Del otro lado border crossings, disappearing souls, and other transgressions

Mexico is not simply the sweaty, sickly yellow-green of recent cinema, home to corrupt officials, drug traffickers, and one good cop who stands up against them all. It is much more diverse and complex than that, magnificent in the way that only a nation with cultures thousands of years old can be. Here in Mexico City, below Aztec ruins, tons of asphalt, skyscrapers, and the harmony of competing water and tamale vendors on their bicycles calling out their wares- !Agua ⋯ agua! Rojos, verdes, dulces, tamales! !Rojos, verdes!-the subway swooshes into the station on pneumatic tires so quietly that you can speak softly to the person next to you. The shiny steel doors open and you go inside, one of millions of people moving underground every day.