Utopia Meyehualco, Iztapasauria

The Utopia Meyehualco delivers a much-needed cultural alternative to the giant outdoorsy and sportsy Meyehualco area. Just south of the giant new Cuitláhuac Park, the area takes it’s name from the original settlement of Santa Cruz Meyehualco. It’s one of 15 such original settlements in Iztapalapa.

One of the biggest of the Utopia projects, this one takes up some 150,000 square meters. The giant open spaces occupy the former farm fields of Meyehualco and other earlier communities. Here though the sports, cultural, social, and recreational facilities spread out in the shadow of the giant dinosaurs.

Iztapasauria

Iztapasauria is the real star of this Utopia. Some younger visitors won’t even realize it’s part of the broader park. Billed as the first “ultra-realistic” exhibition of Dinosaurs in Latin America, the models are remarkable in their scale, detail, and, well, simply in their presence. They were designed in collaboration with experts from the UNAM Institute of Geology who run the Geology Museum in Santa Maria la Ribera. The Park is completely free and boasts 13 of the giant figures. Each is accompanied by educational and informative material. The result is a park that’s usually teeming with tykes.

But the Dinosaur Park is just part of the broader Utopia Meyehualco. The park also includes:

• An olympic-sized swimming pool
• A two-floor fully equipped gymnasium
• Auditorium for 400 people
• A 400 meter running track
• Football, basketball, and multi-use pitches
• A velodrome for bike racing
• Music School
• Children’s areas
• Cafeteria

Importantly, the Utopia also houses facilities for substance abuse issues and for addressing women’s issues. These are part of the larger ongoing and continuing education facilities.

Travel to the entrance to the park takes about seven minutes in a taxi from Metro Constitución de 1917. The same trip south from Metro Guelatao takes about twice as long but will allow visitors to stop at Cuitláhuac Park.