Job Discussion Forums

[M@tt]

i don't know that taxis are any safer. they have a really bad rep here in DF for robbery, rape, etc. you're best calling for a taxi and verifying the numbers and all that, rather than getting one on the street. i NEVER get one on the street unless i'm with at least one mexican friend.

i've lived in DF for 4 months. before that i visited about 12 times. i always have stayed and lived in the centro or very nearby. despite the fact that this area has a very bad reputation, i choose to be an idiot and walk around at night alone. i also cut through the alameda sometimes, which is full of prostitutes and some drug dealing (ok, i didn't know this at first and have since stopped doing it so often, but i do basically live at the corner of the park). so anyway, i would say i've logged a good 200 hours of walking around the center, reforma, and garibaldi alone at night, and nothing has every happened to me. i'm blond and very white and it probably helps that i'm a man and i know where i'm going and sometimes i'm carryinga skateboard, which could be used as a weapon, but anyway--i don't know if i'm just lucky? i have never been a victim of assault.

however, i wouldn't recommend the same behavior to someone else, especially not a woman.

i don't know if this helps at all. evidently mexico city is VERY dangerous because that's all anyone talks about, but you can live here for awhile, even in a fairly crappy zone, without anything happening to you.

[Guy Courchesne]

Much of the centro has been remodelled and refurbished over the last 3 years, and it's gotten noticeably safer. Better lighting, few abandoned buildings, more police, and more places open past 6 PM. It used to pretty much empty out after nightfall, even around the Zocalo.

Garibaldi at night is a bit of a risk, Matt. I think you're lucky not to have had anything happen. Mind you, if you were wearing that hat, you might blend in? Just need a pair of those funky musical pants.

[M@tt]

i find that jam pants work pretty well for scaring away hooligans. most of them are afraid of a roundhouse kick to the face.