Puerto Escondido

From Oaxaca to Puerto Escondido is just a short 30-minute small plane ride, but the two cities are very different. Not too long ago, PE was a small fishing village, and the Bahia Principal (Main Bay) still shelters more than 50 fishing boats.  Sitting on the  terrace of our favorite beachside restaurant (La Costa Hermosa), we continuously watched fishing boats come in laden with their catches.   

View Bahia Principal from La Costa Hermosa with fishing boats.

 Each time a boat comes in, it is met by restauranteurs and other locals who take the catch & load it in large plastic tubs. Some are loaded on waiting vans and whisked away, but others are simply carried a little ways inshore where they are cleaned, prepared for cooking and served on the spot.

Puerto Escondido is truly a tropical wonder--beautiful sunsets guaranteed.

La Costa Hermosa is a very simple little beachside open-air restaurant with plywood floors and a thatch covered roofed terrace.  We stumbled upon it, almost by chance, our first night in town, and we spent almost every afternoon and some evenings there drinking delicious frozen margaritas and enjoying fresh seafood.  Although their grilled giant shrimp were delicious, we have truly never tasted anything as wonderful as the fresh grilled red snapper. 

Enjoying Margaritas & seafood at La Costa Hermosa

 Our hotel was comfortable, if slightly careworn, and just out of town on a ridge overlooking the  Pacific Ocean.  The best thing about it was a wonderful, crystal blue swimming pool that we had to ourselves much of our time there.  It seemed really decadent to be able to take a refreshing swim the first thing upon getting up and the last thing before turning in.

Erin was able to join us for the weekend and she enjoyed the pool as much as we did. On her second day there, we met a young man who worked at the hotel and also at the Bahia Principal. He suggested we take a boat ride the next day and he and his boat captain friend took us for a leisurely ride along the coast. They always try to catch a sea turtle and drag it aboard, so turistas get to touch one of these ancient creatures--ours was an adolescent at about 35 years old, they surmised.  We felt sorry for the little guy, but this is the custom, so we went along with the plan so as not to spoil our hosts' planned thrill for us.

The turtle obviously enjoyed the visit less than we did.

One of the nicest things to happen to us during our stay in Puerto was getting to know a young Australian couple, Kris and Shannon, who were on our plane flight from Oaxaca to PE. We got to talking about traveling as we waited for the flight to leave, for our luggage after we landed, and then as we shared a taxi into town. We regretted parting without making any firm plans about meeting except for laughingly saying see you on the beach.   

Sure enough, on our first afternoon lolling on the Costa Hermosa terrace, we looked out on the shore and saw them walking by.  We hailed them and beckoned them to join us on the terrace for what turned out to be a three-hour gabfest.  They are now in their 10^th month of an epic year and a half world tour.  Having been in Southeast Asia, Canada and the United States, they are now in Mexico and are headed later this year to South America. 

We loved getting to know them, vicariously enjoying their travel sagas & sharing ours, although their stories certainly were more harrowing and adventuresome than ours. When Erin came the next day, it was fun to introduce them and they delighted in hearing her travel stories and comparing notes about Southeast Asia. (They have piqued our interest in SE Asia & especially Bali.) On our third evening in PE, we reluctantly said goodbye to them, exchanging emails and promising to keep in touch.   

The next morning as the three of us were enjoying the pool, we were told that we had a phone call.  Going to the phone in the bar, thinking who in the world could this be and how did they know how to find us, Larry was surprised to hear Shannon on the other end of the line, especially as we thought that they had left town. 

He was so excited and said that he had just asked Kris to marry him and she had said yes. They had decided to stay another day as they wanted to share the news with us, whom they had come to think of almost like family.  Naturally we were thrilled—and invited them over to celebrate. We felt very special to share their happiness.  After a sunset drink at our pool, we all went to town to the "fancy hotel" where we met some of Erin's embassy friends who happened to be in PE (also lovely, bright, wonderful young people--more about them in our next blog) to continue celebrating the new couple.  This will surely remain as one of the most memorable moments on our journey--thanks so much, Kris and Shannon !

Sue, Erin, Shannon & Kris...new friends.

