my kind of town.  Ya, ya, I know that we only had 5 days there and there are probably some other cooler parts of the city if we would spend more time there, etc, I'm just saying...some people like Almond Joy with nuts, some don't.


Likes
- Free wireless!  It kept making me re-log back in and blocked YouTube, but free is free and I like things that are free (unless it's a free punch to the face...I don't like those)
- It's clean.  For a large metropolitan city, it is surprisingly clean.  There are a lot of public trash cans to use and for the most part there wasn't trash flying around when the wind blew.  Public trash cans...you hear that Guatemala?
- Anything you want to do, it is here.  Soccer, lucha libre, museums, restaurants, clubs, etc.  It's all here and it's all fairly accessable.

Dislikes
- It's aggressive.  I thought people in China were aggressive, but then I got on the subway in Mexico City and I have a new definition of aggressiveness.  No one waits so that people can get off (despite the sign on the train instructing them to do so) and instead, people run as fast as they can and push as much as possible in order to get on the train.  If you have ever been surfing, it is the same feeling as catching a wave, except the water is people...you have no control of what is going to happen, you just go with it.  Also, the squirrels were aggressive, too!  They would jump on me and try to take my food!  What's next, babies giving me the finger?
- Too spread out.  The city is about as compact as a Hummer.  It's hard to do more than one thing in a day because usually the things are half way accross the city, which means another hour just to get somewhere.  I should be used to this being from Chicago and all, but I guess I've gotten used to nice, small, compact cities.  I still love you though, Chicago!
- Transportation can be stressful.  The subways are too crowded from 7-10am and 4-7pm, some taxis are dodgy (i.e. they will take you somewhere and rob you), crossing 6 lanes of traffic is never fun, and in general, getting from A to B is rarely a good time.

Noteworthiness
Read Bessie's thing about CouchSurfing.  They were a cool group of people and we were even invited to a party on Friday which we couldn't make it to.  Rock on, CouchSurfing Mexico City!