Big but pleasant

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For once, we had not heard any horror stories from other travellers about this capital city, and indeed we felt perfectly safe there and not at all intimidated. There had been a history, particularly in the 90s, of taxi crime, so we were a little cautious of taxis, but the historic centre was quite easy to walk around and the metro system was cheap (cheapest in the world at P$2 or US$0.20 a ride) and easy to use.

We had booked ahead with the Hotel Isabel, knowing it was quite popular with foreigners. A beautiful old building, our room was huge with an entrance hall with french doors, old furniture, very high ceilings, a balcony, and a big shiny new bathroom. And it was a bargain for P$320 a night. We were worried it might be noisy with traffic but the road had been dug up so we only had to listen to the occasional jackhammer and bulldozer during the day. We booked for 5 nights and stayed for 7. There was a lot of things to do in Mexico City.

The downtown area was much safer and less bothersome than we expected. The guide book warned of streets clogged with vendors but they weren't there. A few months earlier the government had cleared them out. Not so good for their livelihoods but at least it was easier and safer to walk on the footpaths. We were a little disappointed by the Zocalo, the main square. We expected a wide open space with the Cathedral looming above us, but what we found was 2 very large structures being built (supposedly a temporary museum) and an ice skating rink. Oh well, no more room for demonstrations. Perhaps that was the governments plan. Yes, I did say ice skating rink. First time this winter Mexicans could try ice skating for free. And it was very popular.

The next morning we needed to send some stuff off to NZ. We had asked DHL who said it would cost at least US$150 so we headed off to the post office instead. Pieter found an empty shoe box near our hotel and called it a gift from God. So often we were asking in shops for spare boxes as they were nearly impossible to buy. The post office was a palace with lots of marble and shiny metal. We painlessly posted our shoe box and went upstairs to visit the small post office museum. They had some old post boxes and an old safe very much like one in our hotel.

Just down the road we found the Museo Nacional de Arte in a big and grand building that used to hold the telegraph office. This is where we first became familiar with the work of Diego Rivera. He did great sketches and paintings of Mexican life as well as his more famous murals, most of which betrayed his communist beliefs.

That afternoon we met up with Alvaro, an archaeologist we had found on the Couch Surfing website. He gave us some great tips about things to visit in Mexico and then took us on a walking tour of the historic centre. We saw things we may have never visited on our own. We certainly wouldn't have thought to visit the Hospital Jesus Nazareno. Nothing to see from the outside, inside were some beautiful old courtyards and we even gained admission to a room of the old convent by Alvaro asking in the administration office. We arrived at the Museo de la Cuidad just as it was closing. Alvaro had a word and they let us without charge so we could see an attic room where an artist had lived and painted on the walls. Lots of other sites were now closed also but that didn't stop Alvaro. He next talked his way into the the Palacio de la Autonomia (I think). The director was just leaving and she kindly turned around to show us inside. Built on an old convent one room had a transparent floor and you could see the drains and tiles of the older building. We also were permitted to have a peak inside the Museo Jose Luis Cuevas where we found some exotic art. We ended up at the Casa de Azulejos (House of Tiles) which had lots of tiles, inside and out, and was now occupied by Sanbourns, a department store chain, with a restaurant in the beautiful courtyard. Finally we sat, quite exhausted, and enjoyed a nice meal.

For many years Pieter wrote to Jesus in Mexico City and exchanged postcards with him. The next morning we got to meet him which was great. We had expected someone younger but instead he was a lovely older gentleman. His English wasn't brilliant but we managed to communicate fine. And guess where he took us for breakfast? The Casa de Azulejos. We didn't mind at all as we loved it. He then took us to see the Palacio de Bellas Artes where we enjoyed the fantastic and now familiar Rivera murals. We then took the Metro to the Zocalo and visited the cathedral. Jesus intended to show us the National Palace but they wouldn't let us in for some reason. We had to say goodbye to Jesus then as he needed to go to his job as a nurse. We went off to Templo Mayor which was amazing to see. Downtown as it was during the Aztec times. And the museum was big and very interesting. We found the small Museum of Caricature which was worth the P$20 entrance just to see the building with some lovely old features preserved. Next we visited the Ministry of Education. Alvaro had told us to go and it was beautiful and free. There were 2 courtyards of Rivera murals and a small Museo del Sitio. Lastly we visited the Museo del Estan Quillo which had an expo about a popular cartoon family. We didn't get a lot of it but the colour model of the cartoon was funny. Some ladies were putting false ears on dead cats and selling them as rabbits.

Jesus had told us where to find a cinema and we found it at 222 Reforma. On the journey on the Metro we saw a scary station where a platform full of people tried to shove onto a train while others tried to leave. Needless to say, we waited. One poor guy never made it off the train. The stop was way too short leading to behaviour far more uncivilised than on the London Underground. But at least many of them were smiling about it, unlike the predominantly grumpy Londoners. We saw 'Aliens vs Predator 2' which was a very entertaining splatter film. We walked back to the Metro line via Zona Rosa, a lively area of hotels and restaurants and night clubs. It was only on the subsequent Friday night visit that we realised it was a gay hangout. Young guy couples and girl couples. It was full on and put Soho to shame.