 

Oaxaca

This week we are in Oaxaca state—a few days in Oaxaca City in the mountains, followed by a few days in Puerto Escondido on the coast.  Time seems to slip by without our really thinking about it. We decided to forego the twelve-hour bus ride from Mexico City for a 45 minute flight on Interjet, a Mexican national carrier.  We were pleasantly surprised, because the plane was brand new and comfortable as was the terminal. The flight attendants, whose dress and professionalism reminded us of the Pan Am stewardesses of the 50’s & 60’s, were beautiful and efficient.

Oaxaca city is the capital of the state of Oaxaca; located about 250 miles south of MC.  Not nearly as large as Mexico City, but growing and developing, it too has a long history.   Olmecs, Zapotecs, and Mixtecs have called the area home for more than 3000 years.  When the Spanish arrived early in the 16^th century, they found a delightful place to build a city as well.  Driving from the airport into town, you see a lot of modern development and plenty of auto traffic, but once you are in the historic center of town, it is not too hard to imagine what life must have been like hundreds of years ago.

Our hotel, Casa Antigua, is a remodeled and renovated colonial townhouse with the rooms on the first and second floor opening up to a large, now covered, but previously open courtyard.  It was a comfortable and reasonably quiet place to stay, especially after we discovered the delightful rooftop terrace, where each evening we watched the sun set over the western mountains, while enjoying a Paloma (tequila and Squirt—if you can believe it) and snacks.

There’s much to do in the city—although it is very nice just ambling along the old streets and admiring the parks and architecture.  We were particularly taken with Oaxaca’s beautiful central plaza that is lined with outdoor restaurants and full of “boleros” (shoeshine stands).

One day was almost completely devoted to the church and former convent of Santo Domingo.  The church facade is a not too imposing, actually rather drab on the exterior, but takes your breath away when you enter it.   

The entire interior is gilded.  During the Mexican Revolution in the early 20^th century, much of the original gold leaf was removed by occupying forces (not to mention that they used the side chapels as stables for their horses), but in the last 20 or 30 years the church has been renovated and restored. We were lucky enough to stumble upon a tour provided by a very nice Mexican man, who obviously loved the church and his work, and gave one of the clearest and most informative tours we have ever taken. What a joy!

The former convent has been turned into a Oaxacan cultural museum. In more than three hours, broken up by a leisurely lunch break, we were not able to cover it all, but it is full of treasures and extraordinarily informative exhibits.  (Our hat is off to the Mexican museum designers—we have seen so many good ones!) As you walk through the building, many of the halls look out onto a beautiful cactus and other desert plant filled garden or onto vistas of the distant mountains. Again it was a delightful time—and one that we did not have to share with very many others. 

Time and time again we ask ourselves and our hosts, “where are the other tourists?” Often we are told that this is not the tourist season, come back this weekend or better yet in December or January.  We don’t mind; it’s rather nice to not be part of a crowd.  The fear of violence also must be keeping some people away as well, but we have certainly not experienced anything remotely frightening.

Sue's favorite exhibit features small figures (3500 years old); one depicting childbirth (look
closely for the tiny baby just born)

One of the most impressive (to a librarian at least) rooms in the museum is the Rare Books Room--containing books from the 16th & 17th centures as well as Pre-Hispanic Codices

 Our lunch consisted of a traditional Oaxaca tortilla, which is called a tladuya—cooked over an open grill, the taste and texture is nothing like what we North Americans think of as a tortilla. Our waiter at lunch was a young, 21 year old man, Victor Hugo, who had grown up in the states, illegally having been brought there at an early age by his parents.  Problems, including alcoholism, finally led to his deportation. 

Now he is in Oaxaca, staying with his grandmother and trying to relearn or improve his Spanish that is not as good as his English. Working as a waiter, he earns 1800 pesos a month—not quite $130, before tips. That’s the money story we hear from many in the service industry.  Many young men and women we talk with work two jobs and often work six and seven days a week. The social and economic divide is extraordinarily large here in Mexico; there are some very wealthy and prosperous Mexicans—but there are far more working class and poor.

