Mexico City Muse

By Jeffrey Herlihy-Mera

My literary idols brought me to Mexico City last month. While D.F. (short for “Distrito Federal” in Spanish) has always intrigued me, my time here was limited to flight connections to Havana or Quito. But, the pandemic made me rethink this: if the novels, music, and history of México are often on my mind, why do I look toward Cuba and Europe for experience? In the stillness of lockdown days in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, my visions were of sidewalk cafés around Zócalo, Colonia Roma and La Villa. They were of the stories written here, and of the people who wrote them. I c...