By Susan De Lima

Three chicas from Playa del Carmen visit Mexico City .

De Efe, Chilangolandia or Mexico City, however you want to say it, Mexico's capital city is definitely worth a second look. Mexico City was a place that I had wanted to visit for sometime so when the opportunity arose to go with two friends, one of which grew up there, I jumped on it. I had always been told how dangerous and dirty it was. "Don't Go" was pretty much the attitude. Until moving to Mexico over 2 years ago, where I have met many people from there or who had been there, I changed my vision of a place filled with culture and "Mexico".

So off we went to one of the largest cities in the world. To put it in perspective...I grew up in a small town of 5,000 people in southern Manitoba, Canada. Moved to the big city of Winnipeg, population of 700,000 when I was 18 years old. Mexico City has a population of approximately 25 million where the entire country Canada has 27 million! It is actually mind boggling when you think of the expanse of land in Canada compared to this immense city. One realizes this when flying in and the city lights seem to stretch forever. We arrived to what seemed to be a parade. How cool, except it was actually just cars honking like any other day! Our wonderful host's picked us up and we drove in "light" traffic to their home. We were so fortunate to have a friend and her family to take us in and give us a taste of their city.

Surprisingly, I woke up much later than usual, and it was not from being out too late. It was totally peaceful, cool and quiet. Of course this is something that totally stuck in my mind given that I live in Playa del Carmen which is not such a big city, but noisy with construction, tourism, and never ending parties. Don't get me wrong, I love it, but peace and quiet was not something I expected from Mexico City!

I sensed I would like this city for many reasons, but when we drove through an area called Herradura (the name of one of my favorite Tequilas) it was confirmed. We drove down streets where the trees are so huge there is a canopy of beautiful, lilac colored flowers. I took so many pictures of trees that I realized green spaces, huge trees and beautiful flowers are things that I definitely miss from Canada... We soaked in the art and biographies of two prominent Mexicans; Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo. Throughout the day of driving and sightseeing many famous buildings, museums and monuments were pointed out. An area not to be missed is Condesa. From the quaint shops, little sidewalk cafes to funky little bars and night clubs that go to all hours we enjoyed it all. My favorite was a bar called KAYA. A little reggae bar with an eclectic mix of people, good drinks and they spun awesome tunes. If you like high end shops like Channel and Prada then the Polanco area is your ticket.

For 100 pesos you can take the TURIBUS which tours you on an open air, double decker bus through the major tourist attractions. Riders can get off and on as much as they like with their day pass. There is so much to see in Mexico City that this is a great way to check it out, briefly, in a day. You start and finish at the Auditorio Nacional passing by 24 major sites. With free headsets you can listen to a description of everything in several different languages. We jumped off at the Zocalo where there was a huge stage set up with live music. The back drop to this was a magnificent Cathederal which was truly breath taking. Everywhere I looked there were beautiful, old buildings rich with history.

Off on another adventure, we set out to discover what Deborah described as the best quesadillas in Mexico City. Being a skeptic, I thought, "Its cheese and tortilla. What could be so special?" It was a beautiful drive; however, it seemed to take forever as we were starving. We arrived to this cute place decorated with red garlands up in the brisk mountain air. Well, Deborah was right; they were the best quesadillas I had ever had. We stuffed ourselves on a wide variety such as regueson, rajas, chicharron and tinga. In this national park there is the Exconvento del Desierto de los Leones, an old convent which is now a museum. Set on beautiful grounds it had a kind of an eerie feeling. There was one building with 4 holes in the walls where you could whisper in a hole and listen clearly in another. There are dark underground passageways that were pitch black even in the day.

On Sundays there is a huge market at Coyoacan Plaza where we shopped ‘til we dropped. We were like kids in a candy store. Prices were cheap and there were so many cool things to look at and eat with hundreds of little kiosks to choose from. Did I mention that at no time did I feel unsafe or scared...well maybe at the convent! I believe that this is mostly due to our fabulous hosts and I can't thank them enough for their kind hospitality. So if you ever get the chance to visit someone or just visit Mexico City DO IT you won't be sorry.

Susan De Lima is originally from Wiinipeg, Canada, and has been living in Playa del Carmen for the past 2 years. She is partners in Latido de Mexico, a privately owned and operated CPR/AED training compnay.

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