Tuesday night interlude—we are still anxiously following the US elections, although as we mentioned we long since sent in our absentee ballots. Wanting to watch the debate—we first turned on the room TV for the first time, but the promised  CNN channel, didn’t really seem to be there.  Next, the Internet access in the room mysteriously conked out.  We retreated to the central courtyard where we were able to make the connection in time to watch the PBS webcast. About ten minutes into the debate, a young couple (American woman, Mexican man) came running into the courtyard—they had been to seven hotels and bars, but no one was watching the debates.  We were happy to invite them to scoot up close to our little laptop, and watch with us.  Fortunately, we were all pulling for the same team, and it was fun to share the moment.

On our third day in Oaxaca, we signed up for a van tour to the ancient ruins of Monte Alban.  To try to describe the “keystone kops” loading and unloading of packed vans to get there would be difficult.  We must have done it three times while driving all over the city picking people up/dropping people off before actually hitting the road.  It turned out to be only a 15 minute drive from the city—we could have caught a taxi !

Monte Alban is a huge complex, just outside of the Oaxaca city

 We arrived in much confusion and were directed to a short, chubby man with a big hat who was our English guide.  As Larry said, we could have done the tour in our pidgeon Spanish about as well—it was pretty funny.

Our guide talking about Monte Alban & the ceremonial acitivities there.

Monte Alban is impressive:  a rectangular mountain top area (apparently mountain top mining is not a new concept—the peak was leveled to provide rock for the structures), there are remnants of huge edifices with gigantic steps leading up each.  These have been reconstructed, because, as our guide said, “many rocks fall over time and steps disappear.” In the center, where archaeologists deem most of the ceremonies must have taken place, you can clap and the sound carries throughout the entire area--incredible acoustics.

A few huge slabs of rock have been preserved with outlines of original carvings, but to an untrained eye, the formations are difficult to decipher.  One of the most valuable archaeological finds in Mexico, Tomb 7, was found near Monte Alban and you can see some of the treasures unearthed in the cultural museum, Santo Domingo, which we mentioned above. (We have been told that the treasures from this tomb rival those extracted from King Tut!)

That evening, we spent our last sunset watch from the terrace of Casa Antigua, and, early the next morning, we caught a piper cub plane to fly to Puerto Escondido.

 

Xochimilco

Erin & Rosalio, her Mexican Dad.

Somewhere, sometime I can remember seeing a movie (black & white, so it must have been made in the 30s or 40s) about an American in Mexico City and a lot of the action takes place in Xochimilco…there's a lake or at least a big canal, lots of flowers and musicians floating by singing traditional Mexican folk songs.

Well, the Xochimilco of today is not quite like that, but close enough for these tourists.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage site—there seem to be a lot of those, but we are really glad that this designation exists because there are some truly wonderful places in the world that need to be saved and protected. In Mexico, we have visited several including San Miguel and Guanajuato, and this past Sunday, Erin rounded up several of her friends and we all set off for Xochimilco.

 A suburb of Mexico City, perhaps an hour south of center city, Xochimilco is a place where many in Mexico City go on a Sunday to enjoy nature and family.  When the Spanish arrived more than 500 years ago, much of the valley now occupied by the city must have looked something like Xochimilco—a shallow lake, interconnected by canals.

The locals call it “the Venice of Mexico.” Don’t think that it is quiet or “romantic.” Seemingly thousands of people descend on the area each weekend, usually in large groups—laughing, eating, drinking in hundreds of flat bottomed boats, each poled by a Mexican “gondolier.”

Our Mexican Gondolier, Antonio, was a great guide & sport

When you arrive, each woman in the group is presented with a rose corsage—reminiscent of the time when the roofs of the boats plying the waters of Xochimilco were laden with flowers—much of the area we are told was one great floating garden.  There are still many garden centers and nurseries along the banks of the canals—and your boat captain has his favorite that he pulls up to so you can stop and tour and select plants to take back home with you, which several in our group did.

There's always one clown in the group.

 The boats are somewhat reminiscent of Venetian gondolas—although they are much longer, usually with a long picnic table lined with chairs along each side—the typical boat can hold perhaps 20 or more.  We were only seven, and it felt comfortable and commodious, but we saw many filled with whole families, and, in fact, at times we saw several boats lashed together with fifty or more people in their party.

