Vive Latino

Big concert. Thousands of people. Nine hours. Hello Seahorse. Calle 13. Empire of the Sun (amazing). Complete exhaustion.

Los dos Fridas

The two frida's in the museum of modern art.

Mexico City: Take 2

On Friday morning Olivia and I got up and headed to the bus station for our trip to Mexico City. The short bus ride, of just over 2 hours, was uneventful, and we arrived at our hostel by taxi around noon. We stayed in a really adorable little apartment style Hostel near the Zona Rosa part of Mexico City. The hostel manager was a really chill guy with dreads that were so long they almost reached the backs of his calves. He showed us to our room on the second floor, which was themed with big paper-mache skeletons on the wall. It was an awesome room painted orange with two cozy little twin beds. After settling in we got directions from the hostel guy and headed to the nearest metro station to go downtown. For only 3 pesos you can ride the metro all the way to the zocalo from our hostel. When we arrived there were tons of people milling about and weaving through the throngs of street vendors selling trinkets and other gifts. First we walked about to find some food and ended up eating delicious tortas in a little alleyway that was filled with other taco vendors. Then we went back to the main square to visit the cathedral and the Palacio Principal. The palacio was closed last time I was in Mexico City so it was great that I got to go in this time. Inside the palace is a huge Diego Rivera mural. Coincidentally we bumped into our host brother Pepe, who also happened to be in D.F. for a school field trip. It was funny running into him, and one of the girls from his school took lots of photos of us together. I think the other students thought it was funny to see Pepe talking to us gringas. After exhausting most everything there was to see in the Cathedral and the Palacio, we walked to Bellas Artes, a big art museum, which houses several murals by famous Mexican muralists. There was also an exhibition of art by Rene Magritte (his most well-know work of art being the surrealist painting of the man with a green apple over his face). His works were very interesting and strange, but I really enjoyed the exhibit. Upstairs I got to see Diego’s murals again as well as murals by Siqueiros and Orozco. After a long day of walking we headed back to the hostel for the day.
Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast on the hostel roof with two Germans who were also staying there. Our first destination was Frida Kahlo’s house. I remembered vaguely where it was from the last time we were in Mexico City, but even then I got us a bit lost. I think we did a really good job of navigating the metro however. My second visit to Frida Kahlo’s house was much more rewarding that the first. For one it wasn’t pouring rain and there was electricity. I got to see a lot of the galleries that were closed last time. We stopped for a small stack in the café and sat in the courtyard of amazingly blue house. After we had restored our energy we walked to the corner and caught a bus which took us to the nearest Metro station. We took the metro back to the centro to do some more exploring and to get some lunch. When we were walking around two timid teenage boys asked us if they could interview us for their English project. They were funny and seemed nice enough, so we participated in their interview. Now I have been in two different filmed interviews in Mexico. After eating some huevos a la mexicana we walked around on the streets of the zocalo. We went into at least 10 used bookstores, which line one of the streets parallel to the centro. Olivia bought a few books, but she wasn’t able to find a book of Octavio Paz poems which she had been looking for. Next we walked past Bellas Artes again and through the neighboring park to find the museum which houses one of Diego Rivera’s most famous murals. It was so detailed and beautiful. In the center there is a skeleton with a huge feathery boa and a big hat. Lots of political figures from Mexican history appear in the mural. Frida Kahlo is also in the mural standing next to the skeleton. Next we made our way to the Museum of Modern Art. It was already almost five o’clock and unfortunately the museum closed at five thirty, but we managed to do a quick round of most of the exhibits. The most amazing part was getting to see the painting of the Two Frida’s by Kahlo. On our way back we stopped to see the famous statue of Independence, also known as “el angel.” The golden angel is an iconic figure all over Mexico City. Just in the 15 minutes or so that Olivia and I walked around the monument taking pictures, 6 or 7 girls in outrageously fancy dresses for their quinceanera photo-shoot in front of the monument. There were at least 4 limos parked around the monument to escort the girls and her entourage of teenage boys in colored suits picked to complement the colors of the dresses. Now thoroughly exhausted, we headed back to the hostel to rest a bit and then go out for dinner. We went to part of town called La Condesa that has tons of amazing restaurants and bars. I had an amazing plate of homemade noodles with pesto and Olivia had salmon alfredo pasta. It was all really delicious. We walked around La Condesa a little bit after dinner but didn’t end up checking out any of the tons of clubs or bars. We were both just so tired from a full day of activity that we decided to head back and get some sleep.
On Sunday we got up and had breakfast on the roof again while doing some studying for our exam on Monday. We had bought tickets to go to Vive Latino, a huge music festival in Mexico City, so we knew it was going to be a long day. We went back to the centro for lunch and a bit more sight seeing. As we were walking down Cinco de Mayo street to find a restaurant we found ourselves walking upstream into a huge crowd of people protesting against president Felipe Calderón and the poverty and hunger that has occurred during his presidency. The parade of angry protesters lasted a long time as hundreds and hundreds of people marched by shouting in unison. After lunch we walked in a new direction that we hadn’t walked in before and ended up in a very strange modern art exhibit in an old church. We walked into another museum of art and ran into a few more Diego works as well as some amazing modern pieces of art. I saw so much art this weekend that it has become hard to process it all. Around 3 o’clock we decided it was about time to head over to the music festival, so we headed back to the metro and navigated our way to the concert sight. More to come on Vive Latino….

