Steph C.
Yelp
Before our five-day trip to Mexico City, my husband Matt B. and I--die-hard basset enthusiasts--had been given to understand that basset hounds were extremely popular with the local dog lovers. A friend had spent a month in CDMX and told me he'd seen one or two bassets every other day. An astonishing claim that had my hopes raised to almost unreasonable levels (in L.A., where we live, we see maybe one in the wild every four to six months; more often, it's a basset we already know). When another friend confirmed the popularity of bassets, and noted that people often took their dogs to Parque México, Matt and I decided that we had to go to this park. We made three separate visits and spotted three basset hounds: a resounding success.
Parque México is a nice park for other reasons, too. It's a big, beautiful place with tons of greenery and several different points of interests; duck pound with fountain, an open air theater, a gated dog run. There were calm, winding paths that took us through, a bit muddy on a rainy day but otherwise very pleasant. It felt like a friendly, cheerful place, with lots of families out enjoying some fresh air. The park was elliptical, and we also enjoyed walking the oval of restaurants and businesses in the surrounding streets. It was all just very harmonious and lovely, an idyllic place to stroll around.
And, of course, there were bassets. We met two--Floyd and Lorenza--as they were leaving the park. (We spotted them from a block away, and then I ran to greet them like a psycho--I'd been practicing my Spanish and went in panting, "Podemos acariciar a su basset hound, por favor?") The third, a mischievous guy named Chase, we spotted at the dog run. He came right up to me--my hand had recently been dripping with taco juice, and I think he smelled it from several feet away.
Parque México is an ideal place for dog spotting--we had a fantastic time on our basset hound safari. But even if we'd only seen one, or God forbid, no bassets, we still would've enjoyed exploring this wonderful city park.