WikiWomenCamp 2017/Travel

WikiWomenCamp 2017
Mexico City, Mexico, July 6th to 8th, 2017

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Mexico City

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Flights

Wikimedia Foundation will be on charge of the travel bookings for the scholarship participants. Conference organizers will be making hotel reservations for scholarship recipients. Please stay tuned about updates.

Accommodation

The participants of the event will be hosted at:

Fiesta Inn Centro Histórico

Address: Av. Juárez 76 Col. Centro 06010 Mexico City Mexico

Phone: +52 (55) 51 30 29 00

map

Fiesta Inn Centro Histórico Hotel is in the Plaza Alameda. You must get in and walk toward the background. You will find the hotel's elevators at the left side. When you are inside, press the "LB" button, that will take you to the lobby of the hotel.

Services of the hotel: Handicapped access, Business center, Free Wi-Fi access, Gym (open 8:00-23:00), Restaurant(s) ( the breakfast will be served 6:00-12:00), 100% smoke free hotel, Guests access with guide dogs, Laundry service, 24 hours room service.

Check in: 15:00
Check out: 12:00

Please note that Fiesta Inn Centro Histórico hotel is on the side of Wikimania 2015 venue!

Arriving at the airport

The main entrance to Mexico City is the Benito Juárez International Airport (IATA: MEX). There are two terminals (1 for most international and 2).

This airport is close to both the Downtown/"Centro Historico" area and the venue (7.5 kilometers). However, depending on the time of day the traffic can be a factor. Here are the suggested times:

In taxi: 25-45 minutes
In Metrobús: 40 to 60 minutes.
In “Metro”/Subway: 40 to 60 minutes. This is the cheapest option, but we do not recommend it.

Taxi Service (recommended)

Airport:

As you exit customs into the arrivals area there are two authorized taxi service providers. Tell them you wish to go to “Fiesta Inn Centro Histórico”. These operators will give you a ticket and you proceed outside to get the taxi.

Safe options are:

Sitio 300
Porto Taxi (white with yellow and blue logo)
Nueva Imagen (white with red and blue logo)
Excelencia (white with blue logos)

You should not hail a taxi from the street because of security concerns associated with unscrupulous taxi drivers who work in conjunction with criminals. If you need a taxi, please ask the restaurant or hotel to call one for you. There are also “Sitios’ for taxis (taxi stands) in parts of the city. If you need a taxi service during the event, ask to the local team and they can call one for you.

Mobile apps

Services like Uber, Cabify and Easy Taxi are active in Mexico.

Gratuities to taxi drivers are not expected.

Metrobús (BRT bus system, 3.5 USD, recommended)

The Metrobús Line 4 is directly connected from both airport terminals with a special BRT bus with air-conditioned, permanent police surveillance and a special space for luggage. It costs 40 MXN pesos (2.74 USD) and the MB operates from 04:30 to 24:00 (midnight) Monday through Friday, and from 05:00 to 24:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. Hours for individual stations may vary in the mornings. This is a cheap and reliable option during work hours because BRT has a special lane to reach Downtown and can easily overpass peak hour traffic.

To use this option you need to pay your access with a special card that can be purchased in special vending machines and it costs 10 MXN pesos (0.55 USD). This machine only accept mexican pesos and can be used in Mexico City Metro too.

In Terminal 1 you can buy your card and take Metrobus between gates 6 and 7. In Terminal 2 the machine and the Metrobus stops are in the ground floor of the arrival area close to the taxis. The stations to the hotel of the event are: San Lázaro, Archivo General de la Nación, Mixcalco, Ferrocarril de Cintura, Morelos, Teatro del Pueblo, República de Argentina, República de Chile, Teatro Blanquita and Bellas Artes. You need to exit at the Hidalgo station, and then walk cross Alameda Central in the Dr. Mora street to the Fiesta Inn Centro Historico (5-10 minute walk).

Besides the Metrobus, you can also use the Metro.

Mexico City Metro (0.3 USD)

Mexico City Subway (know locally as Metro) covers, with their 12 lines, large areas of the Mexico capital. Also most zones and touristic areas are connected by Metro stations. The cost of the Metro is very cheap, and one ticket can be used once without time or zone restrictions. The Metro stations are divided by colors for each line and every station has a single icon to identify it. In the case of the airport you need to take the Terminal Aérea station (close to Gate 1) and in Terminal 2, Hangares station, far from the Terminal 2 gates, 20 minutes walking in a non-safe area. Both are part of the yellow Line 4, which runs from Politécnico to Pantitlán.

