Preview Photos of Magdalena Contreras

Posted by Ashes77 on 3/06/10 • Categorized as Interesting Places in Mexico City,Mexico Resources,Within 5 Hours of Mexico City

What kind of fantasy is this? Col. San Bartolo Ameyalco right across the line from Delegation Alvaro Obregon, in Magdalena Contreras. Clavelinas here turns into Pirules. See the photo below, right.Clavelinas / Pirules, Magdalena Contreras, the dark green is the Alvaro Obregon Limit

Fortunately, the Delegation Magdalena Contreras is one that I actually know – at least a little bit better than a lot of others in the south. Tlalpan, Milpa Alta and Tlahuac seem farther away than Morelos. But old Magdalena somehow seems like she is still in the thick of Mexico City. We finished up our map the other day and you can see it here.

Colonias La Cruz and San Jerónimo Lidice are both just two of the best known neighborhoods and Los Dinamos is one of the most dramatic of the city’s national parks. We’ll be doing a bigger post about National Parks in just a few weeks.

Our Neighborhood Map of Magdalena Can be seen right here (click the image above)

Here is a translation I did for Wikimapia of the San Jeronimo Lidice entry:

Before the arrival of electricity to this neighborhood, it was called Los Brujos de San Jeronimo, literally The Wizards of San Jerónimo. At night, residents used candles to journey through the streets and residents in bordering neighborhoods, upon seeing the candles came to believe that wizards there attracted the souls of the dead.

Long ago the neighborhood was rich with fruit orchards and is now a very beautiful area of charming alleys and crooked streets and even some weekend homes.
The name, Lídice, was added to the neighborhood of San Jerónimo, as well as to the reconstructed Theater Lídice, the Plaza Lídice and Colegio Lídice, in commemoration of the Czechoslovakian town which suffered one of the worst massacres by the Nazis during World War II. The tragedy in Lídice occurred on June 9th and 10th of 1942 and news of it shocked to the world. The Embassy, along with the Mayorship of the Colonia Magdalena Contreras organizes a commemoration each June.

On the 60th anniversary of the tragedy of Lídice, the governments of Mexico City and the delegation of Magdalena Contreras ratified their commitment to peace, justice and solidarity with a mural in the Lídice Plaza, “Luz y muerte” by artist, Ariosto Knoll.

So without too much fanfare, here is our newest Colonias Map on Eldefe.com. Click the image above to see the actual interactive map.

Magdalena Contreras boasts some of the city’s highest elevations, and thus is the city’s most frequent recipient of snowfall.

When I used to visit a friend right in the heart of La Cruz, almost every weekend would turn to a trip to Los Dinamos. It was a winding and twisiting journey, up, up and up. We’d have some quesadillas and marvel at the stone out croppings and the massive pine forests that greet the sky there. And yes, I did definitely see some snowfall while lunching in a little fonda in the style of a Swiss chalet.

The photos below show some of Magdalena’s typical mountainous neighborhoods and streets – places so charming that I end up biting my fists and asking why are these places not the tourist paradise they should be.