A day in Mexico City

Greetings from Mexico City! I am here at SIPAIM 2023. This conference brings together people working in Biomedical Engineering in Latin America and it is an opportunity to meet and catch up with colleagues working on important research topics. Also, I got to chair the technical session on Brain Imaging. Yay!

This is my first time here and I immediately fell in love with the city and its people. I am in a very cool part of town called Condesa. My impression of this neighbourhood is that is a relaxed, unpretentious hip place. People are chatting with friends, sitting outside taking the sun on the patios, walking their dogs or going for a run. It makes me think of Roncesvalles Ave. in Toronto, a little bit. Only if it was always sunny, with more midcentury buildings, in a colonial tropical forest. Ok, maybe not the same but a similar vibe.

Today was the only time I had to go around and know the city a bit more. I decided to go to La Basilica de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, a pilgrimage destination for many Latin Americans. The Uber took forever to get there and as we were leaving the center of the city and headed north, the city transformed itself: The beautiful tropical forest faded away giving way to arid and mundane streets. There were a multitude of little shops for shoes, t-shirts, blender part replacements and phone cases. Anything you might need for less. The cafes and restaurants of Condesa seemed a distant memory and were replaced by a sea of people going somewhere, taking buses, and crossing avenues.

I finally made it to La Basilica. I walked into a futuristic space with big hexagonal Moroccan-looking lanterns. On one side almost all Latin American flags, but I didn't count them.

There is a descending path behind the altar that takes you to a dark room with a conveyor belt in the middle. As I stepped on the conveyor belt I looked up and saw the painting of La Virgen de Guadalupe. Then, I went back up to the other side and sat down on one of the pews. The priest was almost done with the liturgy and I spent this time in silence taking in the surroundings, looking at people. Each person following their own story, with a different reason to be here today. I saw a family ahead of me. Grandma was in a wheelchair with a modest bouquet on her lap. On my left, there was a nun, with a rosary in her hands, and her eyes closed praying, further down I saw a husband and a wife with a baby in white clothes, perhaps coming from a baptism. As I sat there, observing people, I thought of my own family. My mom in Colombia and how happy she would have been to be with me on this trip. I promised to bring her a little souvenir, and I made sure to get the blessing from the priest, for good luck and prosperity.

I am not a particularly religious person. However, the Spanish language and culture are elements that are part of the person I am. For me, La Virgen de Guadalupe, is a cultural representation, a refuge for people looking for meaning, and for help with the hardships of life. Having grown up in Colombia, this important Latin American symbol was embedded in me, and being there for the first time in my life was an important life milestone. Something that connected me with Mexico and with the rest of Latin America. You can have culture and tradition and also be a scientist. Man is more than just science or just religion. It is amazing everything that we can be, all at once, like Schr?dinger's cat.

Leaving the basilica wasn't easy. It is a very tourist place and its streets are hectic and disorienting. To make things worse, my cell phone reception was really bad and my Uber driver didn't move at all for 20 minutes. Finally, when I got a signal, I got a notification that my Uber driver had cancelled. I took it easy. I prayed in silence observing people, and also admiring the view of the city behind the basilica and further away from the awe-striking mountains in Mexico State, surrounding the city.

I finally got an Uber that took me to El Cardenal, a restaurant in the city center. For lunch, I had the chicken in mole poblano. Mole is a sauce made with beans. This particular kind of mole was sweet and spicy as it had chocolate and some Mexican peppers. The combination of sweet and spicy was unexpected and delicious. This must be what culinary connoisseurs would refer to as layering the flavours.

After lunch, I headed to El Zocalo, the city's town square, with a cathedral on one end and government buildings around it. El Zocalo is an important place in Mexican history: this was also an important place for Aztecs before the Spanish conquest.

As the day wound down, I headed back to my hotel and reflected on my time in Mexico. People here are very nice, they share the common goal of making their country better. I leave with the impression of a culture that is happy, creative, bold, and welcoming.

Ciudad de México, I will miss you. But I know I will be back ??????

I hope you enjoyed reading this instalment of Digital Reflections. Remember to subscribe for more. I write on LinkedIn and substack .