JDiver

A great illustration of the problems we sometimes face in Mexico.

The people of Michoacán contributed two flatbed trailers of durable foods, blankets, water, etc. to the earthquake victims in smaller, off the beaten path villages of Morelos, my home state. The flatbeds arrived in Cuernavaca, the state capital, where the crews sought direction for where the most affected villages that could benefit from these donated goods.

At the order of governor Graco Ramírez' wife, Elena Cepeda, whom he appointed to head the DIF welfare system (Sistema Nacional para el Desarrollo Integral de la Familia), the trucks were impounded and scorted by police to unload their goods in a state DIF warehouse, so the state welfare program could distribute these goods later, marked and even repackaged as Morelos DIF goods sent by the governor, his wife and the Party of the Democratic Revolution party in a publicity blitz abd blatant attempt to garner votes - and an unnecessary delay in delivering the goods. Only, the warehouse was already full of goods and no distribution was planned, so they were escorted to a second warehouse with the capacity to store the goods. The goods were unloaded and stored.

Social media shaming got governor Graco Ramírez to release the donated items. Story over, yes?

Nope. Media investigations revealed more purloined donated goods in two warehouses owned by Ramírez' son.

Some longtime family friends and family who knew and had contacts in impacted villages got together a collection (to which I of course contributed) purchased durable foodstuffs, water and other necessities at warehouse markets, sent them in unmarked trucks directly to impacted villages. Believe it or not, we could have gotten in trouble - at least, we'd be required to pay substantial bribes to officials to let the goods get through to suffering people.

This may serve to give an idea of how and why bribery is widespread. It's not intended as political discussion about Mexico, merely a caveat.

EmailKid

Desafortudamente, lo entiendo.

flugvergnugen

Came across this video of an AM 787 being tossed around while at a gate...

Exiled in Express

Is Mexico City back to a point where tourism would not be a burden on recovery? I am ticketed for travel next week and still looking forward to going but only if welcome.

KenTarmac

Flew through there today (T2). The airport is back to normal operations. I'd say that other than the worst damaged areas the city is back to normal.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn - Historical district the night of the quake and that area was functioning as normal.

http://hamptoninn3.hilton.com/en/hot...HHX/index.html

YMMV, depending on what part(s) of the city you plan on visiting.

100% Green

Would also love to know the answer to this, and if not ready now, would leisure travel in a couple of months be appropriate?

EmailKid

Um, see post directly above yours @:-)

JDiver

There are locations in the CDMX where ongoing rubble removal, etc. is ongoing, and afterwards there will be reconstruction. But most of the tourist and business areas and services are functioning, so though one is likely to see some damaged buildings, etc. they're not likely to be affected.

Just be sure bookings haven't been affected from damage caused to your hotel, etc.

I've family that reside in CDMX, both downtown and the suburbs, as well as around Cuernavaca, Morelos and am in daily contact with them.

KenTarmac

Here's a short video of what it looked and sounded like from my point of view.

The airport took it like a champ. The lights didn't even flicker.

The microphone on my iPhone picked the audio up pretty well. You can really hear the "rumble" of the quake.

MelP

I just got back last night from a week there, other than Roma/Condesa and a small bit of the Zona Rosa, I didn't really see any earthquake effects. The city was bustling as always and tourist sites are open. Even in Roma and Condesa, businesses were functioning normally, the number of buildings affected - while badly affected - were quite small compared to the total number that exist. Biggest area of damage I saw was on a two block stretch of Avenida Amsterdam. Also still small camps for displaced people set up in Parques Espana and Mexico. Zona Rosa also had a bit of damage, including one building that was destroyed at Calle Genova just south of Reforma, but is still standing. But it's an even bigger mess right now due to ongoing street renovations, Calles Amberes and Londres are all dug up.