¿Le gusta México?

I take a cab to and from the buildings where I'm doing research, because they're not in the greatest areas. I've gotten relatively adept at calling for a cab, which was its own challenge for a bit, and I can almost always find the ones that are waiting for me. Taking a cab so often, however, means I have the following conversation pretty much twice every day:

Driver: "Where are you from?"

Me: "The United States."

Driver: "How long are you here for?"

Me: "Three months, I think."

Driver: "Do you like Mexico?"

Me: "Yes, I think it's lovely!"

Driver: "Oh - you speak Spanish very well!"

This exchange is followed by the driver giving me some sort of impromptu tour of our route, showing off different things about the city. I take roughly the same route every day, yet I've never been given the same tour. That's another thing I like about Mexico - everyone here is very proud of their city, and very proud of different things about it. For instance, a few days ago as we were heading back to my apartment my driver showed me a plaza where demonstrations were taking place. In the middle of this plaza is a giant arch, easily 50 feet high, and incredibly imposing - all tan and black brick, in a huge empty space. He asked if I knew what it was, which I did not.

"That's the Plaza de la Revolución. You know why? Because they were going to build the Palacio Nacional there [the official presidential building], but they only got through the what was going to be the main area, and then they had to stop and build it in a different place." For some reason - it's not entirely clear why - rather than building the Palacio there, they moved it to what is now known as the historic district. I have to say, having seen the real one, that they made the wrong choice - the arch in the plaza is much prettier. Anyway, this particular driver was very proud of the history of political activism in Mexico, something that remains to this day. Even under the PRI, Mexicans participated in a surprising level of political activity. Most governments like the PRI would tend to repress activism, out of concerns that it would lead to support for the opposition. The PRI certainly did that to some extent, but it also permitted a lot of activism, especially at the local level - partly to prevent dissension from boiling over into revolution, but also because it was a useful measure of what people were actually thinking.

But not everyone is proud of the same things here. Today's driver, going along almost exactly the same route, had something else he was very proud of to point out to me - the security cameras lining Paseo de la Reforma. Reforma is a major street going throughout the D.F., and as my driver pointed out to me, one of the things that recent governments have done is install tons and tons of security cameras along the avenue. Many of them are up high at intersections, intended to catch car accidents - but quite a few are lower down and intended, according to my driver, to protect bikers and joggers. These lower cameras are attached to security buttons that you can push if there's an emergency, and the police will come right away. My driver was very proud of this - he felt Mexico City has an undeservedly bad reputation, and that this might go some way towards proving that it's really pretty safe here.

I've really enjoyed hearing all the different things people are proud of here. It's an incredibly diverse city, and the people - especially the cabbies - are no less so!