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….