- CAUTIONS IN MEXICO

ESPAÑOL
In the airport of the City of Mexico

like a kind of confusing..at least! .. "welcome" to the city, the first time visitor can find a kind of tricky the way to get out from the Airport of Mexico city. The main problem is not with thieves that some times take your bag and run away, more and more rare phenomena, nor the first scenes of the mexico city traffic, but the main problem can be the taxis. Of course in many places for turism they suggest that turist should take one of the taxis which opearates with offices inside the aereal terminal, well, they have reasons to make such suggestion some clear ones other not very much, but the true based in my experience is that those taxis besides asking for far too much money, often, by periods are used by assaulters, criminals very often alied with police, so my suggestion is if possible always taking the undergound trian called Metro in Mexico city, it is still the safest transport mean in the City and there is aAirport terminal called "Terminal Aerea" ( caution! is not the one with the name: " Aeropuerto" which is near the place but far to walk. Only in the case you arrive after 11 in the night, you will have then to take a taxi from the airport offices becasue then can be risky you going out from airport with your bags. Anyway remember most of days Metros closes at 12:00 in the night.

In the urban transport

Usually as long as the city is growing up the transport is getting more..chaotic. I could be different, but well, it is not. In Mexico city, a incredible wide metropoli, there many distinc ways to move besides the partucular vehicles, so one can find Metro which is underground trian, many different lines of buses, some of them.. mostly...private and some by goberment of the city, microbuses which a re very famous because their criminal vocation, trolleys, taxis, different kind of them, ah! and "bicitaxis".. as you can guess, with human power applied to a bike.


In the case of Metro, i think it is possible to trust in most of circumstances, of course there are periods when there are lot of interruptions along the different lines but not too long as to switch off to other transport, and only when there is an incident.. like sombody jumping into the lines or being trown into them! but most of times is possible to make a schedule using this train network. The cost is about 20 cents of USD and you can use the same ticket as long as you prefer whenever you don`t leave the stations, o r leave the system in general, if you go out, when coming back yuo have to pay again but very cheap anyway. Two importan things for using the Metro, first specially in the case of women, be carefull with "touchers", they take advantage of the most crowded periods ( 7-9 in the morning, 1-3 afternoon, 6-9 at night) to enjoy of the people jaming particularily if they have women in front, around, or.. under them! Be careful, and always, always if this is happening to you, don`t keep silent, speak out against, move away, don´t let him/her/them be around you, i have heard of cases very impressive. Anyway i would to say that rapes are incredible rare inside the train system, as long as i remember there have been maybe some very few of them the whole history of Metro with more than 30 years now, anyway is prudent trying to avoid being in underground, some lines at least after 11:00-11:30 in the night. The other point, in certain stations ( later i will make a detailes plan )where the connections are possible.. there are many even with multiple connections, in the peak hours.. correcto say so? .. crowded hours, people puch a lot without care, so never be close to the rails, there have been many cases where people falls and die because the electric shock or smashed by the trains. Never near the edge of the plataform if people is behind you.

In the case of the urban buses, the problem is no really the security, usually there are very few robbery in them, but the lack of routes and the times. The main avenues have usually a good number of buses crossing most of the day, even the whole night, but in the other places of the city is not the same, so if it is possible to use a bus it is just fine, although it is not easy to make a plan based on it. The price of most buses is around 20 cents USD. In the case of the "peseros" "minibuses" or "micros".. uuuuf! the case is very differente. They can be useful when you are in a big hurry, when there is not other options like Metro o bus, then take a "pesero" but they can be very dangerous, becasue they are assaulted, or becasue the can crash, they are with exception of some routes in rich areas, dirty, smelly, terrible drivers. Usually they work since 5 in the morning to 12 in the night, but since they are out of control, they can make special routes with other times, all depends of the drivers mood. I don recomend them in general, but they are the most popular transpor in the city becasue there are lots of them. The price is around 30 cents USD.

Taxis. Try to take taxis which has a base or a terminal, a steady site caleld "taxis de sitio", because at least it is supposed those ones have certain control with their members, so possible to identify a driver, but anyway always try to be alert. But most of the taxis what run the city are green ones, which has not control point, so in that case, try to choose a good one, look a the driver and chek what kind of guy look like ( mostly are men), if you see a man with bad appearence, bad look, don take it, wait for another one, they have to have clean the car, and near them hanging the driving card, a big one with picture and nombers, try to check everything is coherent, clean car, good person, the card, outside the car no so dirty, etc. this can help you a lot and in certain cases, save your live. There are many other different kind of taxis, some white ones, with not signs, which are cheaper but risky, they are "tolerados" , tolerated, such drivers have a kind of agreement with some kind of authority to make the service. Avoid them. Some pink colored, they are from specific sites with checking points, you can try them.
It it supposed that all the legal taxis have a time counter to give you the bill, always when you aboard one, ask if it is working ok, and if not, then ask for the final price before starting to go, if not agree change. the minumun is around 2 USD, and crossing half of the city in a day with not much traffic woudl cost some 7 USD.

