Mexico City

I had a rug I loved from one of those markets.

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At San Angel, too, the Museo de El Carmen, on a former Carmelite convent (expropriated by Juarez). The place is impressive; the exhibits, from the colonial era.

http://api.ning.com/files/FyXzi90FtDDUDL-h4lehSY4b9u9aTeLGgXq9y0jEvbO0in7Gw97AbFvqUjDChb5cXWZQK*Cl5mbhTV6uObqI0-606SsD3eu2/museodeelcarmen610x430.jpg?width=310

http://www.dfinitivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/museo-del-carmen.jpg

http://www.inah.gob.mx/images/stories/Multimedia/Paseos_virtuales_home/Museos/museo_el_carmen_pv.jpg

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Not at San Angel, but somewhat nearby, the Carrillo Gil Museum. Very cool exhibits of modern art.

http://static.chilango.com/media/2012/08/29/carrillo-gil.jpg

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Also near San Ángel, Plaza Loreto, a small mall, with a museum Soumaya Museum nº1, a cinema for indie movies, et al.

http://www.ciudadmexico.com.mx/images/zones/sanangel/loreto.jpg

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And right next to San Angel, another nice neighborhood, Tlacopac:

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/24431352.jpg

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Near San Ángel, the campus of ITAM, a prestigious private university, specialized in economics, finance and political science.

http://intercambio.itam.mx/Nueva%20Pagina/Alumnos%20Internacionales/fotosyvideos/itam%20plaza.jpg

http://ccmgm.itam.mx/images/biblioteca/ccmgmBiblio-1.jpg

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And also next to San Angel, but going south, next to UNAM's main campus, a neighborhood called Pedregal de San Angel, where many of the noveau rich moved in the 50s and 60s:

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ61L46gWEiptlgqoU1vtWUNsNPEmXBmGd6wXl4CSTfS5XeubHV

http://imganuncios.mitula.net/hermosa_casa_en_condominio_en_el_pedregal_de_san_angel_96862838903697002.jpg

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The west side of Alvaro Obregón is hilly, with ravines and sand mines, and then it's mountainous.

Some parts are for the middle, upper-middle and upper classes. Colonia Las Aguilas, Colonia Alpes, Villa Verdún:

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/4552/villa1.jpg

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/1528286.jpg

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But for the most part, it's working class neighborhoods and shanty towns:

Colonia Olivar del Conde

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/09/15/fotos/031n1cap-1_mini.jpg

Colonia Alfonso XIII

http://ciudadanosenred.com.mx/sites/default/files/vialidad.jpg

Barrio Cristo Rey

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gKF48hZkLX4/TnH05-w0N6I/AAAAAAAAGcI/ujk1PGfzZGk/s1600/56476b4e3df23cab7cf0e6b6569a74e2.jpg

Barrio Norte

http://www.bienesraiceskim.com.mx/sites/default/files/imagecache/product_full/terreno-barrio-santa-barbara-0.jpg

El Cuernito

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQSoUZtXK25BphMkS1LukqjtS3WQRGOmRz5Z1WIMT1kDyAqNNx0

(You can rent this house for less than $50 a month, says the ad)

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As you move farther west, towards the mountain, you find again middle and upper-middle class neighborhoods:

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/22820656.jpg

http://img.zonaprop.com.mx/images/post/l/1/251/8/2514228.jpg

..until you find the town of Santa Rosa Xochiac, and really feel outside the city:

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/20249109.jpg

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Keep on driving west of Santa Rosa Xoachiac, and you arrive to a National Park with an odd name: "Desierto de los Leones" (Desert of the Lions, but it's a forest and has no lions). It was named "Desert" by the Carmelite monks in the XVII Century, because it was deserted, had no people but them, and the "lions" are a family with the last name "León" with whom the monks had a dispute over the territory.

This is the convent:

http://www.ciudadmexico.com.mx/images/zones/desierto_leones/desiertodelosleones4.jpg

And this is the desert:

http://www.dfinitivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/Desierto_leones2.jpg

http://galeon.com/desiertodelosleones/proun.jpg

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We have arrived to one the western limits of the city. But there's another western borough, Cuajimalpa.

Until a year ago, if you wanted to go, say from the UNAM campus to Cuajimalpa, you had to cross the Desierto de los Leones, or to go downtown and drive west from Reforma Ave. Now a highway connects San Angel and Cuajimalpa.

http://fotos.eluniversal.com.mx/web_img/fotogaleria/galeria_poniente1.jpg

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@fbaezer,

Somehow that seems wrong, a goofy thought that I'd like such a highway to be more interesting, but of course that looks like it works.

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@ossobuco,

I suppose the picture is becoming.

The owner of the paper just loves this highway. He lives in Pedregal and his corporate office is in Cuajimalpa. He used to make 1.5 hours from home to work; now he makes 15 minutes.
The funny thing is that the paper sided with the residents of the zones affected by the highway, before its construction. "How wrong we were!", he says.

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@fbaezer,

I know of the Pedregal vaguely, somewhat. But I've been waiting for you to tell.

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@ossobuco,

It's on this very same page, osso.

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@fbaezer,

Yes, duh, but I have been waiting for Barragan. I didn't meet him but heard him talk, and met his second, name now escaping me.

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OK. Now we are at Cuajimalpa, the westernmost borough of the city:

If Alvaro Obregón is known for it stark social differences; Cuajimalpa has the most stark differences between a traditional and semi-rural towns and the modern city.

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At the southers tip of Cuajimalpa, where the city ends, we find Parque La Marquesa, a National Park and a common weekend attraction for chilangos (Mexico City inhabitants). Horse-riding, trout fishing, minibike riding and a hot soup of mushrroms.

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Cuajimalpa used to be a series of small towns until a few decades ago. I remember going to these towns as a university student.

San Pedro Cuajimalpa:

San Pedro Chimalpa:

http://de10.com.mx/img/promos/chimalpa.jpg

San Mateo Tlaltenango

http://www.bocadepolen.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/san-mateo.jpg

Other towns, like Contadero and Cuajimalpa proper have recently become places with luxury housing.

The main plaza at Cuajimalpa:

http://www.dfinitivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/delegacion-cuajimalpa2.jpg

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