I’m Alejandro Morales. From Saltillo by birth and heart. More than ten years ago I came to Mexico City to study. Since then I share a house with friends or strangers. I did it first out of necessity. Now I’m doing it for pleasure. For two years I have founded Covive because I am convinced that we need to recover the human essence of sharing spaces, things and experiences. Because if we know how to share a house, we can better share the street, the city and the scarce resources on this planet.
What is Mexico City to you?
Since I arrived I have lived the diversity and contrasts of the City. I’ve shared a house in ten colonies. In the east, west, south and city center.
For a while I took the metro at five in the morning at Cerro de la Estrella station. To get to take a class in Santa Fe at seven. Ten hours later he did the same thing back. For one season he went down and climbed the Ajusco by urban bike. I was coming down to meet friends at Copilco. I was coming up to get home.
After these extreme transfers I learned that to enjoy more the City is key living very close to your work.
The diversity of this City has also allowed me to live with equals and different ones. I once shared a house with a Chilean who studied Anthropology on weekdays and on weekends was care in Madero Street. I also shared a house with a veracruzano who convinced me to train rugby for a couple of months in Ciudad Universitaria.
In this City there is everything for everyone. That makes it special.
What would be the best way to get to know Mexico City?
Multimodal tour through the heart of Mexico City. Walk from the balcony of Chapultepec Castle to the Angel of Independence. Then take the Metrobus to the bronze dome of the Monument to the Revolution. If it still catches up to you, take an eco-ibici to the Alameda. Walk through Fine Arts, Madero and reach the Zocalo.
Can you give us a top 5 recommendations in Mexico City?
- Sunday afternoon in Xochimilco. On Sunday afternoon you can take a two-hour tour in trajinera. It is a good opportunity to enjoy nature and relax, without the hustle and bustle of typical Friday or Saturday party.
- Luis Barragán House. A jewel of Mexican architecture. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Built in 1948. Full of beautiful spaces of light, color and vegetation.
- Where to eat. The Real Duck Handle. A little place in the Countess that sells oriental duck tacos.
- Where to drink. Juarez Garden. Share a table and a beer with friends or strangers. Between plants. (Now during COVID they are selling plants at home).
- Where to dance. Bluebeard. Ballroom in the Obrera colony with live music bands of salsa, merengue and cumbia. Pure sabrosura. (As long as it remains closed by COVID I share a CUMBIASplaylist).
