Wandergliding: Moments in Mexico City

November 23^rd-30^th, 2014

Okay sorry, this is going to be a long post…but mostly due to pictures and not my verbal diarrhea…

On Monday after the bullfight I walked around the Centro Historico of the city. The buildings are phenomenal, old historic stone ones, many sporting columns and ornate details. I first headed to the Zocalo, or city square. It’s a massive area that’s really just like a big parking lot without the cars. In the centre a huge flagpole was flying one of the biggest flags I've ever seen. On one side is the National Palace and on another is the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral. I ventured into the cathedral but was finished within five minutes. It is an impressive structure but I don’t care much for all of the paintings and statues of Christ in various phases of crucifixion or other Biblical scenes. I walked down Madero Street, a pedestrian only avenue (at least most of the time) to the gorgeous white building known as Bella Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) which hosts various music, dance, theatre and opera events. A park adjoining it is called Alameda Central Park and it was the first park in the city. After that I ventured over to Garibaldi Square as I read on my map that this was the primary hangout for Mariachis. As I sat on a patio having a beer I did see a number of musicians in their cool get-up walking around but only heard some playing in a nearby building. I continued my wander around the streets for another hour and there was always something to look at, from beautiful buildings, to gaudy Christmas decorations for sale, to a man carving a mannequin outside his mannequin shop (never seen one of those before), to a pink stretched Hummer limo outside stores selling gaudy, frilly, and bright coloured wedding dresses. Mexico City seems to have it all.

The hostel:

The Zocalo:

Inside the cathedral:

Knuffle enjoying the Bella Artes:

You want to duel Mr. Mariachi?

Crazy streets with old buildings:

Hard to tell the scale here but this thing is at least 7 feet tall:

Disco lights anyone?

Or how about a big inflatable Santa?

Or perhaps a Jesus with balloons is more up your alley?

I can't believe this MPostres haven't been shut down.

The next day Gino took me to the pyramids which I already blogged about and the following day he first took me (well his body guard/driver Sergio took us) to the Anahuacalli Museum which was created by the famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera. I think I enjoyed the actual building more than the hundreds of not thousands of various stone carvings from the pre-Hispanic period. Afterwards we visited Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's studios. They are two small houses adjacent to each other so that the couple could be close but have their privacy for working on their art. Frida's studio was closed for renovations and Diego’s studio only took about 10 minutes to tour around so it was then time for lunch.

This was a temporary exhibit playing on the Terracotta Warriors in China...this were the Terracotta Daughters:

Emma, this one is for you:

Inside the museum:

Stuck on the cactus fence:

Diego's studiio is the big one on the right and the blue one is Frida's:

Inside Diego's studio:

Gino took me to the nearby Restaurante San Angel Inn where he had part of his wedding reception fifteen years prior. It was a gorgeous old hacienda with beautiful courtyards. Again I felt a little out of place in my backpacker clothes but oh well, what to do? It’s typical in Mexico to have a large lunch around 3pm and a small dinner around 9pm. We were a bit early and were finished our lovely meal, complete with Tequila and beer, so as we were heading out the lunch crowd was coming in in full force. It was interesting to look at the various people and wonder what they did for a living and where they lived. There were many business men in the posh suits but there were also groups of elderly women enjoying their coffee in the afternoon sun. A line-up of fancy cars, Mercedes and BMWs waited for the valet service to take care of them and then a couple of large SUVs pulled up with a man hanging out of his open door, standing on the running board. He sported a nice suit, sunglasses and of course the earpiece. As he leapt of the still moving vehicle I had a glimpse of his gun holster as he ran to the SUV in front to open and protect the VIP inside, some fancy businessman or perhaps a politician. I preferred Gino’s mode of operating, dressed casually, not acting important and walking out to his car. To finish off the Diego/Frida themed afternoon we visited “La Casa Azul” (Blue House) where they lived for many years and often had interesting house guests such as Leon Trotsky after he fled from Stalin’s Russia.

Salud!

