Toluca, Mexico

First time in Mexico, Toluca, being no turistic spot, I had no idea what to expect. The city is an industrial zone, and a dorm city for lots of people working in mexico city. Height is about 2,600 meters high, which for someone like me, used to sea level height is like the everest, with a constant reminder everytime I would walk up some stairs.

My first shock was to learn from the cab driver when we arrived that he considered the traffic to be light (40% due to him) when there were cars in every lane, separated by about ten meters distance, one from the other. No point of comparison with Uruguay I guess, where the same thing is considered rush hour.

On the way from the airport I could see people going on bike after some truck with the image of a virgin. The cab driver told us that it was a pilgrimage to some church. Afterwards we saw people riding horses with cowboy hats, also riding behind a virgin's image. Welcome to mexico I thought, that's a sight I'd never seen before.

Toluca's downtown I found to be beautiful, with lots of colorful churches, pouring people out on sunday morning. There also was this indoor garden with spectacular vitreauxsss. The city is not a rich one, but it's very colorful with again it's very different from where I come from, which is much more gray :(

People seems nice everywhere, but the sense of insecurity is high, mexicans always telling us to be real carefull, to watch out, you end up a bit paranoid. News tv programs were all about ransoms and street violence.

I also visited the Monte Nevado de Toluca (the snowed mount of toluca), with no snow though. Nice, the highest place I ever been at 4.200 meters high.

I did a little test with every cab driver I got to talk with (two per day, for three weeks) I always asked them the same three questions. First, how high is Toluca?, second how much is it's population, third do you know where Uruguay is? The last one, was almost retorical I knew I had no chance. Anyway, the results of my little survey were that taxi drivers in toluca had very little cultural backgrouns, even about the regional data. I kinda dissapointed me, I expected more I guess, it's kinda sad.

On and all the three week stay was a little too much time to spend in toluca for me, but knowing places is always good, right?

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