On the metro during rush hour the two front cars of each train are segregated by gender. Only women are allowed in them, due to the unfortunate propensity that men in Mexico City have for unsolicited fondling in crowded transportation. Boys will be boys.

Even, apparently, when they are dressed as girls. Last Monday it was reported that David Mondragón Vargas, a 46-year-old systems engineer, wearing a wig and a dress, was arrested on the metro. He had been in the women-only cars, molesting members of the fairer sex. His apprehension was, in part, the result of a complaint from a woman who claimed she had been accosted by him on three separate occasions. Click here to read El Universal’s version of the story, and to see a video of the engineer, who looks a little bit like my late Aunt Toby.

Readers of the sex chapter of my book First Stop in the New World will find out that sexuality in Mexico City is baroque, misleading and confusing, a conclusion perhaps evidenced by this case. In another chapter I mention how few local novelists use Mexico City as a backdrop for their books. Ing. Mondragón Vargas illustrates why: Reality will inevitably trump whatever you could make up about this town.