Cuernavaca

Last weekend Olivia and I took a trip to Cuernavaca in the state of Morelos. We had plans with two other girls from class, but they decided not to go at the last minute so it was just the two of us. After a miserable exam in class on Friday, Christian took us out for yummy tortas before going to the bus station. We got there just in time to catch the next available bus leaving for Cuernavaca. On the bus I ran into a girl I had seen on the bus last quarter who was going to Cuernavaca to visit her boyfriend again. It was funny running into a familiar face on the bus. Bus trip wasn’t too long, only a bit over 2 hours. In Cuernavaca we caught a cab and headed to our hostel. We had booked for four people so when we arrived we had to figure out new arrangements for just the two of us. The nicest old man offered us a private room with two beds and showed us around. The hostel is actually a Spanish language school as well, so there were lots of classrooms set up as well as rooms. It was an amazing building with lots of levels and spiral stairs. We were on the ground floor right next to the pool and the open-bar kitchen. The room was really nice too with a shared bathroom that we never actually had to share with anyone.
After looking around the hostel we decided to walk to the centro. On our way out one of the hostel staff warned us that there had been a narcotrafico (drug trafficking) threat for that night in Cuernavaca and that we should be careful. With that in mind we head out to check out Cuernavaca. We walked to the centro from our hostel, which took about 20 minutes. The zocalo of Cuernavaca is the only major city centro in all of Mexico that does not have a chapel, cathedral or church of some sort in the main square. Across from the centro is El Palacio de Hernán Cortés in which the conquistador de Mexico actually lived. It is now a museum of sorts with ancient artifacts from the indigenous people of the region and paraphernalia de Emilio Zapata and other revolutionary heroes. The top floor had an open arched patio with a huge mural by Diego Rivera depicting scenes of the effects of Spanish conquest on the indigenous people. It was a beautifully designed scene typical of Diego’s meticulous attention to details. We weren’t expecting it so it was even more amazing to see. After the Palacio we walked around the centro a bit more and visited the cathedral located in a little garden compound up the street from the zocalo. We had dinner at an outside café near the cathedral and then took a taxi back to the hostel. We decided to go to a bar that we had heard of that had a live salsa band, so around 10 pm we headed out. On our way out the hostel owner asked us where we were going and mentioned that another girl in the hostel had just called a cab to go to the same place. So we waited a few minutes and hopped in the cab with her. She was from Latvia and was had been studying at the Spanish language school for the past 4 months and this was her last night. We arrived at “Los Arcos” street instead of “Los Arcos” the bar/restaurant because the cab driver hadn’t understood where we wanted to go, but when we said we wanted to go to the centro he then told us that everything had shut down early. All bars and restaurants in the whole of Cuernavaca had shut down before 8 pm because of the drug violence threat. So deeply disappointed, we headed back to the hostel and paid 20 pesos each for our destination-less tour of Cuernavaca. I felt bad for the poor girl from Latvia who didn’t get to go out on her last night.
The next morning we were well rested and ready to explore some more. And as expected the threat of violence in Cuernavaca was only a threat, nothing actually happened. We went to breakfast at a cute little outside café near where we had eaten dinner the night before. Then we went to the Jardines Borda (Borda gardens), which is a huge garden complex with fountains, a large pond (with row boats for hire) and rooms full of modern art. Next we decided to check out the resident pyramids of Cuernavaca known as Teopanzoclo. After a lot of asking around we finally found a bus that passed near the pyramid site. The pyramids were not as exciting as others I have seen, but then again I’ve seen a lot of pyramids in the last couple months. They were noteworthy however because they were incomplete. The Aztecs had attempted to build a pyramid on top of an already established pyramid, but were interrupted by the arrival of Hernán Cortés. After the pyramids we headed back downtown. We bought some fabulous pan dulce (sweet bread) from street vendor, which cost less than 20 cents a piece. We spent some more time in the market looking for gifts and souvenirs before heading back to the hostel. For dinner we returned to the centro and had some traditional Mexican food. While eating 10 federal police pick-ups with armed police officers cruised around the main square. Although the threat from the night before had not been realized, it seems the police were still taking it pretty serious. After dinner we decided to splurge on desert in order to get into a fancy restaurant. We had read about the restaurant because it has a tiled pool designed by Diego Rivera on the lower patio. It was a very classy restaurant. We ordered cheesecake and crème brule and snapped guilty photos of the pool and the expensive ambiance of the restaurant. After dinner we headed back to the hostel for the night, as it was projected that nothing much would be open on Saturday either due to the threats.
Sunday morning we decided to do one last thing before going to the bus station to head back to Puebla. The famous Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros at one time had a workshop in Cuernavaca, which has since been opened as a museum with 4 unfinished murals. We took a taxi only to find that it was under renovations and not open to the public. Unfortunate adventure, but there was nothing else we could have done so we headed to the bus station to go back home. We were confronted with a few minor setbacks throughout the weekend, but overall it was a success.