Most people bring a picnic lunch—as we did, but you can buy just about anything that you want to eat or drink from floating vendors who pull up beside you to offer grilled corn, tortillas, roast chicken, beer, sweets, etc.   Boats filled with musicians and singers will serenade you along the way—for a fee, 100 pesos ($7.50) a song.  We resisted several groups, auditioning them as they passed entertaining others.  We finally settled on a mariachi group, including eight musicians and singers.  They were willing to play any song that we requested—and we did have several requests, including El Viajero (The Traveler) and Cielito Lindo (Pretty Little Star.)  They however came alive when we told them to play any song of their choice and when one of Erin’s friends remembered a Mexican folk song he had learned in childhood and asked them to play it—one man even danced during the refrain. 

Three hours flew by.  We ate, drank, sang, partied, and had a really wonderful time.  The weather was ideal and the company was so much fun.  We would love to be able to do it again, but it may be a once in a lifetime experience, and we were glad to have had it.

Coyoacan & San Angel

We have been so busy traveling and touring, or trying to rest up and recharge that we have not had the time or energy to sit down and write, although there is much that we have seen and done that we would like to share with you.

After our return to Mexico City from San Miguel, we took a day to relax and catch up with the laundry—something all travelers have to do, but something that seldom shows up in the travel guides. (Larry also had to lick his wounds—he left his iPad on the bus—something that he always feared, so now that it has happened, that fear is out of the way. ) I (Larry) felt really stupid and boneheaded.  Erin used all of her skills to try and help us retrieve it, but to no avail—but it is now behind us and only marred the trip for a short while.)

Portraits of Frida seem to be everywhere.

Erin had suggested two Mexico City neighborhoods that we should not miss—the first being, Coyoacan, where Frido Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived and worked. Rosalio, Erin’s friendly cab driver aka Mexican Dad, drove us & the trip was pleasant though a very short drive took about 30 minutes.  The trip back was nearly three times that—traffic in Mexico City is always bad, but on Friday afternoon (as this was) it’s a nightmare, but we are getting ahead of our story.  Sorry to keep whining about MC traffic, but it is one of the most prevalent things about the city—just astounding, really.

The Frida Kahlo House (Casa Azul) was a delight and very enlightening for us.  Frida is a Mexican icon (her picture is on one side of the 500 hundred peso note—and Diego Rivera’s is on the reverse.) She contracted polio when she was six, and although she survived, it affected her right leg which did not develop as well as her left.  Then when she was 18, she was riding in a bus when it was struck by an electric tram.  She was very badly injured, had to have 32 separate operations and wore a special corset the rest of her life.  The greatest tragedy, however, for her was that as a result of the accident and the operations, she was never able to have children—and this along with her fierce Mexican identity, was a recurring theme in her work.  She died very young at the age of 47.

Inside Casa Azul--looking up at Frida's studio

A Pyramid within the garden at Casa Azul--reflecting Frida's great love for Mexican history

 We learned so much at Casa Azul—about Frida, Diego, and the political and artistic ideas of the 1920’s, 30’s, and 40’s.  Both Rivera and Kahlo were committed communists, although as friends of Leon Trotsky (whose Coyoacan home in exile we also visited) they opposed Joseph Stalin.  We loved being able to walk through their houses, seeing their furniture, furnishings, and art—it was a step back in time to another era and a worldview totally alien to us. In the end, we came away with a great admiration for Frida as an individual and an artist.

 You get less of a look into Diego Rivera and his art at Casa Azul, but we are still hoping to see some more of his works, especially his murals, in some other places in Mexico City—and not to take away from Frida’s talents, Diego’s works resonate more with us.

After touring the Casa Azul and the Trotsky House, it was time for lunch. As we walked back to Coyoacan’s central plaza, we came across a large, bustling market.  We had looked at the menus of several restaurants as we walked along the way, but nothing appealed to us—however,  we were immediately attracted to the market and most especially a “Marisqueria” or seafood restaurant outside it.  Not really knowing what we would get when we ordered “fried fish” and a shrimp empanada—we had a wonderful, filling lunch.  A special added treat was listening to a very good “Norteno” trio (two guitars and a violin playing Tex-Mex music) serenade us (after which it is proper to offer some pesos if you like them, which we did, very much).

