In my last post I wrote about living in CDMX (Ciudad de México) and learning Spanish, but I felt like I didn’t really do the city justice. So in this post I want to share some more of the experiences that I had during that time and try to capture some of the richness of the city.
Seeing the ballet Ballet Folklórico de México in the Palacio de Bellas Artes
I’d heard so much about the Ballet Folklórico, so when Abby, my friend Amy’s sister, came to visit from Canada, it felt like the perfect thing to take her to.
But we had one little problem. On the day that we were meant to see the ballet, Amy realized that instead of buying tickets for the 9pm performance, she’d accidentally bought tickets for the 9am one… which, by that time, had already finished.
BUT Amy’s housemates, one of whom was a dancer and the other of whom was a pianist, told us that the Palacio de Bellas Artes didn’t check the tickets very well, and that we could probably sneak in with the wrong tickets. We figured it was worth a try.
We walked into the Palacio trying to look as nonchalant as possible, ignoring the sign at the ticket booth that warned buyers to check the timings correctly because there were no refunds or exchanges for the wrong timing. I held my breath as our tickets were checked at the door, and was filled with relief when we got waved in.
But that wasn’t the end of it – because the Palacio had assigned seating, and someone would walk you to your seat. If there was already someone in our seats, we’d be found out.
Luckily we’d gone in early, and the seats were still empty – but their rightful owners could still arrive at any time. So while Abby went to the bathroom, Amy and I loitered in the lobby, saying that we were waiting for her, and we only went back in once the lights had gone down, grabbing three empty seats at the back. We’d made it. We could finally relax.
And oh, it was so worth it. We’d bought the cheapest seats, up at the very top of the theatre, but I actually think that they were the best seats. See, the theatre in the Palacio de Bellas Artes has this gorgeous glass ceiling depicting the muses and Apollo, and we were so close to it. It was breathtaking.
In front of us, hiding the stage, was a giant crystal curtain. The only one of its type in the world, it was custom made by Tiffany’s and is composed of almost a million 2cm crystals that form a mosaic of the landscapes of Mexico. Above the curtain are arches decorated with frescoes depicting various sculptures.
I’ve seen a lot of famous theatres around the world, but nothing compares to this. Everything in this theatre is ridiculously beautiful. And we had a perfect view of it all.
The ballet was just as impressive as the theatre. Folklóric dancing involves lots of striking of the dancers’ shoes, kind of like with tap dancing, so the dancers are both dancing and making music at the same time. There was a band accompanying them, which included 2 harpsichords that at one point had a harp battle. There were a lot of drums too, and they filled the theatre with a reverberating primal rhythm that felt like it permeated into my bones and made even the air come alive.
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The Ballet Folklórico weaves in so many different styles of traditional Mexican dance and other aspects of Mexico’s culture like mariachi music and traditional costumes from various indigenous groups. It’s visually (and aurally) stunning, and it also made me feel like I understood more about the country.
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I don’t think anything I say can adequately capture just how powerful and affective I found the ballet. I tried to take a little video but it’s not very clear and the sound quality is awful. But if you ever find yourself in Mexico, I 100% recommend seeing the Ballet Folklórico at the Palacio de Bellas Artes. In my opinion, it’s literally the single most amazing experience you can have there.
Catching a hot air balloon over Teotihuacán
I stumbled upon this mostly by accident – I was on the Mexican Groupon website and saw a deal for a hot air balloon over Teotihuacán with Sky Balloons. I’d never been in a hot air balloon before, and the reviews were all prodigiously positive – some people had written veritable essays of praise. I figured any experience that was good enough to make that many people write that much was worth doing.
The day before I’d gone on an accidental hike – we were just meant to visit some ruins, but instead the guy organising things had taken us on an intense 6 hour hike through rough terrain – and hurt both my ankles. I’d also gotten back home really late. So instead of checking how to get to Sky Balloons with public transport, which I should have done, I’d just showered, iced my ankle, and crawled into bed.
