With our backpacks dusted off we stepped forth onto the streets of Mexico City and in doing so, returned to the life of a couple of backpackers.

Mexico City has an unfair reputation. I guess Hollywood had given me the impression that Mexico City would be unsafe - a location where i'd be kidnapped and ransomed. I wasn´t. In fact Mexico City is remarkably cosmopolitan and civilised. With 25 million residents I expected utter chaos.

From the airport Em and I jumped straight onto the subway, no dodgy buses/taxis to navigate (paying attention Melbourne?). The subway was very impressive. It felt safe and reasonably clean. By the end of our stay in Mexico City I even started to enjoy the street sellers that ride the subway all day with speakers strapped to their backs blarring horrendous mexican tunes whilst trying to offload some cds.

We stayed in a great little hostel in Roma Norte which is outside the historical centre of Mexico but in the ritzier suburbs. The hostel was a parisan styled townhouse and our little double 'room' had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, two chandelliers, high ceilings, beautiful stain glass windows and lastly a tremendous host - Alfonso (actually he wasn´t in our room). Alfonso made us feel at home and helped us settle in, he was a saint. Plus he made very respectable coffee which was a suprise to be sure.

Within the bounds of Mexico City there are only 8 million people, the remaining 17 million people live in what looks like the favellas of Rio de Janeiro, which surround Mexico City in what is known as the 'Poverty Belt'. According to a local we were speaking to the people who reside here only have to pay for gas and satellite tv, and generally they all have running water and electricity which is supplied by the state/stolen by tricky electrical wiring. All the houses in the 'Poverty Belt' are unpainted grey stone, this is because once a house is painted it is considered complete and the owners then have to pay land tax. Mexico needs a Henry review.

One of the more interesting 'factlets' learnt during our stay is that Mexico City is built on what was once a lake. As the city grew and grew the island city eventually reached the shores of the lake and expanded beyond. Consequently many structures in Mexico City are sinking, indeed one church that we visited was on a disturbing tilt.

We saw some of the sights that the guide books recommend, including the historical centre and the teotihuacan ruins. But what we savoured the most was just wandering the streets of the suburbs. We found savvy little vino bars, great eateries and beautiful streetscapes and parks that very much appealed to us.

As luck would have it, the 15th September is Mexico's Independence Day we were there to savour it. We headed into town to join the throngs of Mexicanos lining the streets and filling the Zocalo square. Alas the heavens opened and literally rained on the parade. My enthusiasm to stand in the massive crowd waned as we stepped out of the subway into the torrential rain, and i readied myself to try to reason with Emily about the feasibility of seeing the celebrations. Em to my surprise agreed that wading down the streets/canals was a silly idea, just to listen to the president announce something in español that we wouldn't understand. Still, we tried.

In short, unlike other capital cities such as Colombo and Jakarta, Mexico City isn't one of those places that should be skipped over. We very much enjoyed our time.