Touribus and Mexico City Traffic

We wanted to take the Touribus again to explore a different area of Mexico City. The day started out fine, a little hazy and hard on your eyes due to the pollution which wasn’t as bad as might have been expected.  We did notice very few people smoke. With the altitude and the pollution it would be really hard on your lungs if you were a smoker, additionally it’s quite expensive.

We got on the bus, mostly Mexican tourists, we didn’t notice any other nationalities except for one couple from Quebec carrying a French guidebook.  The bus goes down one of the greatest avenues in Mexico City, la Reforma. It’s where all the big hotels are, lots of businesses have their headquarters there as well. There’s also a trendy mall with the usual assortment of brand names. Last time we were in the city there was a big demonstration heading for the government buildings in the zocalo and they sort of grouped around there. We just followed along with them. This time no demonstration and we didn’t get off the bus.

We wanted to link up with another tourbus which would take us past the Frida Kahlo museum and onto the barrio of El Angel which was described as quaint with cobblestone streets and where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo shared tow different houses linked by a small bridge. Handy for those days when you jus can’t stand each other.

We got off in the district of Roma and if you have seen the film you might know that the houses don’t look like much from the outside but they reveal a huge expanse with an interior courtyard and often a garage of sorts. It was interesting to note how incredibly difficult making the film must have been. It’s not exactly filled with vintage cars, there’s lots of traffic, newer buildings,cafes, it’s thoroughly modern looking in fact. I remember reading that Alfonso Charon, the. Director, would have to try many many shots in order to get the one perfect shot right.

The Touribus to El Angel arrived, little did we know that we would be stuck on there for a while, much longer than anticipated. The barrio itself turned out to be quaint but there was only the one street, the  Frida Kahlo barrio was bigger and much prettier but we couldn’t get off there because the next bus would have been too long coming. Most people got off at the Blue House.  The rest of the trip was a bit of a blur except for the relentless traffic.  If you think anyone of the big cities in Canada is bad never ever come to Mexico City. Cars are allowed on alternate days according to license plates via the net which informs you. We were told this by a reliable source who also told us that the average household (read middle class and up) has 3 cars in order to accommodate this law. Not sure how effective it is but apparently fines are very very high. Every day there are new cars being added to the mix. It’s frightening.  We were stuck on that bus for what felt like forever, the Touribus that never ends. The company has also given up on providing different languages so it’s all in Spanish over the loudspeaker. At some point nobody gives a crap because they’re either sleeping, texting, playing with their phones or cursing the day they ever got on that bus.

Problem is even if you do get off you’re still stuck in traffic and it doesn’t go any faster by car plus we had already paid for the day.  It’s difficult to describe just how seriously bad the traffic is. We are talking bumper to bumper for kilometres and remember this is a gigantic city, lots of streets to cover. On the positive side the city is pretty clean, not much garbage lying around. People seem to be more predisposed to pick up their refuse and put it in the right bins, more recycling going on too. A lot of people use the bikes like they have in Montreal, they also have trotinettes which are electric and appear in the city here and there.  Not unusual to see someone wearing a suit on one of those and who cam blame him for leaving the car at home....

We finally got off in the Roma barrio and had an excellent burger with a cold refreshing Dos Equis beer. We were limited in terms of food option but that burger tasted very very good indeed.  Tomorrow will be Puebla time. We were happy to get back to our hotel and a pleasantly hot shower. Onward and upward.