The morning did not start well. My ankles were swollen and sore. I had to wake up at 4am and was severely sleep deprived. I was hungry too, but the house was locked up and I couldn’t get in to get food or water. And then I looked up the directions, and I’d have had to bike, then bus, then walk, then Uber, in order to get to Sky Balloons using public transport. ‘Fuck it,’ I thought. ‘I’m just going to get an Uber the whole way, and sleep in the car until I get there.’ The Uber cost as much as I spent on food, eating out, in two weeks, which made me feel even worse – I felt irresponsible and badly prepared. I was not in a good mood as I got into the car.
I fell asleep almost as soon as I got in, and only woke up when we reached our destination. The sky was dark, but in front of me was a row of brightly coloured balloons, intermittently lighting up from the flames of the hydrogen tanks. It felt a little surreal.
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The balloons are majestic. That’s really the only word for it. They’re huge, and the flames as they fill up with hot air are likewise enormous. You can feel the heat from metres away. It boggles my mind a bit to think of the first person who came up with the idea of filling balloons with hot air and flying in them. What a strange, wonderful idea.
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It was hard to stay grumpy in the face of this. It also didn’t hurt that Sky Balloons provided a mountain of pastries and coffee and tea for us to consume while we waited. I nursed a mug of English Breakfast in my hands as I watched the balloons inflate and take off. It’s such an unusual sight.
The best part, of course, was when my balloon went up. The balloons have partitioned baskets on the bottom, with 3 people to each partition to keep the weight more or less equally distributed. There aren’t any doors – you have to jump over the side to get in.
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When there’s enough hot air in the canopy, the balloon slowly lifts off the ground, and you zoom across the landscape. You can’t really control the direction you move in – that’s done by the wind. You can only control the altitude by adding (or releasing) more hot air into the canopy.
I was lucky to have a bunch of pretty hilarious basket-mates and we just made jokes the whole way up. It was so quiet otherwise – you could hear some birds and once, the distant sound of a train, but for the most part there was only the whistle of the wind, punctuated by the occassional whoosh of the flames.
The flight lasted for an hour – which went by incredibly quickly. After it was done, we landed in a random cactus field, (making sure that we avoided actually landing on a cactus) and got picked up by a ute (for the balloon) and a minivan.
Amy and I went to Teotihuacán afterwards, so I could see it from ground level as well. It was cool, but it was also crowded and hot (and it hurt to walk with my swollen ankles). I think I would have been happy just seeing it from the balloon.
Libraries
I love libraries! Especially big, beautiful, grand libraries. Mexico City has a lot of public libraries, but there were three that were particularly amazing.
My favourite was the Biblioteca de México. This was close to my Spanish school, so sometimes I’d pop in here after class to sit and read or write. It’s ginormous, and has 5 private collections in addition to the main one, each of which are housed in these beautiful little wings. They also have heaps of free events here – one day I went and saw a play there, El Cuerpo de Mercutio.
My second favourite was Aeromoto. Aeromoto is an ‘people’s’ indie art library – it was started by 4 friends who decided to share their collections, and has grown with donations from other people. It’s gorgeous – it looks like an expensive indie bookshop, not like a library. There’s art everywhere, and it’s super cosy and inviting. They have lots of workshops too, on things like poetry and storytelling – the better to democratise the creation and dissemination of stories and content.
A lot of their material deals with topics that are often considered taboo in Mexican society – and in fact in all societies. One of the little zines I picked up was about a fat woman being unashamed about her size, and questioning whether, if the reader has an issue with it, it’s got more to do with her, or with them.
The other library I spent time in was Biblioteca Vasconcelos. It’s the most famous library in Mexico, but despite how large and impressive it was, I thought it felt a bit cold.
These are only a few of a plethora of libraries that exist in Mexico City. And they were all teeming with people – at least in Mexico City, libraries are popular, busy places, and all of them have different, usually free events, on different nights of the week. It was very cosmopolitan.
Coyoacán
Coyoacán is a municipality of CDMX that used to be a separate town until the urban sprawl of CDMX swallowed it up. Amongst other things, it’s famous for being home to Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. This was where I lived while I was in CDMX.
I loved living in Coyo. It felt like a village, much more peaceful than the centre of CDMX, but still full of life. There were cute cafes on every corner, and stalls selling tacos and elotes and churros in the squares. There were also so many little galleries and museums – my favourites were the Fonoteca, where there’d be free orchestral concerts, the Casa de Cultura Jesus Reyes, which had lots of classes and art exhibits, and the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares, a little gallery with lots of quirky art.
