Smells

This is what Popular Science has to say about Mexico City:

"Mexico City is a natural pollution trap. Surrounded by mountains on three sides and located 7,400 feet above sea level, the soot and exhaust from the city’s four million mostly high-polluting cars gets trapped in a cloud over the city, which experiences 300 days a year of exceedingly high ozone levels. To fix things, the city has begun a pilot project retrofitting 25 diesel buses with particulate filters. Now, if it could only retrofit the other 2,975 buses . ."

Mexico City gets a bad rep for its pollution. People (who have never been here) tell me being in MxC is like smoking two packs of cigarettes per day. That`s a naive statement: there`s no way 20 million people would survive smoking 40 cigarettes each day. That`s called effective population control. But you do notice how dirty the air can be. I`ve started sneezing and sniffling constantly in my job. I work on the 20th floor of a high rise, right up there with the thick blanket of haze and smog, and I think the ventilation system sucks in air from way up there.

On the streets, you smell the diesel exhaust from trucks and unburned gasoline dripping out of the old lime-green VW taxis. It can be arresting some times. On top of that you see, smell or step in streaks of dog doo, puddles of acid rainwater or a river of greasy pork slime from a street stand. It's not just Mexico City, though -- any big city has its environmental vices.

Besides the occasional unpleasantry, I've gotten used to the exhaust and smog. In some areas of the city it's not so bad. The worst is the zocalo (city square in downtown). With so much congestion, it's intolerable. When I came here in June

The house I live in, though, is like a mini sanctuary from all that contamination. Almost every square foot has a plant of some type. Plants filter the air, and they add good vibes to any enclosed space. With so much rain and sun, plants grow well in MxC.

I had a baby cactus and another small plant with long, skinny leaves on my desk in the office to maintain the good vibes, but with a lack of direct sun, they were drying and dying, so I brought them back and put them out on the patio. Hopefully they survive.