DF Geography... or How Do You Know Where You Are if There is No Lake Michigan?

Right here, south of the 24th parallel, smack dab in the middle of the country sits a wee little state: Distrito Federal. It used to be a lake. The locals thought it was so fantastic to live on an island in the middle of a lake in a valley surrounded by volcanoes that they just kept making the island bigger until all that was left was a soggy neighborhood called Xochimilco. This is the Venice of Mexico City and one moves about the place via canal. I am told it is a great place to party but something about getting drunk on a boat on a canal in DF doesn't sound like so much fun, especially after experiencing how the dry parts of town smell... just sayin'. I expect it to be very romantic when we finally visit there. Where was I? Oh, the lake.



I am a woman who has spent my critical navigtation years in two cities perched right on the West edge of Lake Michigan. There you always know the lake is East. Even when you can't see the lake, you know which way it is by the magnetic pull of the suspiciously empty horizon just past the buildings. It is so prevalent, such a strong coast, that your sense of cardinal directions becomes completely based on the lake. Out-of-towners don't believe you when they get totally turned around and you tell them "no, because the lake it that way" which means you automatically know exactly which direction everything is.

So... if you fill in your lake, how do you know which way is East, or North or wherever? You could remember by the crest of the mountains if you could see them regularly through the pollution. You certainly can't count on a street grid, pff. There are a few tall buildings, but as single points, you find yourself on a radius which could be any direction. Hmmm. Perhaps the rain? The rain next to Lake Michigan always comes from the NorthWest. Here, the rain always comes from the SouthEast. Naturally I was totally turned around for a few days until I became determined to position myself correctly, geographically. Now I can follow the rains which I can see from my fantastic vantage point at 28 floors up. I can watch them cross the whole valley and see sunshine on either side. Also, way up in the sky here we are also right up in the clouds. Yesterday the clouds were right outside my window. Down there in Chicago the clouds are waaaaaaay up in the sky, far far away.