Mexican flag waving in the zocalo in d.f.
Mike and Marissa in a garden at Xochimilco We have begun the adventure!! Mike and I made it Mexico City on February 20th and spent three, jam packed days trying to take in as much as we could of the life of the city. It was a wonderful time filled with museums, street venders, traditional dances, more museums, walking, metros, wonderful food and fresh juices, more walking, more museums, nice people and gallons of jamaica to keep us going in the heat of the day!
Adriana and Frank, our generous friends who Mike found on couchsurfing.com opened up their apartment to us and showed us newbies around. Frank is from France and Adriana from Chiapas, Mexico. This is from when they took us to lunch our first afternoon in Mexico.
Noteworthy places we visited:
The Palacio de Bellas Artes which houses wonderful murals and cultural artifacts.
Especially amazing was the Palacio National which houses Diegos Rivera´s murals and frescos as they gape down at you from every wall surrounding the open air courtyard. They are stunning visual histories and social commentaries on Mexico´s indigenous past, colonial conquest and complex political structure.
That same, exhausted night after the palacio National we were able to change tempos a bit and go to a Lucha Libre, or mexican wrestling match. Needless to say there was a lot of flying through the air and playing to the crowd. It was interesting, loud and full of families. The bouts inspired cheering, name calling and five year olds puttting any family member they could get their grubby little fingers on into headlocks.
One musuem that cannot be missed is the Museo Anthropologio or the Museum of Anthropology which houses an amazing collection of mesoamerican artifacts that I could not have imaged prior to seeing them. It is worth any amount of walking, metros during rush hour while you breath through some strangers armpit, or heatstroke that might result from the journey. It truly is.
Never fear, a leter of jamaica will pick you up.
Also in the zocalo was a beautiful church that was simply massive with a main center for masses and two huge wings that were the same size as the main hall. The churches inside are embellished with gold and have intricate statues and soaring vaulted ceiling.
Coyouacan
After the museo we jumped on the metro and then the light train to Coyouacan (about 45 min away). Public transportation is very efficient here, except for one hitch we found on the way back when the winds had blown a tree over the train tracks and we had to get off and take a micro (small shuttle bus-packed with people in every nook and cranny) back to the metro station.
Coyouacan is a very posh, affluent suburb of Mexico d.f. with expensive shops and resteraunts, ice cream parlors, street vendors and old men playing chess games in the town square. It sort of reminded me of Carmel or something ( not near the ocean of course) but full of specialty shops and book stores. It is also where the home of Frida Khaula resides.
Xochimilco
The next day we went to Xochimilco, which is where the canals of old Mexico still thrive with people living on little parcels of land surrounded by water. Foot bridges connect them to eachother and launchas or small boats take tourists and families come to picnic and party around the canals. It is an extensive and intricate maze which is full of music, dancing, eating, and life. On the banks the people grow flowers and plants to sell to visitors on the boats. The launchas will let you off at any garden or the main craft market to buy or look around. Smaller boats filled with men and women cooking and selling tacos, corn, candy apples, toys, roses, fruit, refreshments, and anything a person might want maneuver in and out of the larger boats in search of customers. Small boats with mariachis and other musicians will tie to your launcha and play for your boat as your boat man pushes along...what a beautiful place it really is.
Next...on to Puebla!
