The Bosque de Tlalpan is located in the southern part of Mexico City and is also known as the Bosque de Pedregal.  This huge green area was acquired by the city’s authority back in 1968 and opened its doors to the general public, short after.

As you may know, I am a nature lover, and am happy to inform that this forest is considered a protected area since 1997 and it boasts a biodiversity that includes a number of plants and animals, among which it is common to find a variety of pine trees, oaks, eucalyptus, cacti, fungi and a diversity of colorful flowers; also squirrels, opossums, birds and even snakes.

Since 1981, an association was created which is dedicated to the preservation of this place and the organization of different sporting events.   The truth is that once entering the park you tend to forget that you are actually in one of the greatest cities of the world.

In this forest you can enjoy a numerous of outdoor activities, opening from 5:00 AM to 5:00 PM.   The entrance is totally free and there are plenty of parking spaces, restrooms, several kiosks and dining areas, and many running and hiking/walking paths where you will simply admire the beauty of the surrounding.

As a bit of additional information, at one end of the parking lot, you will find the Casa de Cultura de Tlalpan (“Tlalpan’s House of Culture”), distinguished by its original architecture of Chiluca carved stone, completed in 1940, but moved inch by inch to its present site in 1975, rebuilt in 1986 and inaugurated in 1988.  Interesting!

The Casa de Cultura de Tlalpan leads temporary art exhibitions with free admission and also offers courses and workshops (a small fee is charged) of various visual arts, theater, music physical expression, among others.  It is open for the mentioned activities from 9:00AM to 9:00PM.

Both places are located on the Road to Santa Teresa in the Parque de Pedregal neighborhood, in the Tlalpan Delegation.  Nearby, you will find the Metrobus “Villa Olimpica” station.   For more information about the Bosque de Tlalpan you can call 5606-3980 and 5528-6498 and for the Casa de Cultura de Tlalpan call 5606-3839 and 5606-9002.

So if you are in the southern part of the city, I do hope you take the time to visit these places, which are not so touristy but are definitely worthwhile.

One of Omar Soto's Drawings directly on the wall at Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico

All of the blogs we read to put together eldefe.com covered this exhibit at the Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico.

Here’s Ciudadanos en Red.

Esencia y Espacio is here.

Espacio Blanco did a nice write up here.

Arquine did a cut and paste post here, as did Segunda Creación aqui.

Dfinitivo made it seem extremely official and important with this photo.

Even Milenio says: Se trata de un trabajo constructivo, individual y, al mismo tiempo colectivo, que parte y llega al mismo punto, es decir, al Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México.

The funny thing was, in the only other gallery open in the museum, there is an exhibit of historical illustrations by Sergio Carillo which celebrate sort of common notions of what the Zócalo has looked like every one or two hundred years over the course of the last 800 or so.

They get more frequent in the 20th century, suddenly illustrating just before the revolution, then 1926, then the 50s and 1968 and the last one is 1985.   25 years ago, and it’s sort of gray with dastardly looking urban blight.

Espectáculo de luces; Andrés Padilla Domene

That was 25 years ago. Since then, in reality probably, the Zócalo gets subjected to all sorts of banal faux-monumental exhibitions and skating rinks and vulgar, but not too-vulgar, bread and circus-types of occupations. It’s not often just a big open space.

The Lucian Matus exhibition sort of thrashes around looking to be kind-of about the Zócalo, or about politics or about political space in some general sense. The one place where it succeeds is in Andrés Padilla Domene’s “Espectaculo de luces” a video of political imagery, obviously political imagery, nicely displayed on a cellphone.

Presumably the cell-phone is underneath a giant glass jar primarily so that no one walks off with it – hence the cell phone is, itself, of more intrinsic value than the thus-insignificant politics that it displays.

Is it all just old history?

Translated from the Original on Eldefe.com by Isaac Vazquez. Photos are by the author. Click any photo to enlarge. This is the second post in the series. The first appears here.

In the first post we went through some of the main roads coming from the west to the Lomas Verdes exit and, since this seems to be where the middle-class suburban world ends, I figured we would pick it up again here.  Suburbia gives way to a wooded area, another wooded area stuck amongst more neighborhoods and ultimately the posh residential mountaintops of some of “the best places to live in Mexico City.” Moving on.

The First View

There’s no question that proximity to the city was important to this rural corner. Just a few miles south of Lomas Verdes absolutely everything turns to eucalyptus, villages and farmlands. The highway passes through more and more hills on its way to the Huixquilucan exit and the  Otomi Ceremonial Center.

