Mexico City #1

Today's Mexico post is about Mexico City, but first, one more photo from Veracruz. Next to our hotel there was an excellent reptile and amphibian zoo. I was a little leery about going in at first, because sometimes these small collections aren't so well cared-for, but this place was great. All the animals were in immaculate, appropriate enclosures, and our guide Fernando was enthused and knowledgeable. He is studying to become a reptile/amphibian veterinarian and his English was also really good, a true bonus given the state of our Spanish! Best of all, I finally got to see a real live Western Diamondback rattlesnake, like the one I spent so long illustrating in the kids' book Katie of the Sonoran Desert.

Fernando's co-worker took a photo of the three of us holding an albino boa constrictor. It was one fabulous snake!

And back in Puebla, I finally got to meet my long-time email buddy, Dr. Sloth, aka Nancy. We have been email friends for about 12 years, but this was the first time we met face-to-face, and it was wonderful! She is a transplanted American who loves her life in beautiful Puebla.

It was very nice of her to give me permission to post this without putting a black bar across her eyes, hahaha! She's very photogenic and an asset to the blog.

Right, so back to Mexico City. Flying in was fascinating. At an elevation of 2,240 metres, it is surrounded by interesting geography. I presume the circle is some sort of volcanic crater:


According to Wikipedia, the population of of the metropolitan Mexico City area now exceeds 21.2 million people, which is mind-boggling when you consider that the entire population of Canada, second largest country (total area) in the world, is around 34 million!

The city just sprawls and sprawls...

And yes, there's smog, but it wasn't as bad as the stories make out, and as I understand it, they have made efforts to improve the pollution problem in recent years. The city sits in a valley surrounded by volcanoes and mountains, perfect for keeping in the smog!

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about Mexico City. There are a lot of dubious stories about its crime and pollution, and on top of that, I'm not the city slicker I used to be. But in fact it's quite wonderful, rich in history and atmosphere, and I liked the people a lot. I didn't feel any less safe than I have in certain large US cities I have visited. In fact, I felt safer, because there is a huge police presence, particularly around the Centro Historico. Plus I've been to Guatemala, which is lovely but a whole lot more dangerous than Mexico, in my opinion!

I will post more photos tomorrow, but for now, here's a shot of the cathedral at night:

The National Palace, where the Mexican government sits:

And Gordon's favourite part of the whole trip (I am only partly joking), the amazing bakery across from our hotel. He soon learned to keep his eyes peeled for the word "pasteleria"!

It seems that self-serve bakeries are a common thing in Mexico. We went in the night we arrived and immediately wished we had a place like this near our farm!

Beautiful cakes.

Colourful gelatins!

Pretty things with absolutely no nutritional value!

My favourite section, as my tooth is less sweet than Gordon's and I'm fond of bread-y goodies.

He added a few more items to the platter after this photo was taken! When you are done, you take your platter of goodies to the cashier, who bags them for you and takes your money. People were walking around with absolutely heaping mounds of goodies on their trays. We ate very well and fatteningly in Mexico, with ample baked goods and sweets and cheese and cream and other culinary delights!

More tomorrow....