Bus Stop Reopened

Several trips ago, I discovered a new way to get to downtown Mexico City from my apartment.  From my nearby bus stop, instead of taking the busy Line 1 Metrobus which runs the length of Insurgentes Avenue, I could take Line 2.  Since Line 2 begins just a few stops to the south of me, chances were good that there would still be empty seats on the bus.  This Metrobus route veers off of Insurgentes Avenue, and I would continue for several stops until I reached the Etiopía stop.  (The stop is located at a traffic circle which was named in the 1930s to show solidarity with Ethiopia after it was invaded by Mussolini.)  I would cross the street and transfer to Line 3.  Since this was the first stop of that line, I could always get a seat.  The route took me north, and I could get off in the heart of downtown by Juárez Avenue near the Alameda Park.

However, beginning in autumn of last year there was a fly in the ointment.  The Line 3 station at the Etiopía traffic circle was closed.  What was the reason for the closure?  Some said that it was because a large government building facing the intersection had been severely damaged in last September's earthquake.  Hopefully that was not the reason.  If the building were in danger of collapsing upon the bus stop, it was also a danger to the pedestrians who are constantly walking along the sidewalk beneath it.  Another reason for the closure might have been that new sidewalks and landscaping were being put in at the traffic circle.  Whatever the reason was, it was then necessary to walk several blocks up the street to the next stop along Line 3.  It was no longer as convenient an option as before.

The renovation of the traffic circle is now completed.  And it finally appears as if something is going to be done about the damaged government building which has been empty since the earthquake.  

There is a barricade around the building and there are long, curtain-like fabrics hanging down the sides of the structure.  Is it going to demolished?  Or is it going to be repaired?  I don't know.

Finally the Line 3 Metrobus stop at Etiopia is open once again.

Yesterday, I was able to take my alternate route to go downtown.