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I went to San Pablo Avenue near Centro to buy a bike. I didn´t know it was one of four zones in Mexico City where an open air sex market is allowed to thrive. Just so happens it´s also a street lined with dozens of bike repair/sales shops.
Families walk the street looking straight ahead most of the time, ignoring the girls propped up against the walls, or mingling near bus stops—always in site of a bike shop. Many of these women are brought (or forced) from pueblos throughout Mexico to come work the streets of D.F. Cops drive by, maintaining a presence, but doing very little. This isn´t lawlessness, it´s how it works out here. Nothing on Sunset Boulevard can compare.
On Sundays, it´s an odd site, since the nearby La Merced market gets heavy post-church traffic. I can just imagine how some of the parents explain to curious little ones why those women are dressed like that. They´re hustlin, man.
My bike, with annoying decals reading ¨Samurai¨along the frame, was only $900 pesos. Best bike I ever bought. Just the bike.
Cyclo Partes (bicicletas), San Pablo No. 24-B, Col. Merced Balbuena, 55-22-17-47
channibalsmith.com 