Mexico D.F. (pop. 20,000,000 elev. 7,000 ft.)

Well, finally, here I am in "big, bad" Mexico D.F. (Well, actually I am leaving tomorrow for Taxco.

(My writing plan will be to write about an area when I'm either leaving it, or at the arrival at my next stop.)

Well NOTHING COULD BE FARTHER FROM THE TRUTH! I think the general opinion that Mexico DF is a bad, dangerous city is probably the biggest "urban myth" ever created.

The only reason I am in Mexico DF in the first place is because of Miguel Ibarra. MI emailed me through HorizonsUnlimited and insisted I visit MDF, despite my plan to avoid it. He persisted through many emails prior to my departure, and continued to follow up with me while I was on the road.

Thanks to Miguel Ibarra and his "gang" - Roberto Medallo, (police, Federal Agent Special Forces AND lawyer), Rafael, (police, public security), Julio, (computer operations), Adrian, more commonly known as "Diablo", (pharmaceutical intelligence), Juan Gonzales, and his son, "Little Juan", (one of the best motorcycle customizers and mechanic I have ever met (you are in this "class" too, Phillip Cantin), Raul Falomir, the most amazing stunt motorcycle driver I have ever seen, Geraldo Troller, owner of our "home away from home", the RestoBar, "La Differencia", Javier, who invited all of us to his beautiful country home for the day in Jiutebec, 2 hours south of MexicoDF, near Cuernavaca, and last but not least, ANGELICA, Miguel's mother who owns and runs a super 50 seat resto, "Clavo y Canela" with her two beautiful daughters, Sonia, and Jemma - Angelica, showing typical Mexican warmth, treated me more like a son than just a friend of Miguel's, and many others - made my stay in Mexico DF a truly memorable event.

As far as exactly what Miguel does (for a living), I'm not exactly sure, but he is the kind of guy, despite his 6'3", 200 lb + body, who's "bigger than life" . He seems to be the one who holds the MDF moto community together, notwithstanding the fact that he also seems to know almost all of the 20,000,000 people of the city. I guess he can best be described as an "orchestra leader who keeps the music going". The only thing bigger than Miguel himself, is his heart.

I can only say that Mexico DF is one of the most exciting, beautiful, warm, artistic and cultural, and safe cities I have ever visited!

Proof of this is that I stayed here 8 days, despite my plan of 3 days!

Of course, while any large city - and especially Mexico DF with a CITY population of over 20,000,000 people (that's about all the people we have in Canada!), has a few fringe areas that you best avoid, all in all it felt no different than New York, LA, Boston, London, or any other large city.

The ride from Guanahuato was a great ride 5 hour ride. I proceeded our pre arranged meeting place where Roberto, Miguel's very close friend was waiting, and proceeded to his house to wait for Miguel. Miguel arrived with another friend, Julio, as I finished my shower and we immediately started the 2 liters of tequila which I bought in Tequila. After ? marguritas the 3 of us moved down a few doors to the guesthouse where we spent the night.

The following day the 3 of us proceeded into downtown Mexico to Miguel's house.

Now driving in Mexico D.F. is a bit like Montreal, but only a lot more exciting. ...traffic lights are used only as a rough guide as to what you should do.

Imagine city streets - not expressways - 4 lanes wide going only one way, with 4 lanes next to you going the other way...and all lanes are always full of cars. Imagine also that when the cars try to make a left turn into the oncoming 4 lanes, they bunch up into 7 to 8 lanes and wait to cross.

Intersections where you have 16 lanes of traffic meeting with traffic lights usually have around 10 special traffic police stationed there to try to sort out the mess with horns blaring everywhere.

And then there are the rotaries with 6 - 8 lanes of cars zig zagging everywhere.

With the bikes we simple create our own lanes between the traffic saving tons of time.

Once you get the hang of it, it's really fun, and at least most of the time, cars in Mexico City really respect bikes and generally give us room.

Riding with Raul, the stunt driver, was really special. Popping wheelies and sooming in and out of the traffic was nothing compared to him popping a wheelie, THEN STANDING ON HIS SEAT WHILE NEGOCIATING THE TRAFFIC !! He promised to teach me a few tricks my next time in Mexico DF.

In order to try to control the traffic and minimize polution (which really wasn't so bad), Mexico DF does a unique thing. Monday to Friday, if your liscence plate ends in certain numbers you are NOT allowed to take your car into the city. For example, if your plate ends in 0 or 1, you are simply not allowed to use your car that day.

The whole time...all 8 days in Mexico DF, either Miguel, Robert, Diablo or Julio were at my side. They, especially Miguel, like all Mexicans are fiercely proud of their country and know everything about their history. Of the 4, Diablo spoke fluent english, and as for the others, let me say their english was a lot better than my spanish, but yet we all managed very well. Most of my time was spent with Miguel and Roberto, except for the 2 or 3 nights I stayed with Diablo. The rest of the time I slept at Miguel's and was treated to Angelica's super traditional Mexican breakfasts and lunches at Clavo y Canela.

