I’ve answered some of your e-mail questions below.

1. Audioscape from the barrio of Coyoacán.

In my fourth day here I’ve come to the easy conclusion that Mexico City never sleeps. After filing my reports about 2 a.m I spent a few minutes looking out of my hotel window thinking about the day. But my attention was drawn to the people below who were still waiting for buses, the taxi drivers who had set up card tables to play games, the people milling around the Independence Monument with its golden angel watching over the city. The balloon vendor puzzled me the most. Who could possibly want a balloon at this time of night? I watched as he walked around the monument and disappeared around the corner. The rumble of the city is lower at this time, but it never really ceases. White noise to sleep by.

Today I headed for Coyoacán. It’s fifteen miles south of the city center–fifteen miles of shop after shop and intersections with vendors who don’t beg, but walk among the stopped cars selling tummy trimmers, floppy frog hats, magazines, gum, and plastic-wrapped candies. There are the window washers who sprawl across your car squeegeeing your windows of the city grime, who somehow finish before the light changes. It’s up to you to pay. This time I didn’t pay and felt guilty even though the windshield was clean to begin with. This was repeated block after block after block.

Coyoacán is a barrio, a small neighborhood, of Mexico City that reaches back to the 1500s with its cobblestone streets, baroque mansions, and huge old trees. For the first time I felt the pressure of the city ratcheting back as I walked along the narrow streets, photographing the colonial symmetry of homes and shops. Women with hard-soled shoes walked with their children, their footsteps echoing along the walls. The sounds of laughter rose from the nearby square as Miko, a street performer, led the children in a dance. Couples sat on the white wrought-iron benches kissing and touching. The organ grinder stopped playing as I walked by with the camera. He knew I was trying to record his sounds. You got nothing from him without pesos.

Thanks for your comments Deepa. It is new ground we’re breaking, trying to file dispatches on a daily basis. It leaves less time for introspection and makes one more reactive. Sometimes first impressions are wrong. But in its defense, there is something about its immediacy, this web thing, and it’s got my interest. Hope you can follow me for the rest of the week.

Richard, make sure you visit the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo museums and let us know how you liked them.You may also want to take a short trip to Cuernavaca. For night life, I may suggest "El Patio". It was always a happening place, especially for old favorites. Regards, Marty Otero

Thanks for the idea, Marty. I wanted to see the Kahlo museum today, but I ran out of time. I can feel how both of the artists (they lived in Coyoacán from 1910 - 1954) drew energy from living here. I recommend anyone going to Mexico City to put San Angel or Coyoacán on their agenda. They both give a reprieve from pressures of the city. I’ll try to check out the “El Patio” on Friday.

Richard: Magnificent! Please keep working. I returned from Veracruz yesterday via Mexico City­my first time to pass the peaks in an airplane. My hair stood on end! Are you doing the flag ceremony? Ed Dawson

Good day Ed! I agree about Mexico City’s setting. Most of the time the mountains are shrouded in haze, but there have been times when I could see the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl. I was over to Zocalo Square the other day and they are doing some work on it. I am told they are not doing the flag ceremony during these repairs. Zocalo Square is an incredible place to watch people, visit the cathedral, and look at the Aztec ruins.

Richard, when traveling in Mexico the past two winters I have avoided DF [Mexico City], having read about the extreme air pollution. In particular I was concerned about the statistic I read that 600 tons of fecal matter per day entered the air as dust, there being available toilet facilities for only 2/3 of the population. While I had no trouble with the discipline of drinking bottled water, I would find it much harder not to breathe! My understanding is that we are liable to the same diseases from e. coli in the atmosphere as in the water, and I would be interested in your views or investigations on this. Gracias, Dan McWethy

Actually, Dan, I’m surprised how little pollution there seems to be this time around. The weather has been nice and probably there have been no inversions. I know they are studying the matter, but I can’t really comment about your specific question. With leaded gas still being sold and very little in automotive enforcement of emission standards, this problem will be around for a while. I doubt the economy can handle the costs of what it takes to clean up the environment.

I discovered your site yesterday, and what an excellent one it is too! I spent a year in Mexico, oh, 14 years ago now, when I was studying Spanish. . . I had a wonderful year, two months or more of which I spent in Mexico City. I must admit, I found it a daunting place, unless I kept to my own colonia (or neighborhood), which was manageable. What you say about Mexicans stoically spending hours travelling to work rings true. The distances to travel are huge and the need to work is vital. The London Underground is crowded in the rush hour, but even 14 years ago the Mexico City Metro was packed beyond belief. Saving graces for me were Chapultepec Park, the area around the Zocalo, Bellas Artes and Sanborn's restaurants. I would love to visit Mexico again. I'm sure I will, but for the time being I can follow your travels. Enjoy yourself and have a bananalicuado for me! Hasta luego, Janine Eagling

Dear Janine, it sounds like you still have great memories for this “daunting” place. But you’re right, it is hard to image an infastructure that can maintain this. With unemployment and crime high, the city still seems to carry on. For how long, I don’t know. But the people here have a strong will. I know that sounds like a pat answer, but it’s true.

Hi Richard! My name is John Ramirez, I am 17 years old and I am writing from Monterrey, Mexico. I want to congratulate you for the excellent report about Mexico. You talk about a country that three years ago was on all-world. You know Mexico is going to be on 1 world, a low-rate dollar, but on January 1, 1994 all break down. The report show the inequalities of my country, the north more richer than south, but economically, not on raw material. Unfortunately I don’t see how to exit of this crash, and I don’t know what is going to happen here. I’m living the tequila effect. Sincerely, John Ramirez

John, you speak from your heart when you say you’re living the tequila effect. But I say that Mexico can pull itself out. I’m no economist, but I have to believe with the resources of Mexico and the right leadership, there will be good times ahead.