Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
Every Sunday, Mexico City shuts down the Paseo de la Reforma, the most important street in the country, to car traffic.
That means that each week more than 100,000 people get on bikes and skates and rollerblades to roll past some of the most iconic parts of Mexico's capital city.
It is my favorite weekly ritual in a city full of rituals, because it showcases the enormity and diversity of this city.
I've seen gangs of clowns and gaggles of vatos on lowrider bikes. You see families and runners and older ladies dancing Zumba in the shadow of the Angel of Independence statue. The city and its tribes are on full display.
Last weekend, I met Benji, an 8-year-old pup who has been riding in his owner's basket for two years. And the good pup that he is, he always wears a helmet and sunglasses.
See more photos from around the world:
- Greetings from Kyiv, where candles are the last option during wartime blackouts
- Greetings from Mumbai, where residents take breathing space where they can find it
- Greetings from Kalk Bay, a South African fishing village where wild seals await scraps
- Greetings from Acre, Israel, where an old fortress recalls the time of the Crusades
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