The Second View on the Same Highway

Without warning an warning at all, BLAM! you are back in the cinematography of the city. Naucalpan’s gray neighborhoods rise up in waves from the Periferico, and one can not pass either the highway or the green expanses of the golf courses. The expensive apartment buildings look like little houses from above but from here they are grand. I’ve even heard that the developers had some of the little houses painted grayish-white so as not to ruin the view from the newer taller buildings. I don’t know if it’s true, but as I said, it is something I heard.

Vista 2.2

The passes through the gray mountains give way to the greenest of golf courses at Bosques Real where the avenues are lined with palm trees and the grass is always watered (with Evian water, I presume). And on a clear day you can see as far as the snow capped volcanoes to the east, the smog of the city barely interfere with the purity of the air because of the height of the area. Perhaps residents’ contempt for the rest of the city is more visible than the smog.

The Third Vision of the City

Bosque Real is among the newest of residential developments and it still looks a bit empty, with several towers still under construction. The avenues here have roundabouts with sculptures by Sebastián (so beloved by the elites). And around the riding club, everything is ordered to give the impression that old money didn’t just end up here, but was achieved here. Disconnected from its surroundings and from the highway on which it depends, Bosque Real declares that its own alienation is its exclusivity.

Bosque Real on Periferico, photographed from the Lecheria Highway

Just a little further south of Bosque Real is the exit for Interlomas, another bastion of traditional family values.  There is already an excellent article here on Interlomas, so we’ll just stop just to admire these two architectural monstrosities a few miles before Santa Fe …

Monstrous ArtNaco or a celebration of "Diversity" ?

At their best, this pair could be called “eclectic.” This mix of architectural elements is a sort of essential reference to what NOT to do if you want to appear in good taste. In several urban forums I’ ve actually seen rather heated discussions as to whether it is worth proclaiming them as masterpieces of  “ArtNaco” or celebrating the diversity of the truly ugly.

Finally, we continue south …

Continuing South on the Lecheria Highway

… and that’s it. This urban highway is in a wooded part of La Venta. The options here are to continue to La Marquesa and Toluca (we’ve made already some recommendations on that route) or you can continue on to the hostility of Santa Fe.  Hoping you will go for a ride on the highway, it’s comfortable, fast, expensive and it’s a swift tour which (to my taste) is the most interesting side of wonderful Mexico City.

Entering the highway at Bosques del Lago, possibly the worst onramp on the highway. Despite the proximity to the Tech de Monterrey and the nice homes in the Bosques, the area is rather ugly.

Translated from the Original on Eldefe.com by Isaac Vazquez. Photos are by the author. Click any photo to enlarge.

Picture this: a mountainous area dotted with trees and fields. In the distance, the gleam of a lake hidden between hills, and further afield, some houses on top of the next hill still further away.  To the east is a huge city laid out in an enormous valley. And if are lucky, far off in the distance, on a clear day you’ll catch a glimpse of a couple of gentle volcanoes. Idyllic landscape?

Now imagine that all of this passes by your window at 120 miles per hour. Beside you the lights of tractor trailers lights stream and other – even faster cars – pass you by in the high lane. This postal landscape changes dramatically to big neighborhoods – houses that appear to be gray cinderblock climbing the slopes. Against the distance, the lake is no longer the only thing flashing. Now you see the bright shopping mall lights and the windows of skyscrapers. Suddenly, everything becomes wooded and provincial. Traffic only takes you to the edge of  Mexico City: Welcome to the Autopista Lechería-La Venta at the extreme west end of our city.

With 4 big lanes and hyper-inflated tolls, the highway runs from Cuautitlan-Izcalli up near Santa Fe, and connects the Mexico-Queretaro and Mexico-Toluca highways. Literally cutting through the mountains, this highway exemplifies some aspects of the landscape through which it charges: brutality alongside Interlomas’s opulence, poverty in some of the neighborhoods surrounding the heights and the claims of Atizapán and suburban Lomas Verdes. And one should not forget the post-card like views from the mountains that the Edomx government likes to boast about.

Atizapán from the highway. Mile after mile of gray cinderblock homes give way, in the south to some more middle-class color.

For Chilangos who’ve never been there or who’ve never bothered to admire the landscape, I present first a set of photos: from the entrance at Bosques de las Lomas to the Lomas Verdes offramp. As one simply cannot ride public transportation here, it is understandable that this corner is not well known in the city, and although this road is far from inexpensive, on a clear day, the view alone makes the ride worth it.

Galleries Atizapán. The Emerald Zone on the other side of the highway, with its incredibly green golf courses, like the meadows of Condado Saayavedra, home to very pretty girls (so they say).