The lovely courtyard:

One of Frida's paintings:

Some of her medical aids:

After the museum we walked around the centre of Coyoacan, a southern section of Mexico City:

That evening I was picked up from the hostel by Sergio in the white Denali and Gino had sent along a dress shirt and nice sweater for me to change into for dinner. I was meeting up with Gino, Lilliana and her sister Tatiana (and they have another sister in the States called Adriana…must have been confusing when they were growing up). Sergio dropped me off at the restaurant but as I opened the door, it seemed as though I was entering the kitchen so I returned to the vehicle to ask him if this was the right place. He immediately called Gino who came down and got me. The place was packed and noisy with chatter. It was three separate rooms which looked as though they used to be a residence and not a restaurant. I was surprised that the walls in our room were unpainted with plaster showing, didn’t seem right for a fancy place with one of Mexico City’s best chefs. Regardless the dinner was good and the company was even better. Fancy Tequila was flowing and we ended up being one of the last groups to leave.

Gino and Lily:

The dinner party:

The next evening Gino picked me up from the hostel again, this time with two bodyguards, Sergio and Mauricio, to walk 8-10 blocks, past the Zocalo to a studio where Tatiana was opening an art exhibition. Tatiana is a photographer who primarily shoots photos of herself and then layers it with various patterns or prints. Her work was quite impressive and she’s been hard at it for more than 20 years. After the initial speeches by a couple of curators and Tatiana, which I could hardly comprehend as it was in Spanish, we were free to wander around and enjoy the work and in true Mexican fashion we were given a large shot glass of Mescal to sip on. I had an interesting conversation with Mauricio whose English is quite good after having lived in Chicago for many years. At first it was about family but then it veered off to something about the Mayans and those who built the Teotihuacan city and pyramids and I have to admit that I got a bit lost with what he was saying but he was one of the few English speaking people I could converse with. After the exhibit we were driven off to a restaurant with a lively band and food that are both from the Oaxaca region (pronounced “O-waa-ka” or something close to that), where I plan to go next. It was a nice finish to the evening.

One of Tatiana's pieces:

The exhibit:

The artist and her work:

The post dinner:

One morning Gino gave me the proper tour of the pharmacy, if you can call it. The word pharmacy just doesn’t do it justice as they seem to do a lot more than that. I thought I had had the tour on the first day but no, this official tour took more than an hour as it covers almost an entire city block. I was very impressed with the whole operation and how Gino has grown into his role. He started by pushing a broom and learning the business from the bottom up. His uncle mentored him and was a father-like figure to him until he died 5 years ago and Gino took over the reins. From what I saw, it looks like his uncle did a great job.

From the outside:

In the pharmacy:

Many elixirs:

El jefe:

Nice pharmacy:

The old punch clock and the new fingerprint one:

The big open office area:

Yet another courtyard...the rooms off of this one are mainly for storage if you can believe it:

This is a conveyor belt to the retail pharmacy three storeys below. So a call comes up to this floor, they find the medication and chuck it on this constantly moving mini elevator.

The big boss's officeL

This was a book that Gino found written by his uncle:

Turns out it was a good book (inside):

Another fancy office, mainly used by his brother for the property management side of the business:

In another courtyard:

After the tour we hopped in the infamous bulletproof Denali and drove an hour south to the quaint city of Cuarnavaca. On the way there we cruised over a mountain pass at 3100 meters above sea level! It was beautiful countryside with pine trees, fields with harvested hay bound up in teepee like shapes and the occasional little town. In Cuarnavaca we visited a museum which is housed in an old castle, walked around the town square and after a lovely pizza lunch we checked out a gothic styled church.

Construction of more overhead roads on the way out of town:

The fortress in Cuarnavaca:

How cool is this police unit?

Salud!

Nice view for lunch:

The gothic church:

Inside, looking to the back, love the red onyx stone glass window:

The valley of Cuarnavaca as we climb back to the capital:

On Friday, Belle, an Aussie friend who I met in India back in 2011 arrived with her friend Verity. We had a few drinks with Gino that evening and the following day hit the Museum of Anthropology, a highlight of Mexico City, which is located in Chatultepec Park. It was an impressive exhibition and it was too big for us to finish before we got “museumed out”. We walked through the park and after lunch headed to the bus station to pick up tickets to head out to Oaxaca the next day.

Gino took me and the girls up the Monument to the Mexican Revolution:

Nice views from up top:

None of us could figure out this building:

Inside the monument, getting in the elevator:

Happy ladies:

La Bella Artes might even look better at night:

Some crazy nice looking building:

And something a bit more conservative:

The monument in the day:

This was a student protest in the middle of the street as we rode by in a bus. 43 protesting students disappeared a month ago and may have been given by the police to a cartel to be dealt with...it's big news in Mexico: