One cool little detail about life in Latin America is the naming of the streets.
Of course, every Latin country is different.
You have Colombia which has no creativity whatsoever when it comes to naming of streets.
When I lived in a Colombian city called Barranquilla, all of the streets were just numbered.
Street 5, Street 84, etc.
Lame!
Just like Colombian food…
Lame!
Get some creativity now, Colombia!
Well, to be fair, they have good music at least as you can see here.
But most Latin countries anyway do take in some creativity with their naming of the streets.
In Mexico City, you can go to the Historic Center and find streets named after the “Republic of Cuba” or the “Republic of Guatemala.”
In fact, I lived on “Republic of Cuba” street once!
Was there any nice Cuban food around?
No.
Nor did I see any sexy Cuban women walking around in minimal clothing.
Severely disappointed.
Street name misleading.
Similarly, you have the area around Rosa neighborhood that has a street streets named after Geneva, London, etc.
So more of a European feel, I suppose!
Though, equally so, I didn’t see anyone trying to offer me any “beans on toast” nor did I meet the Queen on “Londres” street.
Severely disappointed.
Street name misleading.
And, while not all of Mexico City’s streets are named after other places, the ones located where I live are!
As I was ordering some chicken wings on Uber Eats yesterday, I noticed just how many streets in my area are named after Latin cities.
My area being Lindavista and Tepayac Insurgentes.
Both areas having a popular street called Montevideo!
Which, for those who don’t know is the capital of Uruguay.
Here’s a photo of Montevideo Avenue.
So I decided to show you an example of the streets named after other parts of the world.
To show how creative Latin cities can be in naming their streets at times.
It’s a small little detail to life down here.
But is kinda cool to see so many streets named after other Latin cities when you’ve travelled around Latin America and even have been to some of the cities these streets are named after.
So let’s get to it!
A walk down Montevideo Avenue where most of the streets we’ll see are named after Latin cities.
Vamos!
The Walk Through Latin America
Right away, this is the first street that I saw as I began my walk.
This is Valparaiso Street.
Named after an important city in Chile.
Then I carried onwards towards the Basilica.
An important religious and touristy site of the city that I wrote about here.
Along the way, I first encountered this group of people here.
Looks like a religious groups perhaps? No idea but it would be relevant given the religious importance of the Basilica nearby.
Walking along, I then encountered “Havana” street as you can see here.
Those two dudes by the motorcycle are ALWAYS standing there every single day.
I’m guessing they’re trying to sell some motorcycles or whatever.
Then we have “Talara” street as you can see here.
As you can see, we’ll even find places of Latin America that I’ve never heard of.
While Havana is obviously in Cuba, where is Talara?
According to Google, it’s a city in Peru.
Here’s a video of it for those who are equally confused as myself.
Moving forward, we return to Chile with Arica street here!
Another city in South America’s thinnest country.
By this point, I had reached the Basilica area and decided to take the metro towards an opposite end of Montevideo street.
A Metro Ride to San Bartolo
So I got on the metrobus and initially planned to stop at where the Lindavista Mall is.
It took a few seconds to get on the bus anyhow because there was an old man taking his sweet time walking onto the bus.
Like literally it took him 10 seconds.
I thought I was going to miss the bus because the motherfucker was taking too long.
Do old people do this on purpose?
Anyway, we all rushed in after the old dude got on.
And I stood at the part right next to the “female only” section.
I noticed right away all the space that the “female only” section has.
As I wrote here, it’s similar for the metro stations where you see so many more people in the mixed section but relatively fewer people in the “female only” section.
And most of the women looked perfectly fine.
Not old, not pregnant and not disabled.
So you’re telling me they need that much space with all of the people in the mixed section?
Of which you even have some chicks who use the mixed space even though they aren’t with anyone and could use the “female only” section?
That’s just some straight up trolling.
Especially as some people behind me couldn’t get on the bus because of how full the mixed section was.
It’s moments like that where we really need to either ban women from the mixed section and just have it be “male only” so that more people can get on the bus to work.
And maybe cut down on the amount of space for the “female only” section at times because it’s clearly not necessary to give so much at times.
Anyway, rant over.
So, as I said, I initially thought of stopping at where Lindavista Mall is.
But then changed my mind and instead went to San Bartolo because I knew I could pick up some lunch over there.
There’s a hamburger spot that I really like that I wouldn’t normally go to because of the distance but I’m traveling over there anyhow.
So I get off at San Bartolo.
