Mexico City

Now we move back north, get lost a bit in the traffic, but finally arrive to downtown Tlalpan.
Tlalpan is another town swallowed by the city. It even was the capital of the state of Mexico for a few years in the XIXth Century.











It is similar to Coyoacán's, but without as many restaurants and boutiques.

Another feature of Tlalpan is the posh neighborhood of Tlalpuente, which boasts that it's ecological, because it has a lot of green:

Next borough (or delegación) to visit, Magdalena Contreras, west of Tlalpan, east of Alvaro Obregón:

Not much to show about Magdalena Contreras.
But the giant flag in the middle of the freeway sure is impressive:

Magdalena Contreras is hilly, and has neighborhoods of all types, from fancy San Jerónimo to dirt poor Cerro del Judío:

As with the road to Ajusco, at Magdalena Contreras, the more you climb, the more different the housing becomes:





Here, you don't arrive at Ajusco, but at another National Park, called Los Dinamos:







Unlike Ajusco which is snowy almost every winter, there's no winter snow at Los Dinamos.

In fact, only twice in my life has snow fallen in Mexico City proper, January 1967 and March 1988 (and then only on Tlalpan, Xochimilco and parts of Coyoacán).

The House of Culture at Magdalena Contreras:



A view of Luis Cabrera Avenue, the most important road in the delegación.

We finish the Federal District, with a visit to Milpa Alta, the southermost delegación:



Milpa Alta is the least populated borough of the city (130,000 inhabitants). In fact it's mainly rural.
It is also the poorest borough.
I must confess I have never been to Milpa Alta.

Milpa Alta, a general view:




The village

The most famous event at Milpa Alta is the Feria del Mole, where this typical Mexican delicacy is served and sold (specially the paste to make mole at home):

With this, we finish the virtual visit to the Federal District.
As you could see, if you followed the thread, the city ends on the south and the southwest. Not so on the west, north and east.

In other words, we've seen only the part of the map in green.

About 9 million people inhabit the Federal District, 10 million more live in the outskirts.



This map of Greater Mexico City will perhaps scare you, but -with some exceptions- the outskirts are not half as interesting as the rest of the city, so we'll go faster through them.

As we've done before, we'll move clockwise, starting west.

Since the hampster is bugging me with "flood prevention", I will post pictures of the outskirts another day.

Only one thing to remember. As in the Federal District, there is a clear class-cut division of the outskirts. Rich and middle-class on the west side of the city, working class and poor in the north and east.

In fact, before the big PRI victory in last year's elections, the west part of the outskirts was named "the blue corridor", for all the mayors were from the conservative party, and the east part was named "the yellow belt", for all the mayors were from the left wing party. In 2012, the blue corridor dissapeared and the yellow belt lost some of its colour.

(Mexico City proper has a left wing mayor, and all the delegaciones but two are governed by the left; the exceptions are Benito Juárez, which is still conservative and Cuajimalpa, won by the PRI).

I also noticed huge flags flying in Mexico City.

There are 3 huge flags. One at Zócalo, one at Campo Marte (next to the National Auditorium) and the megahuge one at San Jerónimo.

Hey, I was looking up moles some time ago and came across this image from San Pedro Atocpan there in Milpa Alta:


I wonder if any of those moles are available for export.

Here's an interesting info on mole sauce on Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mole_(sauce)

Oh yeah, I love mole.

I'm relegated to buying the Doña Maria brand and adding Abuelita chocolate to it. HA

Good question, InfraB.

I don't go to my nearest markets that might have the exports (if they are exported) since at the nearest they are far away for me.

Lots of moles online - I looked them up once, many variations. Puebla, Oaxaca, and more.

Here's a quote from an LA Weekly article -

"Mole is so rich, thick, complex and flavorful that many consider it a main dish, ideal with just tortillas or rice. All moles are based on chiles and spices that have been toasted, roasted, ground, and cooked -- ingredients can range from a couple of dozen to several dozen. But many types exist, beyond the popular mole poblano (Puebla-style) and mole negro (black, Oaxacan-style) that we see most often in L.A. Even from regions other than Puebla and Oaxaca, the two most acclaimed mole-makers. Ever try almond mole from Mexico City? Pink mole from Taxco?"


Sigh.

Pardon me, fbaezer - a short and quick detour

a few mole recipes I posted on another thread -
http://able2know.org/topic/184658-1#post-4897457