MEXICAN MAGIC
HISTORICAL GRANDEUR, GORGEOUS SEASIDE, ANCIENT RUINS AND COLONIAL-ERA TOWNS, FLOATING GARDENS AND VIBRANT MUSIC, CHIC URBANSCAPE AND VIBRANT MUSIC - MEXICO CHARMS AND ENCHANTS WHOEVER VISITS THE COUNTRY
The sky was dark with grim clouds, and rain was pelting down in furious earnest when we landed in Mexico. But nothing could dim the beauty and sparkle of the bustling city. At first sight, Mexico City is a chic, sleek, polished urbanscape of malls, high-rise buildings, traffic stretching as far as your eyes can see, streets filled with women in high heels and men in natty jackets.
I had flown halfway across the world to attend the wedding of two college friends, that were to take place in two different towns of Mexico namely Oxaca and Lapaz. But before that we wanted to explore the city to its fullest and had scheduled some days just for that.
The best way to see a city is with someone who lives there, and I was lucky to have friends living in various parts of Mexico who helped me see and experience the best of everything that Mexico has to offer.
One of the first museums I visited was Museo Jumex, which has a very modern and avantgarde outer façade. It houses one of the largest private collections of contemporary art in Latin America, including works by Andy Warhol, Martin Kippenberger, Cy Twombly, and Damien Hirst. And the building itself looks like a piece of modern art.
Next we visited the floating garden of Xochimilco, which is a world heritage site located in south of Mexico City, comprising of a lake and an extensive canal system which back in the day connected most of the settlements in the valley. We took the beautifully painted gondola which the locals call a trajinera to explore the waterways and the artificial islands aka chinampas. Then we visited the most talked about and visited place in Mexico City — Plaza de la Constitución, El Zócalo which is the main public square of the city. It has a giant Mexican flag in the centre with hispanic architecture all around the square that is almost always bustling with tourists, government officials, and dotted with restaurants and boutique hotels. This historic city has more world heritage sites than any other city in the Americas. It’s a thickly populated city with over 21 million people. It was the capital of the Aztec empire and went on to become the capital of the Spanish empire when they had colonised Mexico and now it is the capital of Mexico. The architecture around the city is very colonial which the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés introduced to the city and the culture is a mix of indigenous and Spanish traditions, fingerlicking food, live music with mariachis, and Catholic religion. We wrapped up the day with a lovely evening was my two old friends, enjoying great conversation and dinner in a classy restaurant with a fabulous view of the shimmering night skyline of the city. The next day we were off to Oaxaca, on a one-hour flight. Oaxaca is starkly different from Mexico City and the moment my flight landed I knew I was going to love the place. The beautiful Oaxacan sky still has a piece of my heart.
Oaxaca is starkly different from Mexico City and the moment my flight landed I knew I was going to love the place. The beautiful Oaxacan sky still has a piece of my heart