To begin this walk from downtown, walk east from Revolution Avenue on any street above Third, like on 4th, 5th, 6th. You will go downhill past bars and shops and eventually enter the market zones. Along third and fourth streets the mechanic shops are repairing, painting and upholstering cars. Around sixth and Pio Pico are many blocks of vegetable, fruit, produce, meat and fish markets. You can pick your own zig-zag route up from 3rd-4th-5th-6th and Madero-Negrete-Ocampo-Pio Pico. One of the funiest street-literature sights we ever saw used to be near here -- next door to an "abastador de huevo" was located the "Tacos Viagra" stand. "Huevos" of course are slang for proof of masculine virility.

As you walk through this area you will pass a goodly selection of small and large restaurants, especially seafood ("Mariscos"). If you're hungry, remember to trust your nose whether good or bad. Your body usually knows.

Across the big street Sanchez Taboada, near 9th, comes the mother of all markets, Mercado Hidalgo, "the" central produce market. Now you have reached the River Zone, Zona Rio #1 (#2 and #3 zones stretch more miles upstream toward Cerro Colorado).

River Zone area number one, the part most people think of the word "zona rio," fills about twenty blocks up and down the tree-lined Paseo de los Heroes, full of offices, stores, restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, apartments, etc. This paseo has several traffic circles along its length. At the north end, toward the border, it feeds into the spaghetti snarl of highway ramps that twist their cars in four or five directions. You can't walk there north of 3rd street. Ninth comes out onto Taboada near the Mercado Hidalgo; Eighth has the Cafe Juglar with its mellow ambience, art, and performance, behind the bicycle mirror gym in the two-storey beige building. That is also near where the busses arrive from Nayarit, a uniquely moving sight, if you chance upon the crowds meeting their relatives from the South. One of them told me the bus service is good. By their painted office on the corner they go to Tepic.

Crossing the big street Sanchez Taboada, we approach the Mercado Hidalgo with its many bulging stands wrapped around the parking lot, and all its shops bursting with food, cookwares, and little restaurants. Wander along the sidewalk but remember to buy something. This place may be a tourist attraction available for free, but it is firstly a working marketplace and they value their customers. We've been told the cafe in the center of the parking, upstairs is good, but neither Daniel nor I have been there. Yet.

CECUT and Plaza Rio mall are a ways beyond and to the left of Mercado Hidalgo. Go towards the big brown ball or the world's largest scissors clip sticking up in the middle of wild traffic. Remember when you cross the street (WITH THE LIGHT, hopefully, maybe) in Mexico, make sure you see that everyone sees you. Eye contact with drivers will tell you. On the right before the mall is the "Spanish" village of clubs and boutiques and a cafe or two and our friend Marcos' and Lupe's naturalist shop. Plaza Fiesta, which eventually gives way to the Plaza of Shoe Stores. These clubs are very popular for loud music. Young Mexicans like to party here.

Across the Paseo is the big shopping mall with two movie plexes. CECUT with its galleries, museum, theater and omnimax, is around that big brown ball left of the giant scissors. Up the paseo to your right is another Sanborns (ubiquitous they), then the luxurious Cuerno Real Hotel and clubs around the statue of Aztec Cuautemoc, and on, beyond, the famous nightclub Baby Rock and eventually the amusement park Mundo Divertido.

After you leave the sea of taxis and island of tacos at the border gate, comes the tricky part: getting safely under the freeway snarl. Do Not EVEN Think about walking up Onto it... what do you think you are? Road kill? No. Crossing the busy streets where busses roar is bad enough.

Make eye contact with drivers, stay on ground level, and go around and behind the right hand side of the "Lloyds" tower building and adjacent hospital. Then take the underpass with painted folkloric walls. Nice sidewalks, too. Paving bricks like an old village. Sometimes Daniel tells me there is more life in those painting than in the fake village beyond. He is too cynical methinks.

When you come out from under the curving pass, the hotel tower on your right begins Pueblo Amigo. Next comes the concrete Spanish village of shops and nightclubs and a cafe or two. This village is generally quieter than the Plaza Fiesta across the river near the mall. There are like pet stores and the like here, as well as a few cafes, and some club about a Frog and the one remodeled to look like a Maya ruin with fountain pouring down its front wall. In the back of the village, behind the big Ley discount store, a pedestrian bridge climbs up its stairs to cross the river. DO NOT TALK WITH STRANGE MEN HUDDLED ON THE RIVER BANKS -- many of them only want money for drugs. This pedestrian overpass will take you over to the very beginning of Zona Rio development, two blocks before CECUT.