Up, Up and Away

To the north of the Mexico City limits, in the State of Mexico (the state which surrounds the capital on three sides) is the city of Ecatepec.  Ecatepec has a population of over 1.5 million people and is a part of the greater Mexico City area.  It has a reputation for being a very dangerous area, but, nevertheless, Alejandro and I have been talking for some time about visiting a unique attraction there.  In 2016 Ecatepec inaugurated an aerial cable car that travels for three miles above the crowded city with five intermediate stations.  It was built not as a tourist attraction, but as a form of public transportation.  In this densely populated city, it could take more than an hour to travel those three miles from one part of town to another.  There was no room to build wider roads or a subway system, so instead they built a transport system above the city.  Now that distance can be covered in 17 minutes. 

On Monday we decided to experience the Mexicable.  The problem was, how to get there?  Alejandro lives on the north side of Mexico City, not that far from Ecatepec, but he still had to consult Google Maps on how to go there by public transportation.  (We were not going to drive and leave his car parked on the street in that sketchy neighborhood.)  We took the Metrobus near his house to the end of the line, and from there we took the Metro to Ecatepec.  Alejandro then called an Uber to take us to the Santa Clara terminus of the Mexicable.

Outside the terminal are a group of sculptures... a colorful family of elephants.  (I don't know if there is any significance to the sculptures.)

The outside of the terminal is decorated with a painting of Frida Kahlo.

Upon entering the terminal, we bought a rechargeable card (similar to the card I have for using the Metrobus and the subway in Mexico City) with which we could travel on the Mexicable and other public transportation networks within the State of Mexico.  We then used the card to pay our seven peso fare (about 37 cents) and pass through the turnstile.  There is an elevator, but we climbed the stairs up to where we boarded one of the cable cars.

The cable cars never stop, but as they enter the terminal they slow down, the doors open, and it is easy to jump into one before the doors close.  Then they speed up as they sail high over the city.  Monday, the day that we took this adventure, was a legal holiday, the observance of Constitution Day.  As a result not many people were using the Mexicable, and most of the time we had the car to ourselves.  (Each car can accommodate up to ten people.)

And away we go...

A soccer match below us

 Passing above a cemetery

From the cable car you can view the poor neighborhoods which climb the mountainsides.

Arriving at one of the stations along the way...

Since the opening of the Mexicable many buildings beneath the route have been painted with murals by international artists.

 A serpent painted on the wall of one of the terminals

There are even some buildings that have their rooftops painted.

We reached the end of the line at a neighborhood called La Cañada on the slopes of the Sierra de Guadalupe.

We took a short walk around the neighborhood near the terminal.

The parish church next to the terminal was of recent construction but quite pretty inside.

There were more mural paintings on and around the terminal.

We then got back on the Mexicable and made the return trip to the Santa Clara terminal where we had started.

When we got to the end we realized that there is bus... called the Mexibus… which is similar to the Metrobus in Mexico City.  It goes directly from the Mexicable terminal to Indios Verdes, the terminus for a couple of the Metrobus lines.  Before leaving the Mexicable terminal, we recharged our new card with a few more pesos, and boarded the bus.  Unfortunately, Indios Verdes is a chaotic transportation hub, and Alejandro had to ask directions a couple of times in order to find our way to the Metrobus stop.  Taking a couple of buses we made our way back to his house.

Both of us thought that the Mexicable was great.   From the safety of the cable car you get to view a side of greater Mexico City that you would not otherwise get to see.  If it were not so difficult to get there I would heartily recommend it to visitors.

Alejandro told me that there are one or two projects in the works for aerial cable car lines  within the Mexico City limits.  I look forward to taking those also.