Secret Mexico City

Secret Mexico City from publishers Jonglez is a fascinating look at the hidden places in Mexico’s intriguing and sometimes mysterious capital city.

Mexico City has long been high on our wish-list of places to visit, and we were actually thinking of a trip there when the pandemic put everyone’s travel plans on hold. To inspire us for when it’s safe to travel again, we’ve been reading Secret Mexico City from Jonglez, and now have a list of places to see a mile long. Our trip of a few days would have to stretch to a few months to be able to fit everything in.

Secret Mexico City Author

The author of the book is someone called Mario Yair TS, though I don’t know what the TS stands for. The book tells us nothing about the author, although a quick search reveals that they have written a lot for one of our favourite websites, Atlas Obscura. It’s a perfect fit for writing one of these Secret guides, as Atlas Obscura, as the name suggests, specialises in unearthing the obscure travel stories that we love to read about. Mario Yair has been writing for the site since 2015 and has written dozens and dozens of stories for them, mostly about Mexico and most of those about Mexico City.

Secret Mexico City Format

Secret Mexico City follows the same format of other Secret guides we’ve reviewed, such as Dublin, Amsterdam, and Venice. A map at the front shows Mexico City divided up into areas, and then each of those areas has its own section of the book. The majority of entries are then double-page spreads, with at least one large photo, and some smaller entries of nearby curiosities spread throughout.

Centro Historico

Starting with the main Centro Historico, this section has several dozen entries with the usual intriguing mix of titles:

• A horse that wasn’t a horse
• Casa 8 1/2
• A restaurant managed by gastronomy students
• The chapel that was never used
• Staircase designed by Leonardo da Vinci
• Crowned nuns

And many more.

The Hand-Cranked Car

A typical entry is the one for The Hand-Cranked Car. Like Mexico City itself, it encompasses history, art, music, and fun. This full-size 1949 Chevrolet is parked on a street corner but has a giant wind-up key sticking out of one side. It was created in 2005 by visual artist Bertsabeé Romero for the Hotel Condesa. When you turned the key, the song Veracruz by Agustin Lara would play. That’s no longer the case but the car is still there on the corner of Guadalajara and Veracruz.

Monument to Drainage Pipes

The majority of entries are either to do with religion and history, or with art. Not conventional art that you’ll find in an art gallery, though. No, this is Mexico City and the city is definitely different. Where else can you find a piece of outdoor art that is a monument to drainage pipes? The monument commemorates Mexico’s hydro-engineering system and was created by sculptor Angeles Gurria in 2004/5.

Model of La Villa

One final example from the hundreds in Secret Mexico City is the Model of La Villa. It’s an incredibly detailed model of Monte Tepeyac and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe as it was in 1949. It was built by an engineer, Manuel Calderon Leonardo Lemus, which explains the attention to detail. The reason it definitely qualifies as Secret Mexico City is that to find it you have to go into a shopping center and find the shop which has an invitation outside it for you to come in and see the model.

Buying Secret Mexico City

Secret Mexico City is published by Jonglez and is available on Amazon worldwide.