CDMX 2025
May 21, 2025Earlier this year, Hannah and I went to Mexico City for a quick trip. Fito Paez, one of my favorite musicians, was playing the Auditorio Nacional, and the tickets were relatively cheap. The concert might have been one of the best shows I’ve ever been to, and it was a good excuse for a trip. We got to see old friends, eat great food, and generally had a great time.
Once again, we stayed in La Roma.
This time around we did a walking tour through Voicemap. It was pretty cool.
It’s tough to pick between black and white and color film in Mexico City. It’s a really vibrant place, but I like the contrast of black and white. I switched a couple of times. This one should have been in color.
The people watching is great.
So are the layers.
For some reason, this time I took a bunch of photos of people working… but on their phones.
This was, unfortunately, a beautiful sunset.
After years of wanting to do it, we finally did the sunrise balloon ride over the pyramids.
Yeah, I know there’s a lot of balloon pics, and they all should have been in color.
The cave breakfast is kind of a scam. Just doing the balloons and the walking tour would have been enough.
These two came along, and we had a great time. One couldn’t keep her eyes open.
I tried out another one of my father in law’s rolls of expired film. They came out super grainy, but didn’t disappoint.
The set up.
More layers.
The finished product.
Could have been Valencia.
The Soumaya museum was awesome. It’s one of those places that have an amazing collection, but very little curation. Just a lot of stuff in a big space.
We went to el Turix. It was as amazing as the reviews made it seem, even though some of my friends who live in Mexico were afraid of it.
Look at that happy face, and those happy tacos. One of the best meals of the trip, and probably one of the cheapest, too.
This photo took a lot of doctoring. I’m pretty happy with the result. Insanely, we ran into Fito here.
Walking around with Ruben.
Dog school is still up and running.
This guy wanted to show off his jersey.
Compose and wait.
One day, I’ll try these street tacos.
Hi, it’s me.
It’s me again.
Don’t you want these tacos, too?
I picked up José Emilio Pacheco’s Las Batallas en el Desierto while I was there. The short novel was published in 1980 as a period piece about mid-century Mexico. I didn’t know what I was getting into, but the whole book is set in La Roma. Unexpectedly, it’s named after Israel’s war of independence and the immigrant population in the neighborhood then - Jews and Arabs. Much of the novel revolves around identity and the changing face of Mexico City, and its migrants, both local and foreign. As I read, it was pretty amazing to walk around the same streets the characters walked through.
Having just finished it, and on our last day there, coincidentally, I ran into a literary tour group organized by the Mexican Ministry of Culture. I tagged along as the guide read fragments and explained the novel’s themes, exploring human contradictions, moral dilemmas, and urban transformation. Pacheco’s Roma is not the Roma of today, but also not that of the 50s. It’s a collective fiction, a shared memory, and a reflection of the city’s changing face.
Orizaba is one of the streets the main character walks down.
Hay tamales oaxaqueños, tamales calientitos!
Vanessa took us shopping.
And we sadly had to go home.