And, funny enough, I can see the building of some apartments I checked out when I was walking around Lindavista almost two months ago looking for a place.
As I got outside, I got my hamburger.
Then began the walk back.
Visiting Every Latin City Imaginable
So here’s the street and that exact apartment building I visited.
It looks like we have “Plura” street here.
A quick google search couldn’t tell me what city is “Plura” but it seems to be a company.
“Plura Motors” in Monterrey.
Then we have something I recognize!
“Recife” street here.
From Brazil!
I’m glad they chose “Recife” and not something like “Foz do Iguacu” or “Duque de Caxias.”
You know – something not overly Portuguese sounding.
I imagine most of the locals would have a field day trying to pronounce it.
Next, we have another Peruvian city here called Oroya.
Never even heard of this place.
Obviously, the locals are not a fan of “Oroya” given how badly they’ve treated the sign.
I guess it must be a crappy place to live?
Here’s a video on it.
Doesn’t look so nice, does it?
Eh, looks OK.
Well, I tried to make “Oroya” look nice myself.
Here’s some scenery you can see going either direction on this street.
It has a nice mountain in the distance!
Next, we have Chosica street here.
Apparently, it’s a small town in Peru.
The locals sure do seem to like Peru!
Next, we have “Manta” street here.
Sticking to the “Andean” theme here but moving away from Peru…
This happens to be a Ecuadorian city.
Afterwards, I stopped at a OXXO to get some water since it was pretty hot outside.
Then I carried on and stopped at the red light here.
This particular street wasn’t named after any Latin city so I carried on.
It does look nice though – especially those trees.
After crossing the street, we arrive to “Matanzas” and “Cienfuegos” here.
Both Cuban cities!
And, for those curious, here’s a nice song on “Cienfuegos” by Benny More that I like to listen to drunk.
Makes me feel like I’m in Cuba with a nice local gal, a mojito and a Cuban cigar with a festival playing on the street below me.
Though minus all of the above and instead add some street food place here that you’ll find by this part of the city.
And we leave behind our “Cuba” theme and go right back to Peru with “Lima” street here.
But sticking to an Andean theme, we go back to Ecuador with Latacunga street here.
And another Ecuadorian themed street here named after Riobamba.
Which is also the stop for a metrobus station.
Then we have this unnamed street here.
Or it was unnamed anyhow.
No sign anywhere around.
Which isn’t unusual in Latin America – streets with no street signs.
When I was apartment hunting around here a few months ago, I found it difficult to find a few apartment buildings because of the lack of street signs.
I asked a local shop employee about the name of this street and it’s apparently named after a Brazilian state known as Pernambuco.
Which, for those who don’t know, is well-known for its marine life and beaches.
Including an impressive area known as Fernando de Noronha as you can see here.
Beyond that, we move away from Latin America for a second to bring to you a Dutch Caribbean island known as Curazao here.
Before returning to Latin America with this Chilean city known as Coquimbo here.
And then we find ourselves in Colombia with these streets named after Cali and Bogota respectively.
With our trip ending soon afterwards as we find ourselves back in Peru on Arequipa street here.
Here’s a video on the beautiful city of Arequipa.
Soon enough, I cross an important avenue that isn’t named after any Latin street and you can see some scenery of the area here with the metro.
And then I’m back home!
Final Thoughts
As I arrived back to the street where I live as you can see here.
I found some buckets on the street here reserving a space for parking.
Though it’s technically not allowed in this city as I wrote about here.
Still, people do it all the time and the police don’t seem to enforce anything against it usually unless someone complains.
Once I opened the door to my building, I soon found the dog of the house welcoming me nicely here.
And that’s the journey!
Any thoughts?
Eh, as I said, it’s a small detail to life here in Latin America.
The naming of streets.
The streets closest to me seem to have a strong “Andean” theme to them.
With some Cuban and Brazilian ones too.
Oddly enough, no Mexican themed streets.
Where’s your respect for your own culture, Mexico?
Can’t be bothered to pay respect to Guadalajara or Oaxaca City?
No love for Pachuca?
Well, to be fair, there was San Bartolo Metro Bus station.
Which is also a place in Baja California, Mexico.
And I do know they have streets named after Mexican stuff elsewhere.
Anyway, it’s a small detail to life down here.
The naming of streets.
Not really much else to add.
Hope you enjoyed the little showing of the neighborhood around me.
And if you have anything to say, drop a comment below in the comment section.
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Thanks for reading.
Best regards,
Matt
