With every single day in Mexico City, a new experience brought a perspective vastly different from my own. El Museo del Templo Mayor and its ruins of the Tenochtitlan temples were juxtaposed with the Spanish colonial churches and buildings while modern glass skyscrapers towered in the distance–There was a unique sense of history throughout the entire city that I never expected to see so clearly. People in 2024 went about their daily lives while constantly being presented with their own history, that almost never happens in the U.S. where current Americans feel detached from the events and cultures they learn about in American history class.
Ruins del Templo Mayor (foreground)
Mexico’s history is baked into its infrastructure, architecture, and culture so seamlessly it is sometimes impossible to guess when a building was constructed. As a civil engineering major, I’m drawn to constantly analyzing how the city functions. Mexico City has seemingly endless bike lanes, including bike boxes that exist in front of where other vehicles stop for red lights (though most of our uber drivers disregarded them). Cars are prevalent but motorcycles zip around and past them everywhere you go. My idea of Mexico City before I arrived was of the traffic, but I imagined mopeds sprinkled about the cars instead of the much louder and faster motorcycles. But I never knew there was a Metro system in Mexico City, and I never thought I’d see light rail cars zipping by connected to wires above.
Eje Central Lázaro Cárdenas
While too much of my time in Mexico City was spent in Ubers, watching the city pass through the windows (though often very slowly), walking through the streets was genuinely pleasant and exciting. Plants stormed every balcony and trees lined the Condesa avenues. I knew of the density and thought I feared how vast and yet closely-packed Mexico City is, but I found that it made for a better way to experience the history-rich and walking-forward city.
Super cool Brian!