The next day we headed for the Parque Chapultepec. We started with a visit to the Casa Luis Barragan. They were open at 10am and we arrived just before to catch the first tour. A nice lady on a market stall directed us to the house when we stopped and looked confused. If she hadn't told us the number of the house we would have walked directly past. The house was a plain terraced building, nothing exceptional on the outside, which we didn't expect for an architects house and a UNESCO site. We didn't make an appointment in advance so were relieved to be permitted a tour and have an English-speaking guide .. although the tall young fella spoke quickly and without emotion. The house was a masterpiece of planning. Lighting, windows, doors were designed to suit Barragan's need for control and privacy. There were closets above doors for bags and mirror glass balls so he could see who was approaching from whichever direction. High walls meant he didn't see the city, only the sky. It was worth the P$100 to visit.

We next found the Museum of Technology which was free and interesting with dinosaurs and trains. We then walked to the Museum of Natural History and paid P$20 each to visit a collection of domes containing lots of stuffed animals. But it was tastefully done and a special big cat expo combined stuffed cats, pre-colombian art and modern art.

After a wee rest in an internet cafe which had attached the mother boards to the wall and covered the workings in perspex, we found our way through the park to the National Museum of Anthropology. It was as big as people had said but we decided to do a quick 2 hour tour rather than spend all day as had been suggested. We were already exhausted. But still we enjoyed the displays of pre-colombian and contemporary cultures. Much was familiar as we had now visited many regions of Mexico.

The next day Jesus picked us up with a friend. His nickname was Pancho and he took us in his little chevy hatchback to Teotihuacan. We stopped briefly on the way out of town at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas where we found the Aztec pyramids of Tlatelolco, the 17th century Santiago church and modern government buildings. It was an interesting contrast. The plaza was also the scene of a 1968 student massacre. We drove through built up areas all the way to Teotihuacan. Concrete hillsides. Nearing the site we could see the imposing Pyramid of the Sun, the worlds 3rd largest pyramid. Inside we found ourselves still a good kilometer away from the pyramid, the central 'Avenue of the Dead' being at least that in length. We had a fantastic long walk around the complex and by the time we arrived at the pyramid there was no interest in scaling the stairs. Gave me vertigo just thinking about it. It was a great day out.

The next day, Saturday, we went to the Coyoacan (Coyote) area. Once a town, it was swallowed by the capital 50 years ago. First we went to the Museo Frida Kahlo which was in the house she used to share with Diego Rivera. It was beautifully kept with lots of art, newspaper articles and objects belonging to the house. We both found Frida a little scary and definitely weird. We then walked to the house of Leon Trotsky, a Marxist opponent of Stalin who ended up in Mexico after his final exile. He had lived with Frida and Diego until a falling out. His house was in fairly original condition with bullet holes from a failed attempt on his life by Stalinist assassins and steel doors that were installed afterwards. A subsequent attempt with an ice axe was successful.

We then took a walk to the 16th century former Franciscan monastery of Churubusco, stopping at a park with a beautiful tiled fountain and benches. We watched some people practice fencing. The convent was home to the Museo Nacional de las Intervenciones which was all about battles fought to protect territory. All in Spanish it was not particularly interesting but the monastery was gorgeous and had a serious lean on it making it kind of fun to explore.

We returned to the centre of Coyoacan to visit the market and I (Rae) was interviewed by 3 girls for a school project. One had a video camera and the other two asked questions about our visit in perfect English. Our final stop in Coyoacan was the park where we feed the squirrels (ardillas) with monkey nuts. Some were black instead of the usual grey/red variations.

Sunday we spent with Jesus. We took a minibus to Xochimilco. On the way, we saw elephants at a circus. We got off for the Museo Dolores Olmedo. A rich lady who was friends with Rivera she had a beautiful house. She had posed for Rivera and had a hankering for ivory (scary amounts of it) and these funny hairless Xoloitzcuintle dogs. Peacocks and geese on the grounds made it a lovely site. We needed another bus to get to the centre of Xochimilco but Pieter had the bright idea of taking a VW Beetle taxi. We had not taken one of the green and white symbols of the city yet and it was an ideal opportunity. And it was fun although Jesus may have found us a little strange.

Xochimilco is famous for the ancient canal system, popular with Mexican's for floating picnics and romantic punting. We paid P$250 for one and a half hours in a private colourful boat named Martha. There were not so many other boats on the water, mostly floating kitchens and mariachi bands and a boat full of flowers. It was a lovely trip along the dark and still waterways and it only got a little smelly. We were sad to say goodbye to Jesus who had made us feel so welcome in his city.

We spent a whole week in Mexico City and felt we could have stayed another week. There was so much more to see.

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Photos

Templo Mayor
A temple built around a temple

Could I be more cute!
Bosque de Chapultepec

National Museum of Anthropology
Smile for the camera

Teotihuacan
Pyramid of the Sun