We visited Mexico City in January of 2023 as part of an Atmospheric Sciences faculty-led program by the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. Our mission was to visit five different Mesoamerica archeological sites, collect acid rain and find the source of air pollution using a backward air trajectory model. Mexico is rich in oil and archeological sites, and its economy relies heavily on both, oil production and tourism that these archeological sites attracts every year. Finding a symbiotic relationship between both industries is not an easy equation to solve in this region.
Our first stop was Mexico City, we spent almost eighteen hours there, including whatever hours each one of us allocated for sleeping, I slept for six hours or so, it is not easy to go to bed when you visit Mexico City. We stayed at a hotel in the downtown area, across the street from a beautiful stone-paved park with stone arches, fountains, bronze sculptures and a church. The church was closed, but in front of it there was a used-book market, old books with a heavy emphasis on philosophy, art history and archeology in Latin America. Behind these vendors there was a form of pantheon, with fancy stone graves and feral cats.
The Alameda Central is another park a few blocks away from our hotel, about five minutes by foot, it is Downtown Mexico City’s Central Park, and the oldest urban park in Latin America. It is a 400 meters by 200 meters marble-floored park with jacaranda trees, fountains, a large bandstand, monuments and Mexico’s most important theater and Opera House, the Palacio de Bellas Artes, also built with white marble. Although this park is spectacular in its beauty, what makes it so alive and special is the people that makes use of it. We witnessed several activities, and people from all backgrounds and ages. It is a busy place full of music and sounds coming from all directions, as well as scents from incense, tacos, corn vendors, and trees. It is a sensory overload, but a unique experience worth trying. We saw people dancing “Danzon” music between one of the largest fountains and the bandstand, I would say at least a hundred people dancing, some knew each other, some met there, people of all ages and dancing skills.
It is so difficult to enjoy this city in just one evening, but we had a busy itinerary in southern Mexico, which I am so excited to share in future posts, but if you want to understand Mexico and have a great sundown, I recommend you to visit the Alameda Central, Mexico’s cultural heart.
Gil. 