The semi-detached rural village of San Francisco in the far north east of Iztapaluca was one last outpost of building before wide fields of wheat, pepper trees and giant agaves reconquered the landscape. So the city yields to the countryside.… 6. The village that travels: Hornos de San Francisco
I had passed Iztapalapa and Valle de Chalco. Since I had been told these areas were particularly dangerous my paranoia began to subside. I no longer felt cannibals at any moment could attack me and that every male between twelve… 5. Witchcraft and spirits: Cocotitlán
On the edge of Valle de Chalco stands the vast hulk of the ex-Hacienda of Xico. One building is falling apart, a jagged tear cutting through it like lightning. The building is built up against the side of the Xico… 4. The navel of the moon: Valle de Xico
It was just a nip behind the ankle, a very professional, almost playful bite. And though I constantly encountered street dogs on this walk it was country dog that bit me. Most dogs were in reality guard dogs, a necessity… 3. Dogs: Bitten in the Pasture of the Moon
Wandering along the flat, swampy, edges of Lake Chalco, I saw a teenage girl perched on the wall of her house. She held cables in her hands and was connecting what was called a diablito to the power lines above… 2. Valle de Chalco: Urban Indigenous Migrants
Apparently the world becomes hard to recognize once you are dead. I imagine it to be grey and full of shadows, constantly shifting without order. The people of Milpa Alta use certain methods to facilitate the return of the dead… 1. San Francisco Tecoxpa: Day of the Dead
The idea to do this project started two years before I first set foot from San Francisco Tecozpa in Milpa Alta November 1st 2009. I was 37-years-old. I had just resigned my job as investigative reporter of a Mexican business… Prologue: From the Center Outwards
The world has never known cities as big as the megacities of the 21st century. Big. That is the principle characteristic of Mexico City. So big that it has outgrown its own administrative limits, leaving the city as a whole… Introduction