 An after lunch tour of the market, which reminded us a lot of Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, with, of course, a Mexican twist—including lots of skeletons and skulls as the Mexicans are really gearing up for the Day of the Dead celebration--was very rewarding and fun.

Everyone in Mexico seems to be getting ready for Day of the Dead celebration

 We then walked back to the Plaza Central:  a word about central plazas.  As you know, most Spanish villages have them—a tree filled, bench filled, usually fountain centered place of tranquility from which the town/city grows outward.   We have come to love this feature.  Most cities or towns have a lot of noise and heat—traffic, music, “greeters” (i.e., a person standing outside every store and restaurant urging you to come inside), destitute people (often tiny children which breaks your heart) approaching you for donations in a cup, and especially the blazing sun—that these oases of cool and calm are just a gift.  Not to mention the best people watching places you can find.

After resting in Plaza Central, we hurried to meet Rosalio, who was as punctual as always, but as we said earlier our return trip home lasted nearly 1-½ hours in the worst of Mexico City traffic.

Larry & Erin at the San Angel Hacienda

On the following day, Larry and Erin had a special “father/daughter” bonding day in San Angel while Sue rested her still healing knee.  So much walking takes a lot of energy and a day of R&R for her is necessary at least once a week.  San Angel’s Saturday market is one of Erin’s favorite MC activities.  Street after street, park after after park are filled with artists—some good some, well… She seldom buys anything, but is always on the lookout for something unique and interesting.  Our day started with a great breakfast at the San Angel Hacienda, part of which dates from the early 18^th century.  Now an Inn and restaurant, it is truly beautiful, especially its flower filled gardens. Next to the hacienda is another Rivera/Kahlo shrine—their house/studio.  (if you saw the Frida movie with Selma Hayak—both the Casa Azul and the house/studio were featured in it.)

Erin in front of the Rivera/Kahlo House Studio in San Angel

 After touring the house/studio we strolled the streets and parks and stopped in at countless shops and tiendas, many featuring beautiful native art and artisan works.  Our afternoon culminated with a wonderful lunch that offered a super “Cuban band” in addition to great Mexican food.  As our table was next to the sidewalk, we were continuously offered bargains and “one of a kind treasures” by the strolling vendors.  We succumbed and made a couple of purchases—Erin bought some tiny cactus plants in equally tiny clay jars and Larry bought a couple of hand carved book marks.  Erin and Larry had a great day and Sue equally enjoyed her day of rest.

San Miguel de Allende

We were not unhappy on Monday morning to hop on another luxury bus for a short hour-long trip to another nearby colonial city, San Miguel de Allende.  What a pleasant contrast: San Miguel was practically deserted (in fact, we were the only guests in our lovely hotel, Villa Mirasol, both Monday and Tuesday evenings.) We had not even planned to visit San Miguel originally because of its chi-chi reputation as a town overrun with well-heeled ex-pats, but Erin urged us to reconsider, and we are so very glad we did.  And indeed, there are a lot of rich ex-pat American and Canadians and rich Mexicans as well, but San Miguel is still a magical city that enthralled and delighted us—so much so that we plan to end our stay here in Mexico with a return visit to the town, with Erin and Jeff hopefully joining us.

What’s so magical? Much of the city’s colonial architecture has been preserved or restored—and although there is a lot of new construction happening, most of it fits in with the ambience of the city.  Guanajuato’s buildings are awash in colors—red, orange, yellow, brown, white, lime green, and many shades of blue, as we noticed from our funicular ride.  San Miguel is much more muted, with somber reds and ochers predominating. The streets in the old part of town are all cobblestoned—but unlike other old towns that we have visited, the streets and sidewalks are well tended and maintained.  Like Tuscany, the light in San Miguel seems different—you almost want to believe that in such light, anyone could be an artist.  That sounds fantastical, but it is true.