La familia... todos juntos!

Last weekend on Sunday of Semana Santa the entire family got together for lunch. It was a perfect opportunity to snap a group photo while everyone was in the same room. So here is a picture of my host family.
Left to right: Jose Luis (host dad), abuelita, Blanca (host mom), Pepe (host brother), Pedro (cousin) holding Javier (host nephew, son of Karen), Emanuel (Sarah's boyfriend), Sarah (oldest host sister), Karen (host sister, mother of Javi), y una prima (sister of Pedro).

Lucha Libre!

Every monday there are lucha fights in the centro district. Here is a picture of me in a lucha mask!

Semana Santa...Guanajuato!

Last week was Semana Santa in Mexico, a week-long Roman Catholic tradition leading up to Easter (although here they don’t celebrate Easter). All classes are canceled during Semana Santa so we had the week off to relax and travel. The Friday that started out the week was Olivia’s birthday, so we decided to go out for a nice dinner. Thus, Olivia, Christian and I went to this amazing pizza place in the zócalo called Amalfi’s for delicious pizza and a bottle of wine. Afterward we went to a loft-like bar on the top of a hotel for fancy cocktails, and to finish off the night we stopped in Cholula to check out Container City (super cool arrangement of old train box cars that have been stacked and renovated to create a innovate collection of bars, shops and cafes).
We hung out in Puebla for the weekend, and on Monday Christian, Brittany, Olivia and I went to the Lucha libre fights. There was a group of blonde Americans that got a lot of verbal attention, although I think they were blissfully aware that the shouts and insults of the rambunctious teenage crowd were directed at them. Olivia bought a lucha mask and we all took pictures in the mask. The fights were hilarious and entertaining, with the shouts, chants and foot stomping adding to the rowdy atmosphere.
We had made plans to visit a friend of Christian’s in Leon for the week but due to a change in her plans we hastily changed our plans to stay in a hostel in Guanajuato (which is about 30 min south of Leon). So on Wednesday morning we set out, just the three of us, towards our destination of Guanajuato. Roughly five hours later we arrived to the quaint city of Guanajuato. Similar to San Miguel de Allende all the streets are cobblestone and incredible narrow. We drove around for at least 20 min trying to find our hostel using numerous directions given by people we passed, before we abandoned the car in a parking lot to set out on foot. It took less than 5 min to find what had taken us 30 min to circle countless times. Guanajuato is certainly not a very good place to try and navigate by car. We checked into our hostel and we were shown to our room by the hostess who we were unable to tell whether she was on drugs or just normally very slow and spacey. We were all pretty tired from the day of driving, but we walked down to a small little plaza and had dinner at a little café with a Van Gough theme. First night was pretty sleepless, as a Spanish couple in the corner snored the entire night. I didn’t know it was possible to snore that loud.
On our first morning in Guanajuato we walked around the narrow streets and peered into the numerous churches. We visited the university and climbed the mountainous stairs (comparable to mounting the pyramid of the sun in Teotihuacán) and got a great view of the city. Next we visited Diego Rivera’s old colonial style home, which has been converted into a museum. It has more than 100 original sketches and paintings by Diego. After that we took a bus to the Museum of Mummies. More than 50 mummies—preserved in the old mining soil of Guanajuato—are displayed in the museum, including baby mummies and the smallest mummy in the world. They all looked pretty creepy with their mouths open in screaming positions and their preserved skin sticking to their bones. But it was a pretty cool experience. Next we took a cool box-car-like apparatus to get to the top of the hill to see the statue of Pípila. The view from the top was magnificent and all of Guanajuato was visible. In the market place surrounding the viewing area I bought myself a purse in a beautiful embroidered style that I have been admiring ever since I got here. Thankfully for our second night the Spanish couple had left and we were able to sleep better.
Day three we had a few hiccups, starting with our hostel reservations. They told us we had made the reservations for Tuesday, Wed, Thursday instead of Wed, Thrus, Friday—thus we didn’t have anywhere to stay for that night (however later I looked at my reservations and I had booked the right nights, but oh well). So we decided to go to Leon and see where our travels would take us. Leon is about 45 min north of Guanajuato; so it didn’t take us long to get there. Known for its leather production, Leon was plastered with shoe shops. There was a mall completely dedicated to shoe boutiques. After checking out the abundant selection Olivia and I each bought a pair of leather sandals. Due to the unfortunate reservation mix-up and our inability to find hotel arrangements elsewhere we headed back to Puebla after Leon.

Disclaimer...

Due to an influx in homework and personal laziness the next blog entries may be few and far between (more than perhaps they were before). However it should be acknowledged that I will do my best to have an update on the trip I took last week to Guanajuato and Leon. I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause to my faithful blog readers. Thank you.