Mexico. 27 Cultural sites, six natural sites, 1 cultural/natural site, eight intangible Cultural Heritage sites. 23 sites to be considered to the list.
These are the basic UNESCO numbers, and believe me, there is so much more, that I immediately learned when I landed in Mexico City for a three-day project I cavalierly entitled: #MeetMeInMexicoCity. Yep, I was walking around the world’s 19th largest city thanks to a last minute invitation from Alitalia. to board its inaugural FCO-MEX non-stop flight with a bag and the answer to its single question: What would you do in 72 hours in Mexico City?
The question blew my mind. My only knowledge of Mexico, much less Mexico City, is relegated to a beautiful long weekend in Holbox, the brief Diego/Frida coverage in my modern art history recitation, and a love of Spanish-language movies. In other words, I know postcards and film clips. So to answer Alitalia’s question: Eat, Kahlo, Pyramids.
Given an entire alpha global city (which counts nearly nine million inhabitants across its 573 square miles, not to mention a total of20 million in the greater metropolitan area), I realized some kind of guidelines would be needed and thought about UNESCO’s ongoing list of cultural and natural heritage sites. As above, Mexico has 34 sites, with five of those cultural sites in and within one hour from Mexico City. All I needed was a plan and transport while intangible heritage, which includes indigenous art, music, markets, festivals, ceremonies and food, needed just a little foot work.
Mexico City. Is. Amazing. From Tenochtitlan to today, Mexico City is a beautiful adventure in color, sound, taste and history. It was like standing in a wrinkle in time where history, art, culture and architecture overlapped and folded into each other. In three days, I had delicious different regional cuisine and ate every kind of Vitamina T – tacos, tamales, tlacoyas, and tortas – I stood in front of a huge Diego Rivera mural at the national university on the same day that I climbed 2000 year old temples in an archaeological site, I danced to mariachi on a floating garden in Xochimilco, walked around an international shrine, watched Aztec dancing, stood in the center the one of the biggest squares in the world, and caught up with Frida and Luis. My three day wrinkle in time wasa crazy and colorful rhythm of movement, imagery, scents and sounds. I want more.
The 34 properties in Mexico on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