One reason that we want to return is that with a town like San Miguel, you need time to walk around and to discover and savor it ambience, spirit, and history, and, at the end of two days, we felt that we had just scratched the surface. Tuesday, for us, was something of a once in a lifetime day experience.  It began with a nearly two-hour hike through the Jardin Botanico.  Located just on the edge of town, this garden is dedicated to the preservation of the native plants of the central Mexican highlands—the number, variety and beauty of the cactuses, succulents, and other high desert plants located in the garden almost defies description.  Every turn in the path seemed to bring another surprise and delight—we truly regretted having only allotted the morning for this activity, although the day fortunately proved to be full of delights and fun.

The Jardin Botanico's vortex with Sue invoking  some of its healing powers.

After the garden, we took a taxi (taxis are ubiquitous and inexpensive in the town) to the Fabrica Aurora, an old textile plant that has been converted into an art and antique center.  (For our Alexandria VA friends, think Torpedo Factory with a Latin flair.) We loved looking at the various shops and studios and had a great al fresco lunch, which again included Cheladas—our new favorite warm weather drink. After lunch, we returned to our hotel for a rejuvenating siesta, because Erin had advised us that we had to end our day by watching the sunset over the city from the terrace of the Rosewood Hotel.

The Rosewood is located such that from its terrace, you have a wonderful, almost 360 degree panoramic view of the city.  As the day ends, the sun sets, and the twilight descends, the street lights begin twinkle on and San Mguel takes on a truly magical air, enhanced for us by margaritas and tapas served by a staff of delightfully kind and courteous meseros. It was an enchanting way to end an enchanting day.

It's hard to capture, but San Miguel, especially at sunset, is truly a magical place.

Guanajuato

It has been a busy time for us since we last wrote, although we are trying to pace ourselves, knowing that there will be no way that we can cover even a few of the sights and activities that Mexico City has to offer.

At the end of last week, we visited the Anthropology Museum of Mexico City—or at least part of it.  Incredibly well designed and executed, it is almost impossible to see and absorb in one day. There have been advanced civilizations in Meso-America for more than three thousand years, and the museum has treasures from all of them: including the Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans, and Aztecs.  On our first visit to the museum, we just got an overview and promised ourselves to go back.  Anyone’s visit to MC needs to include this fabulous center.

A statue of a Mayan god, nearly 1000 years old.

We were reminded that while Europe was suffering through the middle ages when London and Paris were little more than large towns with mud streets and open sewers, the Mexican cities of Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Chichen Itza were thriving religious, political, and cultural centers with monumental stone buildings, paved streets, and running water—very advanced cultures.

Over the weekend, Erin joined us for a four-hour bus trip to the colonial Mexican city of Guanajuato.  Mexico has a great network of luxury, first class buses connecting all of the major cities in the country.  Your trip usually includes a very comfortable, reclining seat, a bag lunch or snack, and continuous videos.  It makes traveling in Mexico easy and hassle free.

We arrived in Guanajuato early on Saturday morning, unfortunately along with many thousands of other visitors.  We were aware that one of Mexico’s, indeed Latin America’s, largest cultural festivals occurs in Guanajuato every October, but we didn’t realize the numbers of people the Cervantino Festival attracts.  Although we enjoyed some of the music and were able to get tickets to what was one of the best ballet performances that we have ever seen (performed by the Beijing Dance Theater), the crowds really did detract from our enjoyment of Guanajuato.

In addition to the ballet, highlights for all three of us included whiling away much of the afternoon (and avoiding the crowds) in a sidewalk cafe, drinking cold Chaladas (lime juice and beer served over ice in salt rimmed glass) in the Parque Juarez, listening to strolling mariachi bands.  We also toured Diego Rivera’s boyhood home that houses some of his fascinating artwork.

Our favorite band

Erin and Larry posing with Frida and Diego

Sue and Erin with Chaladas

Erin returned to MC on Sunday afternoon, leaving us to enjoy a 500-foot funicular ride up to a park, providing a fantastic panoramic view of the town—again out of the teeming crowds in the streets.

