ricksamer66

Here is something I wrote after a recent visit to Mexico City:
Maybe you've had a similar experience:

https://survivingtermination.wordpre...eathe-the-air/

JDiver

That's without doubt one of the most empty, shallow pieces I've ever read.

The author titles the article with an allegation he supports in its entirety with one data point: the smells near the airport. Undoubtedly a lovely mixture of Jet A, charcoal braziers cooking who knows what, you name it.

He then proceeds to berate the Mexican taxi drivers because of their lack of ability to speak English, but of course fails to indicate why he doesn't speak even a smidgen of Spanish, nor think of equipping himself with @:-) a written address. The average city cabbie probably hasa sixth grade education.

The observations made of Mexico are extremely shallow in my opinion and experience - devoid of understanding or genuine help for potential visitors.

Of course, wait until he goes to Beijing, Shanghai or other megalopolis in China, where many Chinese don't speak English, the air is considerably more polluted than Mexico City's, or even Delhi, where to breathe is to invite the world's worst air, no visitor would dare imbibe tap water and a visit to the local open air market means avoiding sewerage-filled gutters.

Now, there is air pollution. Mexico City lies in a geographical bowl, and though the government has banned cars from everyday travel, has added rail transit, moved the petroleum refineries, paper factories and other pollution giants out of the city, it can still be a problem for many - particularly when added to the high altitude (7,382 ft / 2,250 m). Like London, much improved over the last half century, and the D.F. still could use improvement.

As to the water, don't drink it from the tap unless... no, just don't, drink purified bottled water lime many do. The fact (one of the few) that Mexico City was built on a lake that is now filled means the ground literally moves; subsidence is common. As in Moscow, you can get some nasty stomach bugs like Giardiasis because pipes soon become loose and water soon becomes contaminated.

Nothing new here - the Aztecs built causeways to the city of Technotitlán to bring in water, they had poor air from burning charcoal and wood for cooking, heating, etc.

El Cochinito

As an honorary Chilango I also was taken somewhat aback by this blog entry. La Capital certainly has its issues but environmentally is certainly better off today than when I first starting visiting some three decades ago. Yes, the water supply is questionable but that's not because the government doesn't treat the tap water - they do - but unfortunately the delivery network often has breaks due to the nearly constant earth movement. Hence cross-contamination is a problem. So many residents either use bottled water or treat their tap water for consumption. And nowadays it is possible once again to see the smoking Popocatepetl volcano on the horizon.

The indigenous builders of Mexico City, the Aztecs, created a city that was one of the most advanced in the world at that time. It certainly was a marvel to the invading Spanish conquistadors. Regretfully they didn't hesitate in plundering the society's riches and destroying much of the city (and its inhabitants) in the process - committing atrocities equal to if not exceeding some of the religious practices of the Aztecs described in the blog. Visitors might find it interesting to learn that several of the buildings - still in use today - constructed in the Zocalo (main central square) by the Spanish invaders have stones taken from the Aztecs' great pyramid.

While you don't need to know Spanish to get around, it is helpful to learn and use a few words and phrases. Many Mexicans appreciate a foreigners attempt to speak Spanish and you might be pleasantly surprised by the reaction you get from folks.

dhuey

I visited Mexico City in 1987 -- man that was dirty air. My understanding is that they have improved air quality a lot since then. I'd love to go back. It's a fascinating city.

Big4Flyer

I don't know what the author's purpose is in this piece, but it seems awfully condescending. The author writes of the the Aztec's rituals of human sacrifice from the distortion of modern views on science and society and fails to even consider that just as their rituals are obviously atrocities to him, they were obvious necessities to those who lived then. If the purpose of this piece is to just record whatever was going through his mind and his senses I suppose it accomplished that, but if this is what was going through his mind, then I feel that he missed on the opportunity to consider the amazing civilization that once stood right where he walked, the beautiful culture of Mexico, and the remarkability of being able to fly across borders and visit such history in a weekend.

ricksamer66

Thanks for reading. I did go to China and here is the story:
https://survivingtermination.wordpre.../travel-tales/
https://survivingtermination.wordpre...-shanghaied-2/

JDiver

It was even filthier previously. Cheap poorly refined gasoline in clapped out vehicles, charcoal and wood for heating and cooking, most of the country's refining capacity, paper factories, noxious poorly maintained bus transport with no alternatives certainly did that.

Since, the city has installed various forms of cleaner public transit, subsidized taxis by dumping the old inefficient ones for cleaner, newer vehicles, moved some of the centrally concentrated polluting industry out of the Central Valley to other areas (often closer to the source of lumber or petroleum, for instance).

It's not great when there's a thermal inversion, but the May-October rainy season makes it cleaner. It's dangerous to live there in terms of respiratory and other dangers, but that's true of most megalopolises in the world - the more undeveloped, the worse.

According to a 2014 World Health Organization report that analysed the air quality of 1600 cities across the globe, New Delhi was by far the worst, with air pollution 10 times higher than the acceptable standards.

For PM 2.5, Delhi’s average PM2.5 level was 153, compared to 56 in Beijing, 14 in New York and London, 18 in Los Angeles, and 25 in Mexico City.

M60_to_LGA

Been in DF most of this past week. Maybe I'm just used to it after so many trips here, but I've found the air pollution to be totally unnoticeable. And it hasn't even rained much (I don't think, unless it stormed at night while I was asleep.)