The letters stand for Distrito Federal which is (using Wikipedia’s felicitous adjective) “coterminous” with Ciudad de México or what we’d call Mexico City. I’m really fond of it.
Not that I’ve been there much; a few days in 1992 and then again last month. But something about walking its streets and riding its wheels and eating its food has filled me with smiles on every one of that small number of days.
It’s by any measure one of the world’s great cities; bigger than seems sane and striving against its boundaries; geographic, economic, political, and any other dimension you care to name.
The first picture is from the plane, coming in at dusk.
The Google office is on the twentysomethingth floor in an interesting neighborhood. Interestingly, you can open a door and walk out on a patio twentysomething stories up with not that much of a railing and a view that makes strong men weep with joy.
When I look around I can’t help but thinking of Cortés and Moctezuma and Cuauhtémoc and especially Bernal Díaz del Castillo, whose book you ought to read if you think this slice of history interesting.
Warning: Neither adversary, Aztec nor Spanish, was particularly loveable.
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From that last shot, you might conclude that the traffic is a problem. You’d be right. As is pollution and crime and water quality and, well, a few other issues. I don’t care; I’ll go back any chance I get.
Comment feed for ongoing:
From: Greg McMurchie (Sep 22 2011, at 18:01)
Agreed. The D.F. is a a favorite city. True it is large beyond most imaginations and crowded, too much traffic (I've sat in many a jam). But the people are really friendly and generous. The food, amazing and the history and culture touches my soul.
Hopefully you can get back and use the D.F. as a launching point to experience the treasures that Mexico offers. I recommend it.
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