Presa Madin from the Madina Bridge. I don't know how people can sleep living next to this dam, especially in rainy season.

The newly built Lomas Verdes exit. Before this exit was completed one had to fight the deadly curves of the avenue that runs along the Madina Dam. If one takes this exit one arrives in just a few moments to ... another shopping mall.

My next entry will cover the next leg of our journey, from Lomas Verdes to Santa Fe!

Friendly folks in Milpa Alta; One of the only StreetView drivers who waved for posterity.

Geologically the youngest delegation in Mexico City, Milpa Alta is also one of the city’s greatest escapes.

We’re almost finished with our colonia’s mapping project. Milpa Alta has been one of the quickest because the delegation is only inhabited by a select population.

Some of the wildest country, volcanoes and river systems make up a striking, flowing landscape that seems to go on forever. It’s the second largest delegation in terms of acreage, but Milpa Alta’s 116,000 residents enjoy the space. Take a look:

The famous Tehutli Volcano in Milpa Alta

Map of Towns and Villages in Milpa Alta

Milpa Alta’s 12 pueblos and part of a 13th were easy to map, (compared to Iztapalapa or Alvaro Obregon), but they’ll take you a while to get to know.You can see pretty clearly at right that more than half of the delegation is totally rural and centered around a few pleasant and friendly volcanoes.

The Wikipedia entry on Milpa Alta actually goes into quite an unchacteristically geological summary of the area. But don’t take that to mean not much else is going on.

There is a nice English language page of Milpa Alta’s foods and agricultural products here, but tourism is also not high in the Milpa Alta mindset. We suspect that Milpa Alta residents prefer it that way.

Click the image to see the final map at eldefe.com or scroll down for more of what we found there.

The football stadium on the Oaxatepec Highway is probably among the first things that folks see on the long drive south from Xochimilco.

No tent revivals here, just temporary shelter for big stuff.

This lonely house along the Highway is typical of Milpa Alta: some of Mexico City's most non-urban country.

I guess everyone's gotta go sometimes. Street view picks up some strange views sometimes.

Click here to explore the pueblos of Milpa Alta on your own.

One of Ajusco's numerous paintball ranges.

If you’ve ever flown into Mexico City and stared out the windows as the plane comes in, you were probably amazed at what seems to be a city that goes on forever.

There are buildings as far as the eye can see and more than a few skyscrapers thrown in for good measure. As we come ever closer to bringing you a different and indeed quite contrary description of what you’ll find in this never-ending city with our new customizable tour service, I wanted to take a few lines to write a little about the Ajusco.

The Cerro Ajusco, itself, is a volcano in the delegation of Tlalpan located deep in the very south of Mexico City and it’s the highest point any where within the city. Its name comes from the nahuatl words atl, xochitlco and means “watered grove.”

In wintertime, the peak of the mountain is often covered with snow. Along with the great scenery that nature offers, you’ll also likely find hundreds of families trying to get up high enough to play in the snow and – as there is only one road going in and out – getting there can be a little time consuming.

Pre-Hispanic remains – as in just about any part of the Valley of Mexico – are everywhere. At the top of the Ajusco you’ll find an altar and the remains of a pyramid and archaeological excavation continues through out the area.

We’re putting together a schedule of activities to best take advantage of everything that the area offers – that is – to bring more of Mexico City to visitors from the world over. To mention just a few Ajusco offers

• Quad rentals
• Motocross
• Mountain biking
• Paintball areas
• Horseback riding.

For those who want to keep it down a notch, there are plenty of beautiful hiking and nature walks and paths, kite flying and visits to ecological preserves and temazcals, the traditional steam baths of the area. If that is not enough, the Six Flags amusement park is also right here.

I am finalizing a couple of basic tours that can include any of the above, but of course, I’d love to know if there are any other special interests. Almost any of them can be included. Just leave a comment in the section below.

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.

Corner of Orquidea & Octopec, Colonia Lomas de San Bernabé

A little street shrine in Magdalena Contreras.

A section of Pueblo Nuevo Alto wedged onto a hillside just south of Avenida San Jeronimo.

Football fields at col. Lomas de San Bernabé Amp.

And a really nice photo from Panoramio/armis_geografico. Click the photo for the original.

Football in col. Lomas de San Bernabé Photo by armis_geografico

Click here to visit our full map of delegación Magdalena Contreras, Distrito Federal

Outside the Public Market in San Jose de los Cedros, Cuajimalpa. Note the double foot; all fotos from street view and satelite caps from google maps/google earth.