On the weekends I’d walk to the mercado to buy veggies and fresh tortillas, and sometimes to eat tostadas. Outside the mercado was an arts market, and sometimes I’d talk to the artists and they’d show me their sketchbooks. Some days, there’d be people salsa-ing in the square next to the arts market, and one time an old man grabbed my hand and drew me in to salsa with him. It was wonderful (although I’m not very good at salsa).
Before I’d visited, a few people had told me to be careful in Mexico City, and that it wasn’t that safe. I guess I missed the unsafe parts of CDMX because I always felt safe – even outside of Coyo. Mexico City was generally clean, often beautiful, and always very lively.
Some other notes on CDMX
There’s a website called Mexico es Cultura, and it lists events at all the public museums and galleries. If you ever go to Mexico City, you should check it out, because there’s a plethora of free dance, comedy, theatre, music, and other events every single night.
My favourite museum was the Leon Trotsky Museum in Coyoacán. It’s been preserved more or less the way it was when he was murdered, and you can see his actual furniture and some clothes and other bits and pieces. I studied Trotsky in depth when I was at school, but there’s something different about visiting a person’s home to reading about them in a book. For example, I found out that Trotsky was a big fan of cacti, and would go on long expeditions to dig up various different types of cacti and bring them back to his garden. He also kept hens and rabbits, and tended to them himself.
The Castillo de Chapultapec, in the Bosque de Chapultapec, is the only castle in Latin America to have been inhabited by an actual royal (Maximillian I of Mexico, the younger brother of the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I).
In the Watercolour Museum in Coyoacán I learned that the Aztecs used what is basically the ancient version of watercolour paintings to paint their codices.
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The Floating Gardens of Xochimilco were built by the Aztecs and still survive till today! At one point artists described them as one of the most beautiful places in the world, and Frida and Diego used to enjoy going there. But pollution and tourism have changed Xochimilco so that it’s no longer quite as clean, beautiful, or impressive. It’s still a fun day out though, with friends. You get a trajinera and float along for a few hours with some drinks and food, and if you don’t want to pay for a mariachi band yourself (we didn’t), you can still listen to the mariachi bands serenading other boats.
What I didn’t love about Mexico City
I’ve mostly focused on the things I liked about Mexico City in this post, and I did legitimately love it more than I had ever expected to. But there were a few things that really bothered me:
Traffic and crowds
Mexico City was so crowded, all the time, and the traffic was ridiculous, especially when it rained. Except for late at night, it always seemed to be peak hour. When it rained, you could spend an hour in a car trying to get somewhere that would take 10 minutes on a bike.
The public transport was also really crowded – to the extent that sometimes it felt unusable. You’d have to wait in a long line, then push your way into a train. If you weren’t willing to push, you’d never get on. Obviously not ideal for anyone who isn’t in good physical condition. Accessibility in general was lacking around Mexico City – it wasn’t very well equipped to deal with people having special needs.
Machismo culture
The buses and trains had separate carriages or sections for women and children because it was reported that more than 60% of women had experienced sexual harassment while using public transport.
But even then, whenever there weren’t security guards around to enforce it, there’d be men coming into those carriages. I travelled in the regular carriages a few times without issues, but a friend of mine had a man literally put his hand up her skirt while she was on a crowded train.
Then there’s the fact that almost every single woman I met who had dated a Mexican man had a horror story. It was very common for men to date multiple women at a time (keeping them in the dark, of course), or to end relationships by just ghosting their partners, even after having dated for years, because they’d met someone new.
Many men liked to boast about how many women were into them, and how many women they’d left. It was disgusting. The women I talked to said that it was because of the machismo culture in Mexico. It’s reflected in a lot of the music – so many popular songs objectify women or have lyrics that talk about how, for example, a guy wishes that his ex never feels happiness again and dies painfully.
It’s symptomatic of deeper problems and attitudes – there’s a huge incidence of rape, domestic violence, and femicide in Mexico. But on a positive note, Victoria, who I lived with, said that she felt like a change was coming. Women were fed up, and starting to get angry, and were speaking out about these things. I certainly hope she’s right.
The Way of the Potato 
