There is only one place in Mexico City where you can even possibly hope of catching a view of the whole city, and that is up on top of the Latin-American Tower. This tower is not particularly colossal - by American standards, it's a skyscraper, but not by much. However, in the less developed Mexico City, this is the place to go to overlook the city from its own heart.

My group visited the tower in the late afternoon on one of the first days we were there, and I found it truly necessary to see the city from that perspective in order to grasp its sheer size.   An elevator takes visitors up to a special story designed for viewing, which is an open air area enclosed by thick metal fencing.  This made the experience more complete in that we were able to not only see the city but hear its sounds rising up into the sky. The views were of nothing but sprawling urbanity in every direction. In some directions, the city could be seen extending all the way up to the feet of the mountains that broadly encircle Mexico City (Image 1).  In other directions, my view of the city extended until it was engulfed in the hazy fog (Image 2).

I spent a good amount of time up at the top there, just taking it in and watching the sun set over Mexico City (Image 3), and sharing the experience with the people in my group (Image 4).  A Christian can't look out off of the Latin-American Tower without feeling awe-struck at the size of the task in that city, so huge and so lost.  And yet, there is such hope to be had as well, in the wonderful congregation there, in the Christians I know who are preparing to do a church planting there, and in the receptivity of many of the people.