Arrival in a new city after dark, tired from a 12 hour flight, not speaking the language and with a SIM that is yet to work is often the most challenging part of a trip! Fortunately we got it sorted, took a cab, checked in to our apartment which was behind this very impressive door …
… then went over the road for a hot drink and snack before bed. Cafe Pagoda became our local and the coffee with milk came in glasses and was poured at the table, firstly an inch or so of thick dark coffee, then topped from a height with frothy warm milk! It turned out a little sweet but we were too tired to worry too much, and it was worth it for the showmanship!
Next morning we pulled the curtains at Casa Filomena, a modern conversion of an old building right in the historic centre …
… to find the street lined with barriers and no traffic except for police.
We googled to try to find the cause, but couldn’t see a reason, so went for a breakfast of chorizo eggs/chilaquiles with eggs at Cafe Pagoda.
At an elevation of just over 2000m, Mexico City is one of the highest capital cities which keeps temperatures cooler than might be expected, but it’s bright and sunny and much warmer than England in January. We thought joining a walking tour would help us find our feet on our first morning so headed to the huge Plaza de la Constitución, known as the Zócalo to meet the guide, only to find the square was surrounded by barriers and a procession was just beginning. We gave up on being able to get to the tour in time and just stood facing the cathedral and watched the annual procession of the city’s emergency services – marching firemen, emergency vehicles with sirens blaring and horns honking and even a float for bee catchers!
The cathedral is the largest in Latin America, but a bit gloomy, although the gilded altar at the end is pretty impressive.
Nonetheless, spiritual cleansing ceremonies remain an important part of Mexican cultural heritage, and shamans wait outside the cathedral, ready to assist for a few pesos.
It had just turned midday, and we wandered back along a pedestrian street …
… to the magnificent Palacio de Bellas Artes …
… and through Alameda Park, where families were enjoying being out on a lovely Sunday afternoon …
… and others taking time to relax!
At the far end, the Diego Rivera Mural Museum has been the home of his largest mural which was rescued from the lobby of the Hotel del Prado after the 1985 earthquake which devastated the city, and destroyed over a thousand buildings … and of course Sunday afternoon was the perfect time to visit.
Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park is just over 15m long and was painted in 1947. It reads from left to right with three linked sections, showing the history of Mexico as dreamt by Diego Rivera shown as a boy in the centre.
He is holding hands with the Catrina created by his friend José Guadeloupe Posada and his wife Frida Kahlo stands behind. Entry is free to all on a Sunday as well as the excellent guide who pointed out the characters, explaining their place in history and how images from their dreams are included in the mural too.
The left part begins with the Spanish Conquest and shows Hernán Cortés in armour …
… and the right section shows the Revolution of 1910 with Zapata.
The colours are bright and fresh, you can stand right up close … and it is far too big to photograph in one go!
It might have been sensible to call it a day here, but no, we returned to the Zócalo and joined the 4.00 walking tour! The guide was excellent, touching on all the main points of Mexico’s history as he showed us round the historical centre, throwing in plenty of stories and customs such as this one. In Mexican towns, the market is held in the square opposite the cathedral, but post revolution in Mexico City, commerce took a while to recover and the area was a mess. The president decided to clear the square and erect a monument to the revolution in the centre, and a plinth or zocalo was built … but the monument was never finished. The people began referring to the main square as the zocalo … and so it is that every Mexican main square is known as the Zócalo! There is an interesting display of cacti on display there at present.
We ended just close the the apartment which was handy as we definitely deserved a sit down after stepping out 7 miles on our first day! Realising a quick dinner and bed would be best, we returned to Cafe Pagoda for a supper of crispy taco rolls with chicken and salad/eggs scrambled with beans and local beers and lights were out before 10.
Next day we decided to pace ourselves better so began visiting the one museum that appeared to be open on a Monday. We had already seen one Diego Rivera mural and now we were about to see a whole lot more! Following the revolution, the government wanted to unify the country by promoting a new, nationalistic identity and one initiative was the Mexican Muralism Movement. José Vasconcelos, the 1st Secretary of Public Education commissioned Diego Rivera and others to paint a series of murals within the headquarters, which would educate the people and also champion indigenous culture and socialist ideals. This building is now the Museo Vivo del Muralismo and we were lucky to catch a free tour.
These murals are actually frescoes, so painted in sections on wet plaster, a technique Rivera learnt in Italy … and there are over 200 of them!
The ground floor illustrates Mexican daily life and traditional festivals and I particularly liked these showing weaving …
… and the harvest
… and here is the Deer Dance …
… and this shows labour called The Overseer.
The upper floor had images of the revolution including these …
… and I love the movement in the composition and the way they spill out of the frame.
And in the stairwell we saw this, Birth of Venus meets Captain Nemo!
Stopped for a lunch of veggie wraps then went up to the roof to get a bird’s eye view of the cathedral.
Up was a theme for the afternoon as our next visit was the Torre Latinoamericana, a 44-story skyscraper standing 182 meters which was the tallest building in Latin America when it was built in 1956. When you look out from the top and see the expanse of Mexico City and its suburbs you can understand its population of 23 million.
Down below is the Palacio de Bellas Artes …
… which we could admire even more closely from the Sears coffee shop while enjoying a sit down!
We used downtime back in our room to plan the next couple of days and booked on a tour to Teotihuacan the next day. Dinner was Mexican style pizzas at Pixza, made with a blue corn base and with Mexican toppings – mine with Pibil Pork and red Onion and Chris’s with pumpkin flowers – crispy and delicious.
We then took a turn round Plaza Garibaldi, famed for its mariachi bands and although we saw several musicians in their tight black charro outfits decorated with silver embroidery, it was really a little early for much to be happening, but we were too tired to wait!
Off Travelling Together 