With around 22 million people, Mexico City is the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world. This is not the only reason why it attracts more tourists every year. In 2023 there could be more than four million, more than ever before. The mega-metropolis has pretty much everything a traveler could wish for: history, culture, art, music, excellent street food, star restaurants, spectacular nature and of course its residents, who are known for their open, respectful and life-affirming nature are known.
Lalo Garcia, for example, is a star chef on the Mexican culinary scene. He lives the American dream in reverse: growing up in the USA as the child of illegal immigrant field workers, deported to Mexico as an adult, to a country he barely knew. He found his success and happiness here. The ZDF team traveled with him at dawn through the canal landscape created by the Aztecs to the floating growing areas in the south of Mexico City, where he gets inspiration as well as the freshest herbs and the best vegetables. The team also accompanied him for a day in his trendy restaurant Máximo - from the morning briefing for the employees to the increasing hectic pace in the kitchen to the end of a long Mexican evening.
Angel Palafox, a former pilot, experiences a completely different but no less strenuous everyday life. He realized that you could make a lot of money operating private ambulances in Mexico City. Because there are far too few public ambulances for the city of 22 million. Private companies fill the gap and make money from it. Some, like Angel's, are well equipped and have paramedics or doctors on board. Others are souped-up vans, with minimal features. In order to get there as quickly as possible, they follow the police scanner and look for posts about accidents on Facebook. They hand out business cards in front of hospitals in case an ambulance is needed. It's a business of necessity, but also an important service in an underfunded health system.
The ZDF crew also accompanied a trans activist, rode with the city's bicycle mayor, met a classic Sonidero DJ, attended the Night of the Museums and got rare and intimate insights into the private lives of Mexican Lucha fans. Libre fighters. All protagonists represent how creative and combative the people in Mexico City are.
