Secret Dream Pozole

I went looking for a pozole joint north of Centro CDMX and walked in circles for about 5 minutes. I decided El Pozole de Moctezuma just didn’t exist and walked away. But then I was compelled to check my phone one more time and walked back. I gave a perplexed look to a nice young couple and the man asked, “pozole?” and walked me to the intercom of an apartment building. I buzzed and they let me in. The people inside were super sweet, which shouldn’t be surprising since they’re Mexican — and they also spoke English. I relatively quickly ordered a pozole verde with maciza (the same, leanish pork that’s used in carnitas), with a whole avocado and a cerveza. I had to google a few things to make sure I didn’t get head meat (cabeza) or what not. The waitress brought it out and quickly came back with a big shot glass, asking if I wanted some in the soup for flavor, to which I obviously said si. It was damn good. I had some pozole last week at La Casa De Toño, which is a chain that sort of feels like the Mexican Denny’s (though much higher quality) and it was very good. However, this stuff was next level. Find the place if you’re in Mexico City. Buzz the buzzer. They’ll make you feel comfortable and right at home.

Secret Art Motherload

Museo Vivo del Muralismo isn’t listed in any guides that I’ve seen. I just happened to pass by while walking around Centro so I looked it up. It’s in a gorgeous old historic building and apparently, when it was the Ministry of Education in 1923, they commissioned Diego Rivera to adorn then place with his art (1923-1928). About 9000 square meters (almost a full kilometer) of beautiful murals all facing a stunning courtyard. There had to be at least 150 of his works in there (out of the 250 or so total). They have exhibits with original aztec murals and more modern stuff as well. How come nobody talks about this place? It’s the only museum in town open on Monday that I know of and it’s free admission. An absolutely amazing place to visit, completely off-the-radar of the hoi polloi. They might want to hire some marketing folks.

CDMX Subway and Getting Around Town

It’s both novel and maddening that Mexico City can have a pretty nice subway where trains consistently come every three minutes and costs 5 pesos (one American quarter). Because I live in NYC, the richest city in the world, and nothing works, you wait forever, and you constantly endure aggressive crazy people and folks literally shitting their pants. I don’t know why I always seem to be the only non-Mexican person riding it. I guess because Ubers are super cheap, about 5 bucks US per ride on average. I’m using those too but I enjoy taking the subway with regular Mexipeeps and honestly there’s so much traffic in this crazy town that it doesn’t really take much longer. It does get crowded and warm sometimes, since there’s no AC. I’ve also noticed that the conductors can get aggressively jerky with the brakes, which doesn’t seem to phase anyone but me. This happens in NYC too but not as frequently. The system can be a little confusing. The icon for the metro trains and the metrobus (the red icons below) are similar and Google maps always indicate which is which, so look carefully. The buses are super nice and reliable too.

Mexico City Metro Card

Walking is another story. It’s pretty nerve wracking. Many of the intersections don’t have any pedestrian signals, including some really, really big ones (i.e., with 8 car lanes). Many of the cross walks are placed where you can’t really see the traffic signals for cars, so it really feels like a crap shoot when you decide when to cross. Finger’s crossed…

8 car lanes (6 lanes + 2 shoulders). No pedestrian signal.

Overstimulating the Overstimulatable

Mexico City is a wild, crazy and enriching city. I’m pretty sure I haven’t visited a more overstimulating city (I live in NYC). I’ve been here for 4 days (of 3 weeks) and expected to be taking a lot more pictures and posting more. Though I’m doing/eating a ton, I guess I’m just taking it all in. Anyway, here’s a stealth photo of an adorable churro waitress at El Moro and a short video of an organ grinder grinding beneath my window.

Sheinbaum in the House

On Sunday I woke up to people marching by my apt on Madero in Centro with big signs that read “Sinaloa”. Confused, I turned to Google and all I could find were references to drug cartels, including an article that spoke about how they want Trump’s help. What was in fact happening was a massive rally that President Sheinbaum organized, calling on all Mexicans to gather at the Zócalo to hear a speech in response to Trump’s tariff threats. So I walked over to the square and there were 100,000+ people representing different regions. It was a wild and moving scene — but quickly became too overwhelming to be embedded in. People just kept coming and coming. I watched with excitement from my window and also could see/hear the entire speech on a big screen on the corner. After it was over I went back to get some Claudia swag and watch some the bands play from the stage she spoke on, who sounded great. I am so glad that I got to experience this. Swipe for some photos:

24 Hours of CDMX Travel Drama

I was concerned that might flight to Mexico City on 3/5 might get cancelled due to bad storms on the east coast and along the newly christened Gulf of Stupid Fucking Assholes. I was thrilled to find out that I was merely an hour delayed and getting in around the same time. However, the pilots were late and after 3 hours on the runway, we went back to the gate and I stood on the longest, non-moving line in history to see what “American” could do for me, which was a round trip car service to my apartment, which I shared with the nice Indian chef and food researcher who was sitting next to me. I got home around 1am and after just under 3 hours of sleep, I got back in a car at 6am to JFK. When I made my to the gate for the 10:30am flight (around 8am) the screen said “Boarding Complete. Flight Closed,” which was thankfully just an error that wasn’t corrected, even after I boarded. Triggering. Fuck American. Never again.

When I walked into the building where my apartment is, it was dark, and I didn’t see a step, so I tripped and fell hard, injuring my fingers. My middle was bend and unmovable and I assumed it was broken.

I was too freaked out to know what to do but my amazing girlfriend found an “Urgent Care for Ex-Pats” called CliniMed and I got in an Uber to the Polanco neighborhood. I got an X-ray and the doctor told me it was indeed broken. However, I cannot see a fracture on the X-ray (or the radiologists report) and I suspect it’s just a bad sprain or some kind of trauma. He splinted me and then I headed over for a completely amazing seafood dinner at nearby Entremar, the sister restaurant of the famous Contramar. Perfect ceviche, a tuna tostada, a whole fish and a mezcal with Jamaica cocktail.

Weegee “Society of the Spectacle” at ICP

I first heard of the photographer Weegee via an old newsreel I saw, which really made him out to be an oddball but still glamorous NYC celebrity. I never knew about his innovations and the depth of his photos until more recently. Such powerful work. Whether it’s the crime scene or passersby/crowd photos, celebrities, spooky film audience photos, or whatever, they keep your gaze much longer than most photographs do. Nobody that I know of has ever brought humor into photography as well as Weegee did. I also can’t argue that his later work with photo manipulation wasn’t way, way ahead of his time. The exhibit “Society of Spectacle” is very worthwhile visit through May 5 at ICP