Adios Mexico

La Paroquia, San Miguel de Allende

After a lovely three months stay in San Miguel de Allende, we took our leave on January 26th.

As in the past, we enjoyed our stay, but, perhaps not quite as much as we had in our last few visits.  San Miguel, unfortunately, is becoming a a victim of its own success.

Automobile traffic and pollution are more noticeable (or at least to us) than ever, and there are times when you feel overwhelmed by the tourists.  Still, it remains a magical place and a great place to relax and escape the winter weather.

La Virgin de Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico

Larry really enjoys the opportunity to improve and practice his Spanish and the Mexican people are overwhelmingly kind, hardworking and gracious.

Before saying adios or farewell to Mexico, we spent three days in Mexico City visiting with our friend, Carole Reedy.

We used to call it DF (day-effay), distrito federale, as many of our Mexican friends had taught us, but now, thanks to a new national law, it is the City of Mexico (CDMX), (ciudad mexico), with many of the same powers of other Mexican States.

Enjoying our luncheon

 It is always so much fun to visit with Carole, who has lived in Mexico for nearly 20 years.  She is American born but has come to love the country, its people and its culture so much that she became a Mexican citizen.

She is a great guide to the City and in previous visits has introduced us to many of its museums and cultural attractions, including the Corrida or bullfighting.

Templo Mayor ruins in the Zocalo

One day during our stay, after a delicious and relaxing lunch at a great restaurant overlooking the ruins of the Templo Mayor (the main Aztec Temple, dating from before the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1520), we visited the nearby Department of Education (Secretaria de Educacion) to marvel at the Diego Rivera murals.

The murals were painted by Rivera from 1923-1928 and tell the story of the Mexico Revolution.

Restored in the 1990's, they are truly marvelous to behold and study. With very few other tourists or visitors, we were free to wander and explore to our hearts content.

We had planned a stay of half an hour or so and ended up staying more than two hours.  For us, the murals were far more interesting and fascinating than others we had seen in the National Palace or elsewhere.

 Rivera was an avowed Communist and wholeheartedly believed in the Mexican Revolution and through these murals wanted to celebrate its successes in redistributing land and ending illiteracy and generally improving the lot of the Mexican campesino.

His overarching theme seems to be summed up in a banner above one of the murals which loosely can be translated as "True Civilization will be harmony of men with the land and amongst themselves."

Freda Kahlo handing out guns

One of our favorite murals features Freda Kahlo, Rivera's wife and an artist in her own right,   distributing arms to the campesinos.

Although they seemed to have loved each other very much, Rivera and Kahlo had a tumultuous and troubled relationship.  Her fame has perhaps surpassed his in recent times.

Our photos can not do justice to the beauty of the murals nor the impact that they make on the viewer.

We felt so fortunate to be able to see and experience them in person, and should you be in Mexico City--don't miss them!

The Secretariate is a huge complex and after we had finished looking at the Rivera murals, we started to leave only to realize that in another part of the building there were some works by another famous Mexican muralist, David Siqueiros.

We were not as taken with them as we were with the Rivera murals.  They are very monumental and abstract--so perhaps a little less approachable.

What a great way to close out yet another visit to Mexico.  Thanks once again to our friend Carole for turning us on to this great find and for always being willing to share her Mexico City with us.

Now we are back in Denver for the foreseeable future.  It is great to be back in our own place and to be near Bryn, Grant and Charlie.  We got back in town just in time to help celebrate his 4th Birthday--an important milestone.

And to experience Super Bowl 50 with a million other Bronco fans !  It was a SUPER welcome !!

Patzcuaro Adventure

On the sunny square with Susie

 We had such a nice, if short, visit to Patzcuaro--a small city in the Mexican state of Michoacan, with our friends, Mart & Bob Larson and Susie Morgan.

Our drive there took a little over three hours--which was just about right, since the five of us were crammed into a little Nissan Versa.

A couple resting near our rental house

Unfortunately, our drive back to SMA took about seven hours, as we got delayed for more than three hours outside of the city of Morelia.  A gasoline truck overturned (just about five minutes ahead of us), and the police had to close the road to clean up all the spilled fuel.

But we are so happy that we made the trip.  Patzcuaro is very different from San Miguel de Allende.

Although a town that attracts a number of tourists, you notice them a lot less.  It is quite peaceful with many colonial style buildings and some beautiful vistas.

Sue posing with a Gertrude namesake

We rented, through AIRBnB, a wonderful three bedroom house just a couple of blocks from the picturesque and charming main plaza. It was very comfortable and full of local arts and crafts.


Some of the highlights included:

1. The Gertrudis Bocanegra square that honors a female hero of the Mexican struggle for Independence;

Entire history of Mexico on one wall

 2. A 1942 Martin O'Gorman  mural in the local public library, depicting the history of Mexico.

Mexico, unfortunately, has experienced so much corruption and violence and its people so much repression, even today.  The mural was a great history lesson as well as an exceptional piece of public art.

Card Catalogue

It was interesting and nostalgic to see and use the card catalog--something that most American public libraries have abandoned.

The card catalog, though, was the mainstay of most libraries throughout the 20th century and still can be very useful. (You can take the librarian out of the library, but you can't take the library out of the librarian.)

Larry, Mart and Bob in the Casa de Onze Patios courtyard

3. A beautiful and historic old convent, called the House of Eleven Patios (Casa de Onze Patios) that featured a wide variety of small stores that sold local arts and crafts.

Unlike many tourist sites, the shops all seemed to be quite different, often specializing in one type of craft like textiles, lacquer goods, musical instruments, toys, or jewelry.

We spent a couple of hours walking around and shopping.  It was so peaceful, entertaining and interesting.

4. A very interesting museum (Museo de Regional de Arte Popular) where a guide lead us through rooms displaying local crafts from prehistoric times to the present.

In the center were ruins of an ancient prison, where some wall portions were still intact and showed dots prisoners had dug into it to mark the days.

Lovely fountain and courtyard in a smaller building

Same building as above, but showing balconies

Larry and Bob posing at nice fountain in Casa de Onze Patios

Display of figurines in Museo Regional de Arte Popular

View from middle balcony of our rental house

Larry in our rental house bedroom, ready to leave

Bob, Susie and Sue seated; Mart and Larry standing

Even though our AIRBnB house had a great and fully equipped kitchen, none of us really wanted to cook.  Fortunately, we found a great local restaurant called Lupita's.  We ate a couple of meals there and had a great time relaxing and being with our friends.

There are so many places to see and visit in Mexico--and we have done so few--but we know that we have them to look forward to.