Trolley. They are genial! .. good slow transport for old people, saved from robbery, silent, great. Unfortunately they are few lines, only in some of the main avenues you can find them, so no very good for scheduling a trip, but if you find one matching your route, take it! the cost is around 20 cents USD.

Bicitaxis. Well, pintoresque and now and then useful if you find one with the trafic jam make hard the big buses to cross, but be careful, if they go by a high traffic street it can be dangerous since other drivers don`t respect me very much. Cost depends of the distance and the client, should be around 50 centos USD. Agree with the driver before starting.


In foods

Well, this seccion is only about cautions, so i am not going to mention the enourmous and delicious stuff which can be found in the mexican gastronomy, this hopefully will be treated in other chapter.

The main issue for the visitor to Mexico is the possibility to get a stomach illness, well, of course is completely possible and more, if you are trying to explore really the paths of the mexican culture, i would say: for sure! you will get stomach problmes at certain moment, but it worths. Anyway there are different kind of advices to try to avoid at the maximun the chances of spending your trip in a WC. Most of the traveler advicer surely you know about it already, but here i will tell you some local information to complement. First at all, in the City there are lots of places to eat, popular ones and expensive ones, and not necessarily expensiveones are the clean ones, at least not where they preprae food, maybe the tables and the waiter are clean but so is the meals?. I strongly suggest go and try on the streets, try to taste, you will find fantastic food. When yo are a just arrived person, begin with any kind of "snakcs" prepared with corn, fried of toasted, try to avoid cheese, fat, "chicharron" ( fried pork meat) and chicken, instead of these, ther are "nopales" the national cactus which is very good for health and expremely popular, you can ask it as ensalada over your think tortilla called "sope", or ask for a "quesadilla" wich is a toritilla feld in the middle with nice tuff inside, it can be with mashrooms, cheese, salad, pumpkin flowers, onions, etc. As for stuuf made with vegetables, and try to eat mashrooms mostly in the big cities, becasue in the little towns could be a little dangerous if a bad one is mixed with the rest, there have being massive intoxication because of it.

You will need your own stock of mexian bacteria, but you need to get it gradually, so the first days try to eat those things made with corn, and you can buy bread in the backery, try sweet bread called "biscochos" but also you can pick up some "bolillos" wich is white mexican bread made with influence of french and austrian ones, it is very good to be stuffed with chili, tomatoes, cheese boutgh in the store and other things, very cheap and very soft for stomach good option for the first days. Later when you start to recognize what is what about meals, you can start to explore some meats maybe and some other fried things, there are lots in the streets! maybe , in case you are meat eater, you goal can be have a stomach adapted enough to try the absolutly delicious street tacos!!! nothing to do with those strange things they sell in restaurants outside mexico, if you like meat, you have to try some, but well, try to find a no so bad place before because unfortunately, many people get ill eating tacos in the street.

Chili!.. Well, you are or you will be in the country of chili so you will be able to enjoy it, but be pondering becasue weak stomachs can suffering if much cilil is eaten. Try to eat it completely chopped or chewed because some strong chilis which get to the stomach in big pieces and remain for long there can make severe wounds.

With Water

The general rule is never drink water from the tops, no matter how expensive the hotel can be, no matter what the local people say. But of course as always there can be variants, and exceptions to the rule, but suggest to break the rule only after being a time in the country and have learn to distiguish the kind of water source you are in front of. In the expensive zone of the DF, called "Santa Fe" there are different water sources so, some studies show that water is much better than in the rest of the city, but anyway not in the whole zone and other thing is the state of the tubes, so better not trying. In the other hand, as the guides say, try to drink always sealed water bottles, and i would say that if you ask for such bottle in a restaurant, ask for the biggest bands, since there are many fake clean waters for turist that are bought in cheap restaurants, that water is not clean enough and anyway you will have to pay for it.


In the countryside transport

The main routes in in the country are run by good buses in big lines. The high ways are mostly in good condition and there is not problem, the buses are confortable although a bit expensive ( a bit more than in chile and argentina to compare in the continent). If the journay will be to a popular destination, surele is safe enough traveling over night, this is the case, of all places like DF-oaxaca, DF-cancun, Df most in chiapas, DF-veracruz, DF-yucatan, etc. When trip big city, to big city, surely the bus will run over good speed ways, but in the case the trip is to small towns, can chenge the situation, then it is good idea planning the trip along the day. And in the case of using a not first class bus in local routes, then it is very importan to do it in the day light since it is not rare to be assaulted.

To make a calculation of times and prices, make a calculation in the link ticketmaster that you can find in the seccion "urgency and logistic information".