Guanajuato from above

Before we left Monday, we walked through a park across from our hotel.  An incredible dancer was leading a Zumba exercise class, which went on for over an hour.  We will try to include a video we took of a portion of it—hope it works so you can see what happens in a Mexican park early in the morning.

 

Mexico City

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Sunday morning we were up at 4:00 am to catch our flight to Mexico City, so to see Erin’s smiling face outside of Customs around 4:00 pm was a relief and a delight.   She welcomed her weary parents with warm, loving hugs and her “Mexican Dad”, Rosalio, drove us from the airport to her apartment.

She lives in a lovely apartment in a beautiful neighborhood. Mexico City is a city of neighborhoods as we learned in a long “TuriBus” tour yesterday.  Erin’s is Polanco,  very prosperous looking with lots of trees, parks, gated homes or apartment buildings (with very serious looking guards standing outside),  high-end stores and chi-chi restaurants. Streets and even sidewalks are filled with cars, often being washed by hand on the spot.

Strolling in Erin's neighborhood--shops and restaurants are abundant.

 First impressions of Mexico City—it is huge (duh !), very modern, not polluted as we expected and very clean.  It is a city with a love affair with the automobile.  High volume traffic seems to be a constant.  It is very difficult to cross a street, even in a residential neighborhood, and crossing the major streets and avenues is always a nerve-racking challenge.  Seems pedestrians are equal objects with cars, buses, motorcycles…anything that moves and everything seems to move really fast.

There are lots of parks, often filled with people strolling and bicyclists.

 During the tour, we saw many of the historical and important sites, including the Zocalo—the center of the town, very close to the heart of the original Aztec city, Tenochtitlan.  Today city center contains a cathedral, several government buildings and a huge plaza with a gigantic Mexican flag.  Demonstrations seem to be held there—currently firemen are staging a hunger strike—and police in riot gear were quite visible.  But hordes of people (and we do mean hordes—never saw so many people, even in New York) were walking everywhere.

Mexicans, like Americans, are very proud of their country & their flag.

Cathedral at one side of the Zocalo--it's truly monumental.

 Alongside the cathedral were native people dressed in medicine man or woman looking garb (leather short pants fringed, long skirts and head wraps, feathers, beads, colorful ribbons, ankle jewelry) with pots of burning something surrounded by herbs, fruits, flowers, various icons, etc.  People clearly were paying to be cleansed, blessed, absolved or whatever.   A bongo drummer kept up a rhythmic beat which made the whole scene intriguing.

One of the indigenous healers at work.

Probably the most impressive part of the city that we have seen so far is the Paseo de la Reforma, a huge boulevard first created by Emperor Maximillian to make an easy route from his palace to the Zocalo (which by the way means basement;  apparently that is all there was on the spot for many years as construction on proposed buildings was halted for a very long time).  Paseo de la Reforma was later widened to mimic  the Champs Elysees with side park-like walking areas complete with trees, shrubbery, fountains, benches and statues honoring various historical figures.  It is a beautiful avenue and just filled with moving vehicles, like everywhere else you go.

Polanco is modeled on the Californian style.

 Many of the Mexico City neighborhoods were “built in the European style” (as the guide kept repeating) at some point in history.  We had to laugh when we came to Erin’s neighborhood which she described as being “built in the California style” (which we took to mean Hollywood).  Guess so, with Hermes, Bulgari, YSL, Cartier, and other fancy stores lining the commercial streets.

Palacio de Bellas Artes

We spend a lot of time walking around Erin’s neighborhood.  We have found the grocery store, fruit and vegetable sellers, flower sellers, nice sidewalk cafes, global ubiquitous Starbucks, and the all-important ATM.  Costs of everything here are high; certainly comparable to the U.S. First impressions--Mexico City is certainly a modern, bustling first world city; we are anxious to see more of the country to see at how much variance it is to the city.  The city is also an object lesson--as people get more prosperous, they want and get more consumer goods, most especially cars & cars and traffic are certainly the bane of this wonderful & intriguing city.

 This weekend we plan to visit Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, getting there by bus, so we should have some more adventures to report.  Meanwhile, thanks for keeping up with us; it makes us feel happy to know that you’re “with us”.