Keep out, culture!

If you would’ve blindfolded me, made me walk the 9km to Polanco (which would’ve probably felt like an eternity of walking, had I been blindfolded), then subsequently removed the blindfold and asked, “Christine, where are we?”

I would’ve answered, “Um, I don’t know? A rich part of Dallas?”

Your first instinct might be to laugh at my answer, considering the fact we’re in a developing country, but then you would’ve thought about it for a split second and said, “Huh, that’s really not too far off.”

Polanco is the bougie neighborhood of Mexico City, and I hope I’ll never be back. Our travel guide, Lonely Planet, contains several self-directed walking tours of Mexico City’s neighborhoods, and we plan to do all of them. Before embarking on this particular walking tour, I got the subtle impression that Polanco would not be my cup of water, so to speak. The guide states, “Exit left, through the trattoria, where Polanco’s smart set sip Perrier and gaze lovingly at their cell phones.” Yep, that pretty much sums up Polanco’s crowd. Livin’ the American Dream in their $850-peso Abercrombie sweatshirts and big SUVs.

As you see in the above photo, there were big, sharp fences, gates, and sometimes even barbed wire(!), before the façade of nearly every big, whitewashed home in Polanco. To me, this was a metaphor; “keep out, D.F. culture, keep out!” I’ve read that the current mayor of D.F., Marcelo Ebard, is proud of the fact that in parts of Mexico City, street vendors have been banned and eliminated. Uh, I can only guess which neighborhood yelled, “Me first! Meeeee first!” to this idea. Although it’s sometimes disconcerting to see unused chicken heads on top of closed vendor carts or flanks of unrefrigerated raw beef, baking in the sun, waiting to be used, it’s all part of the D.F. experience. The myriad vendors makes it fun, sometimes amusing, and unique. Oh, and not to mention, those vendors’ carts are many peoples’ livelihoods.

I’m sure some will argue that the exorbitant restaurants in Polanco are home to some of the most innovative gastronomy, and the galleries are “to die for.” Oh, and if you like shopping for the latest designer duds and baubles, well, this is your place. That’s all well and good, but when you’ve got the most beautiful and exciting (and sometimes challenging) eye-candy, smells, culture, and tastes, by simply walking out your front door and into your more “humble” neighborhood, what’s the point?

I’d like to sign off in two ways. First, as stated in a previous entry, Mexico City is suffering MAJOR water shortages. I’ll go into much more detail in a later post about the water being turned off, in our neighborhood, for big chunks of nearly every day. Well, this recent article explains that the rich neighborhoods (ahem, Polanco) and their well-manicured (but boring) lawns and gaudy lifestyles account for a lot more water usage than most other neighborhoods. It’s scary to think that a toilet in my neighborhood can’t flush all day long, but the sprinkler’s probably doing its “ch-ch-chhhhh” all afternoon at the lovely house above. Now that’s a scary (and dirty AND dangerous) inequality.

Second, the picture below sums up the neighborhood perfectly: