Mexico City — General notes
(this section will grow be updated over time)
Some interesting tidbits
- The number of dogs here is unbelievable. Sometimes it seems that everyone has at least one dog, sometimes more. According to the Internet, Mexico has 8.8 million people (Just like Israel) and 2.3 million dogs. And still, the streets are poop-free.
- Strangely enough, Converse stores in every neighborhood. Why? What? Lama?
Markets
The number of markets in CDMX is unbelievable. I won’t be able to visit even a half of them in my month here, and I will share recommendations here over time:
- El Bazaar Sabado in San Angel — a relatively small market in the south of CDMX focused on arts and crafts. Open only on Saturdays. Many local paintings, jewelry, pottery, some clothing.
- Mercado de La Ciudadela, a very cool arts and crafts market near the city historic center.
- Mercado Medellin in Roma.
- Mercado de Coyoacan — mostly a food market plus items for the home.
- Bazar Artesanal Mexicano — an arts and crafts market in Coyoacan.
- Tianguis Cultural del Chopo — An amazing punk/goth market north of the city’s historic center.
Tips
This section will grow with time.
- Don’t get cash at the airport. InBursa bank has among the lowest ATM fees at 22 pesos. For comparison, the bank ATM at the airport charged 174 pesos for the same withdrawn amount.
- Uber is very available, with very short wait times and reasonable pricing.
- More than in anywhere else in the world, you navigate to a place by Google Maps, and it’s not there. The tip: it is actually there, but sometimes hard to find from the street. Look hard and ask people.
Roads and Transportation
The most common methods of transportation in CDMX are the metro (underground) and the metrobus (overground). The metro is by far the fastest way to move around the city, if you have a station near your departure and destination points. And the cost is ridiculous : 5 pesos. The Metrobus is slower as it has to go through roads and junctions, but the main lines have their dedicated lanes, so it’s reasonable travel times. The downsides: both the metro and the metrobus are ALWAYS crowded, and forget about air conditioning. Then there’s Uber. Uber is another convenient way to move around the city, and it’s obviously not crowded, but doesn’t always have air conditioning and it costs 30–40 times the cost of the metro or metrobus, still reasonable in US terms at about 10 bucks.
The quality of streets and roads in Mexico city and its surroundings leave much to be desired. You simply can’t walk on sidewalks while looking at your phone. You are going to get yourself injured as the pavements are not even and with slopes and steps along the way. The roads are not better. They are very bumpy, and if you are measuring how many steps you walk daily, every Uber ride in the city can add 500–1000 steps while you sit in the car… And don’t plan on typing on your phone while riding an Uber. Too bumpy.
Language
It’s not easy to get along in CDMX with English alone. Most people don’t speak a word in English, or do not want to speak English. In most cases, a very basic Spanish gets you food, drinks, groceries, café, etc. If you need something more complicated than that Bing Translate does the job, and the locals are happy to communicate through it.
