tonyherrera

I visited Rio De Janeiro in 1998 for about 4 days and was not overwhelmed by this beach side city. The hotel strip and beach area that I stayed at was beautiful, but several blocks into town you could see the dire poverty and favelas (ghettos) that are such a big part of Brazil. The sex trade has a enormous presence in Rio and my friends and I were constantly approached by women on the street and solicited for “drinks”. Outside of being the victim of a scam while exchanging US Dollars at the airport my trip was relatively calm. I found the people pleasant and polite, and the beautiful bodies on the beach lived up to their reputation, but thus far have not been compelled to return to Rio.

Coyoacan is one of the most trendy areas of Mexico City. It is rich in history and one of it’s claims to fame is that it contains the home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. The architecure, people and restaurants of this area are wonderful. It is a definite place to visit if you find yourself in Mexico City.

I visited Mexico City over a dozen times and absolutely love it, but hey we are talking about a huge city. Take Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and New York and you got yourself the megalopolis that is Mexico City or “El DF” as locals call it. Tepito would be classified as the “I would not go there if I were you”, by the locals. In fact that is exactly what my friends said to me and I should have taken their advise. While strolling through the Tianguis the open air markets, I was casually approached by several burly, thuggish looking types and at gun point and in broad daylight, in front of merchants, is was politely asked to hand over the contents of my pockets. The guy with the gun simply stated this is an “asalto cabron”, translation “this is a stick-up asshole”. I did not hesitate to hand over the two twenty dollar bills I had in my pocket. The three guys quickly without a word slipped into the crowds. If you are not faint at heart, have a bit of common sense and love to travel to exotic places, then a trip to Tepito can still be a worthwhile. Just leave your credit cards and passport at the hotel, take a photcopy of your passport for ID purposes, don’t carry any jewelry and take with you a limited amount of cash, then venture out and see the underbelly of Mexico City.