Mexico City, or el DF (distrito federal) to which it is more commonly referred: both Julien and I, when thinking of how we would describe the city came up with some version of “big” and “busy”. This is not surprising; Mexico City has all sorts of records. Long-time holder of the most populated city in the world title, it is still the most populated in the western hemisphere with 21.2 million people spread across nearly 600 square miles. No doubt a daunting task for a tourist to take on a city of such magnitude, we luckily had our friend Jenny’s suggestions to help hone in on a few select sights, as well as David’s (our friend and host here in MC) lovely hand-drawn map.

As you can clearly see, the city is divided east from west by a major avenue, Avenida de los Insurgentes. Generally speaking, the points of interest for tourists are located to the west of the avenida, the historic center and a neighborhood called La Roma being the exceptions. Day one, we toured about the historic center by foot, navigating tourist hotspots and figuring out public transport. There are many public systems in place to get around el DF: busses, metros, metrobusses, trams, bikes…where we don’t go by foot, we have learned to take the metro and metrobusses (5 and 6 pesos/trip respectively, about $.40). Both are appreciable for their efficiency, simplicity, and low-cost.

Our first stop was the Zócalo, Mexico City’s main plaza. On one side is the cathedral, two other sides government buildings, and the last is filled with shops and restaurants. The view of the cathedral clearly shows how the city sinks in some places. Originally a small island in the middle of a lake, Mexico City is actually built upon said lake, and it shows. Buildings all across the city are dancing in an unorganized manner, constructions new and old tilting left or right.

Here are some photos from our first day in el DF.

Tilted floors, or are they leaning columns?

The busy pedestrian street, Calle de la Moneda

Julien recovering from his first very spicy sauce

Khaki-uniformed music-box street-performer

Note the chandelier with the energy efficient light bulb hanging off the bottom – Iglesia de San Francisco 

Julien and I were interviewed by some university students who had an assignment to talk to anglophones so the students would feel more at ease speaking English. There weren’t a lot of follow-up questions to the answers we gave, but the students were very pleasant.

Temporary exhibit in the Palacio de Iturbide

Protest approaching the Plaza de La República

Mini-fence to feed the love-locks epidemic – La Condesa

Walking around the beautiful La Condesa, the neighborhood we’re calling home this week (more on this soon), jet-lag hitting our eyeballs

Rooftop terrace drinks in the Historic Center to wrap up our first day in Mexico City – Azul Histórico

To the left, our gracious host, David. We met David when he was studying at Science Po in Paris in 2011 and thanks to the powers of facebook we’ve maintained contact, and luckily so! His apartment is located in the hip Condesa neighborhood and has made for a perfect welcome to the Americas. David’s ever-enthusiastic suggestions of places to see and insight on Mexican history and politics has been indispensable in making us feel at ease at the start of our adventure.