In all the most amazing thing was that despite cultural, religious, language, and age differences (me being at least double, if not triple the age of most of Miguel's gang"), you would think we had all grown up together.....all that really mattered was mutual respect, of which there was plenty, and riding the roads on 2 wheels!

Friday night, my 2nd night in the city, was Miguel's club's meeting (as Miguel called it, but it was more like a party to me though), at Geraldo's resto bar, La Diferencia, which, because of the heavy rain, did not end till 4 AM and only because that's when the bar closed. Miguel, Diablo, Roberto, and I think 1 or 2 others...not sure...rode in the rain to Diablo's, where we all "crashed". I spent the next 1 or 2 nights there with Diablo.

The next 5 days were a whirlwind of sightseeing -

The downtown Zocalo (main square) Plaza de la Constitucion, surrounded by the President's office, the Mayor's office and the the Cathedral Metropolitana, built in the late 1500's. This was also the site where the original "Mexicans", the Aztecs built the city in what was originally a huge lake covering many square miles. In fact MexicoDF is a huge flat plain (the lake) compleatly surrounded by mountains 2,000 ft higher than Mexico DF. Because of this many of the earlier structures are very slowly sinking. You can actually see this when you "sight" along ant large building. During the days there are hundreds and hundreds of outdoor stalls selling crafts and food, while at night the city treats it's people to some form of live entertainment.

The Almeda Central, not far from the Zocalo, which is a huge treed park surrounded by many monuments and dominated by the white marbled "Placido de Bellas Arts". It was here where Diablo and I parked our bikes while Miguel and I took a few pics, that I had my bike "imobilized" while Miguel and I were only 50 meters away. Diablo who stayed with the bikes could do nothing to stop it without risking his bike too. The "imobilizer" in Mexico is their version of the "Boot", but it's a 2 inch steel cable that's put through your wheel and locked to an iron sign. Once it's locked you must take the ticket to the city hall and pay 350 pesos ($45 CAD), then bring the reciept back to the bike, hail an "immobilizer" truck, who then unlocks the cable.

The Monumento de la Revolucion, The Angel Monument, and many others too numerous to mention.

The Basilica de Guadalupe, not far from Miguel's.

The Zona Rosa, the main shopping, hotel, and entertainment district.

Teotihuacan, )just 30 kms outside of the city), Mexico's bigest ancient city and the site of two enormous and spectacular pyramids - Sun and Moon.

Garibaldi Square where you can "rent" mariachi bands by the song. It's also the only place you can drink alcohol in public.

Coyoacan, once a small colonial town, just south of the city, but now swallowed up by Mexico DF. Despite this it still retained it's colonial atmosphere and is now a trendy mix of rich and hippy with a beautiful park and many restos and bars.

Another great day was spent at Javier's "country house" south of MDF near Cuernvaca. 12 of us did the 3 hour back road ride to Javier's. Miguel, and Roberto used this day as a rest from me and stayed in town.... :-) . The narrow 2 lane road became very twisty, as usual, when we reached the mountains. But they showed me how to ride Mexican style....the space between the double lines down the center of the road is actually a third lane for motos. This enabled us to pass long lines of traffic as they crawled up the steep hills......go figure....and all the time I thought a double line meant NO passing!

After spending the afternoon at Javier's pool, enjoying sun, pizza and beer, we all rode back in the rain.

The last day was spent at "MOTO Expo", a big motorcycle show at the World Trade Center (yes, the same name). Miguel, who among other things seems to be the major force behind the "Federacion Mexicana de Motociclismo A.C.", a federally incorporated federation which sets moto standards for all of Mexico, and of which I am now the only non-Mexican member.

And last but not least, I spent one day roaming the "atellier" of Juan while he repaired one of my broken rear shocks, and strengthened my luggage rack. While hanging out there with Miguel, and Roberto, I met a steady stream of "drop-ins" - the "who's who" of motorsport in Mexico. This is where I met Raul, the stunt guy, and Raphael, the other cop, who gave me a Mexican flag sticker for my bike...and let me play with his 9 mm weapon...awsome! Other than having to pay Juan to repair the shock (it had to be sent out for very special welding), he refused to accept any money for the other repairs, saying that I, being a friend of his friends, Miguel and Roberto, meant I was a friend of his and he was just happy to help me out. I say this because this is typical of the the way Mexicans treat their friends and tourists.

Friday morning, before Miguel left to spend the second day at the Federacion's booth at MOTO Expo, he escorted me to the main road to Taxco, where we hugged good-bye.

The whole gang in Mexico DF, as well as Alberto Lopez and his family (from Guadalajara), made me promis to stop in again on my return north in September.

Well, this is now my first morning, Saturday, after arriving last night in Taxco.

More to come after I leave Taxco tomorrow for the Acapulco area coast.