Avenida Insurgentes
Mexico City’s longest avenue, measuring 29 kilometers, is jam-packed with parks, monuments, restaurants, clothing shops, and all kinds of attractions for tourists, and traversing the avenue, back and forth in any direction is super convenient, as most of the entire avenue is serviced by the Metrobus Linea 1 rapid transit system (with a station every couple of blocks. Access is only $6 pesos, and you can purchase your card at any of the stations), several Metro stations like “Insurgentes” on Línea 1 and “Insurgentes Sur” on Línea 12, and even the city’s public bicycle service called Ecobici.
Avenida de los Insurgentes,is named after the insurgents who fought the Mexican War of Independence, originally was the Vía del Centenario and ran from the city’s center to its southern suburbs. In the 1930’s it was paved and widened for automobile circulation and it attracted wealthy residents who built modern housing developments on the avenue. It traverses some of the city’s most iconic neighborhoods like Condesa, Roma, Nápoles, Del Valle, San Ángel, Pedregal, and crosses with Paseo de la Reforma near Zona Rosa, not far from the historic center.
Further down to the south is the city’s largest university campus, the UNAM, which in and of itself is packed with museums and landmarks worth a few hours out of your day trip. Just a little more to the south is the Perisur shopping mall that contains every modern shopping and dining experience; from there Insurgentes continues its southern route, finally reaching the southern terminus of the city and continues as a highway to lovely Cuernavaca. To the north, the avenue experiences a similar fate, as it becomes the highway leading to windy Pachuca.
Among the many noteworthy landmarks, the Polyforum Cultural Siqueiros is of special note. Located right next to the World Trade Center, it’s a cultural, political, and social facility, which is mainly known for having the world’s largest mural, a fresco measuring 8,700 m² named “The March of Humanity” by Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. Currently, the facility is being remodeled but is expected to reopen soon. Other important sites include the often over-looked Parque de la Bombilla (off Metrobus station “La Bombilla”), a perfectly manicured park with electrically coordinated fountains that was the site where former Mexican president Álvaro Obregón was assassinated, at a restaurant named “La Bombilla”, now in its place is the park and a massive monument in honor of the fallen dignitary.
Any stretch of Insurgentes that you choose to walk on is sure to have something interesting to view and experience, if you’re staying close to the avenue try to find a little time in your schedule to walk your assigned little chunk of Insurgentes, and see what’s interesting to see and do in your neck of the woods because su rely there will be something worth your while.