Please note this is a cheap option and good option if you use it in the inner of the city but not from the airport to venue. If you do take the Metro from airport, the route to hotel is: take the Terminal Aérea or Hangares station to Politécnico direction. Get off at La Raza station, walk the connection the connection with Line 3, olive green color, towards Universidad. Get off at Juárez station, walk one large block to the north on Balderas street and there will be Avenida Juarez street. Turn right and you will find the venue.

In Metro you can buy standard tickets or a TDF card with credit at tickrt box office (named in Spanish "Taquilla"). Each card costs 10 MXN. It is not often that the ticket officers speak English. Funds are not refundable when you leave the country.

Mexico City Metro can be *really* packed and hot at peak hours (8-10 a.m., 2-4 p.m., 6-8 p.m.). Please be careful with your belongings especially cellphones, wallet and/or cameras. Never leave your backpack or luggage unattended. Pickpockets are common in Mexico City on the metro. The first two wagons of the Metro are reserved for women.

Venue

Centro Horizontal is an space where the community of the Horizontal publication meets. There are workshops and seminars, which are conducted toward journalism and political criticism.

Location: Colima 378, Roma Norte., 06700 Ciudad de México, CDMX
Map.
Phone number: 01 55 6845 0280
Web site
You can see the route from the Fiesta Inn Hotel to Centro Horizontal here

Public Transport

Metro. The nearest station is Sevilla, Line 1 (pink, Observatorio-Pantitlán). When you get off the train wagon, you will have to cross towards the opposite side (which is under repair) by the stairway into the Metro station to be on the Centro Horizontal side (if you don't, you will have to cross the avenue above the subway). Once out of, you must walk to the right side until the Salamanca street and turn to the right side. You will walk five blocks until arrive to Colima street, then you will turn to the right side again and after four houses, you will find a white house with a black door. Centro Horizontal is in first floor. In the ground floor is a Izacaya restaurant.
Taxi. Ask for Sevilla station on Chapultepec Avenue. Then you will turn into the Salamanca street until Colima street and you will turn again, to the right side. Remember take a taxi from a "Sitio" or with an app like Uber, EasyTaxi or Cabify. For your security, we don't recomended take public taxis on the streets.

Visas

What support will be provide for my visa application?

You are responsible for researching your own visa needs, including whether you need a transit visa to connect through the USA or Canada to Mexico.
If you are attending WikiWomenCamp 2017 and require a visa, the Wikimedia Foundation can provide you with a letter to support your visa application. Please note that beyond providing a supporting letter, the Wikimedia Foundation is unable to influence the visa application process.
If you require a supporting letter, please contact ASAP Iván Martínez at ivanwikimediamx. You should include your full name, home address and passport number in your email and explain priority of your request. If you know the address of the place you are applying for a visa from and/or the name of a person you have been dealing with there then it is useful to also include this.
For all visa requests, we would like to recommend to start the process with enough time prior your departure.
If travelers miss flights or make changes to flights, they will be responsible for any additional charges from the airline and additional booking fees from the travel agency.
We highly encourage only bringing carry-on baggage (not checking bags) due to tight connections for Mexico City.

Visa required

Citizens from the following countries or regions do need a visa to travel to Mexico. Please check by yourself this information for last minute changes:

Afghanistan
Albania
Angola
Antigua and Barbuda
Algeria
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brunei Darussalam
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cape Verde
Cambodia
Cameroon
Central African Republic
Chad
People’s Republic of China
Comoros
Congo
Congo, Rep. Dem. (Zaire)
Cuba
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
Eritrea
Ethiopia
El Salvador
Fiji Islands
Philippines
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Equatorial Guinea
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Iran
Ivory Coast
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kyrgyzstan
Kiribati
Kuwait
Laos
Lesotho
Lebanon
Liberia
Libya
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Maldives
Mali
Morocco
Mauritius
Mauritania
Myanmar
Moldova
Mongolia
Montenegro
Mozambique
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
North Korea
Oman
Pakistan
Palestine
Papua New Guinea
Qatar
Russian Federation
Rwanda
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
Saudi Arabia
Solomon Islands
Saint Christopher and Nevis
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Lucia
São Tomé and Príncipe
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles Islands
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Surinam
Swaziland
Syria
Thailand
Taiwan
Tanzania
Tajikistan
Togo
Tonga
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Turkey
Tuvalu
Ukraine
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vietnam
Western Samoa
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Support

Ivan Martinez (User:ProtoplasmaKid) can answer questions about travel and hotel bookings. Please reach him on ivan

wikimedia

mx or write a message in his discussion.