Mexico City Photo Essay

In May, Lucas, Emilio and I went to Mexico City, now nicknamed CDMX, to finish up the paperwork process of getting our Mexican citizenship.

Visiting a less familiar city is always a fun opportunity to bust out my Fuji x100 to capture some street photography. Living on a dirt road in the desert does not offer too many of these chances. For the first 35 years of my life, I lived in cities--New York and then SF, and Oakland and walking around with my camera is a welcome return to my former life. 

The hotel we stayed at was in the downtown and very close to China Town. I have a history of living in Chinatown and have had an affinity for Chinese culture since I was a child. I also studied Chinese for 7 years as a youth! So it was super fun to capture both Mexican and Chinese culture in some of these shots.

Mexico City is a fun place, but I must admit that I have become accustomed to a slower, quieter, less populated way of life, and I get overwhelmed by large cities now. 

We ate tacos at our favorite Taqueria: La Auténtica. I stopped eating "red meat" a year ago for no other reason than my body tells me not to eat it, but I do eat an occasional taco al pastor, which is pork, and I've heard is considered "the other white meat." Their al pastor tacos are the best I've ever had. I also love their little plates of nopal, and their quintet of salsas is incredible. I had to keep ordering totopos so I could have a vehicle for more salsa. We discovered La Autentica the last time we went to Mexico City, and that was when we first heard this powerfully moving song, El Paciente by Alfredo Olivas. It would be a high challenge, especially to sing, but some day I would like to  do a Zoë + The Mischief rock and roll cover of it. 

Anyway, our little trip was successful and we left as Mexican Citizens!