Eldefe.com's Neighborhood Map of Caujimalpa

We’ve done lots of posting here on the blog about surreal Santa Fe and it’s nutty first-world pretense. We’ve gotten there by bus and car and we even flew over Bosques de las Lomas in a sing-song helicopter.

We’re still the best way to see Santa Fe.

But Cuajimalpa – the delegation that hosts that nasty barnacle – is more than just dysfunctional anti-social architecture and a traffic headache.

Cuajimalpa is another 30 or so colonias and a couple of pueblos to the south- with a big basically empty tail – that includes the enormous Desierto de los Leones national park. Along with the part of the park in bordering delegation, Alvaro Obregon, Desierto de los Leones accounts for a full 15% of the entire Distrito Federal. Now that’s “Urban Wasteland!”

Below are a couple of other cool things we discovered while making the map.

Mexico City's pollution and crime chase away most tourists and visitors: Desierto De Los Leones National Park

Better known is the north of the delegation where the massive buildings and projects beg justification.

Santa Fe's Skyscapers

Major development in Lomas de Vista Hermosa

Colonia Jesus del Monte

View from Constituyente Echanova

Another view of Lomas de Vista Hermosa

There is a lot more to see in Cuajimalpa. See it all from our new Cuajimalpa Colonias Map on Eldefe.com

The government of Mexico City's perception of the role of the consumer economy as a part of the overall economy illustrated above.

La Jornada reported this morning that the total number of “informal” street vendors has increased by 150% over the last ten years in Mexico City.

The lack of employment opportunities, continuing staff turnover and low incomes have meant that more people have received their main source of income on the street – whether they have an established metal stall or they have to watch out for the cops and unfold something onto the asphalt. (My translation)

I’ve made a fuss about it before, but by refusing to “formalize” – or basically making the process of formalization nearly impossible – expensive, ridiculously complicated and prohibitively pretentious, Mexico deprives itself of revenue and lives very much with a 1950s style version of what business and commerce is.

The Jornada article seems to imply that the solution is to “move” the vendors into public markets. It doesn’t mention that any government figure anywhere is making any attempt whatever to simply formalize them – ie; simplify the formalization process and prohibit selling shit on the streets without a license. Oh well, I guess I will survive.

House along Azcapotzalco, in the delegation of the same name. ScreenCaps in this post are all from StreetView. (Click to enlarge.)

Translated from the original at eldefe.com by Isaac Vazquez.

So many centuries have passed over and left their marks on Mexico City that every corner of the city is blessed with them. With the furor over the Bicentennial of Independence and the Centennial of the Revolution, I tried to imagine the city, Frenchified, in the style that Porfiro Diáz took pains to achieve.  Although there are surviving monuments and buildings emblematic of the period, far less ostentatious examples run the through the most ordinary parts of Mexico City.

17 Gacetilla, Time has been nicer to some

Looking for the real jewels of the Porfirato (the Porfiro Diaz Period), I came across an article on the Avenida Centenario that links Tacuba and “Azcapo.” Formerly a simple street linking the two places, the avenue was equipped with electricity and trams during the Diaz  presidency. And as one the 19th Century’s weekend destinations, the street saw a small residential construction boom, but with a feature that makes it unique (to my knowledge) around Mexico City: the “houses” were built in an unusual “Victorian” style.

The Victorian Era comes alive in Azcapotzalco

Time passed, and Centennial Avenue today has become Avenue Azcapotzalco, and what was once the Boulevard “Campirano” today is an artery in the heart of the Claveria zone, famous for its upper-middle class homes.

Fortunately, a few remnants of the past, with gabled roofs and windows and a flirtatious style unusual for Mexico City. Along the avenue you can still see the turn of the century homes that have not succumbed to modernity. Many still stand as a reminder of an era in which wealthy families would choose Azcapotzalco in order to leave the city behind.

Of those times little remains, especially for a delegation where tourism is not the biggest draw. But I invite you to take a stroll down Avenida Azcapotzalco. It’s not difficult to find, from Metro Tacuba the beginning of the avenue just to the North of Metro Tacuba. From there the avenue is wide, with tree-lined sidewalks, and the remains of an elegant and more innocent time are everywhere. You will not find tourists, but the houses are a treasure trove of the city. Sadly, that anonymity could still condemn them, so go see them before they are replaced by a block of flats, a park or another Oxxo.

Below is a map of the area, Avenida Azcapotzalco runs north from Metro Tacuba, and divides  colonias San Álvaro, Clavería & del Recreo in the east, from colonias Ángel Zimbrón and Nextengo to the west, before ending up in the Centro de Azcapotzalco and colonia Los Reyes to the north. Click here for the complete Map of Azcapotzalco Colonias.

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