Siete Dias en la Ciudad de Mexico

 

Selfie at Teotihuacan

Following our stint in Imperial Beach, we took a 7 day tour of Mexico City with Road Scholar.  We've traveled with them before and felt secure with their approach to dining, covid and safety.  

Dia Uno 3/7/2022
Our flight to Mexico City (henceforth MC) left at (yawn) 6am.  With a flight change in Phoenix, we arrived at 3pm and were greeted by Road Scholar (henceforth RS) representatives, Haydee and Beatrice.  One of the benefits of booking with RS is transportation to and from the airport.  After checking into the NH Collection Mexico City Centro Historic, we had dinner in the hotel. It was disappointing that Haydee elected not to use this initial dinner for the orientation and introductions.  The large table was full, and we ate alone.  I found this less than ideal.  The hotel is in the heart of Mexico City's historic center, footsteps from Zocalo Plaza which we drove past, the Temple Mayor and pedestrian strolling streets. A bit of travel at Flickr.

Dia Dos 3/8/2022

Our Road Scholar Companions at Zocalo Plaza

Once again, there was no orientation today.  Also, we had to constantly introduce ourselves to people and explain we had no name tags because we weren't home to receive them.  We had our first lecture today from Alma Lilia Roura on the history of Mexico City. She will be our daily lecturer speaking on the history in a chronological format. Today's lecture introduced us to the 3 formative muralists: Diego Rivera, David Sequeiros, and Jose Orozco. 

Following her lecture we toured the Historic District of MC which is centered over and around the Aztec ruins.  We walked through Zocalo Plaza where we encountered the Feminists marching on International Women's Day.  Our guides kept moving us along and preventing us from even observing the march.  The guides claim that the feminists can become violent.  I felt I was denied the opportunity to experience a cultural event.  Our first stop was at the ruins of the main temple of the Aztecs.  The adjacent Museum Templo Mayor holds Aztec artifacts found in the area. The ruins were buried under Spanish era buildings and were discovered when excavations for a new building were begun.  These artifacts and ruins helped historians determine the scope and purpose of the ruins.

Aztec Ruins of Templo Mayor

After lunch and a bit of information about the surrounding Spanish architecture, we took a short walking tour.  Our trip to the Secretary of Education building was cancelled due to the Feminist Protests.  The feminist groups in Mexico have a long history.  Today they have a reputation of becoming distructive during the International Women's Day protests.  It began two years ago when powers that be failed to address the rape of a teenager by policemen and when the continued disappearances of native women were not investigated. Nearly 70% of Mexican women are victims of sexual assault, and around 9 women are killed every day.  So, instead of seeing murals at the Education building, Wayne and I went to the Grand Hotel to see the Tiffany ceiling and have a margarita.  From the roof deck we at last had a view of the Feminist protestors.  See this and more at Flickr.  

Wayne in the Grand Hotel

Dia Tres 3/9/2022

Selfie in the courtyard of the Anthropology Museum

The lecture today was on the pre-Colombian period.  MC was founded and named Mexica-Tenochtitlan by the Mexica people in the early 14th century.  This founding spot happened to be in a lake.  Two centuries later and then the capital of the Aztec empire, the Spanish arrived in 1521, and all went to hell.  Yesterday we had a look at the fallen Aztec empire remains at the Templo Mayor.  Today at the National Anthropology Museum we saw a large collection that covered all pre-Columbian civilizations located in Mexico as well as in former Mexican territory in what is today the southwestern United States. 

After personal time and lunch we stopped at the Diego Rivera Mural Museum.  Only one mural resides here.  Miraculously, it survived intact the 1985 earthquake that destroyed the Hotel del Prado where it lived. The subject of the mural is the Alameda Park, but is packed with over 150 characters including Rivera and Frieda Kahlo.  Can you find them? There may be a better look at Flickr.

Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda Central 

Dia Quatro 3/10/2022

Selfie at Teotihuacan Archeological Site

It was a very busy day with 3 different stops.  First we visited the Basilica of Our Lady Guadalupe.  In front of a large plaza sits the old Basilica built in 1695. It was closed for many years due to its sinking.  As more water is extracted from the aquifer, many buildings begin to sink.  In 1974 the latest Basilica was built adjacent to the old.  The new holds Juan Diego's cloak.  We heard some pretty questionable information on this cloak from our guide, Paco.  He stated that NASA came to examine the cloak and found it to have super natural powers, that Juan Diego's face was discovered in the Madonna's eye.  How anyone would know what a man from 1531 looked like is beyond me.  To view the cloak, we stood on a moving walkway and got about 15 seconds to admire the miracle.  

Our next stop was the Teotihuacan Archeological Site. It is an ancient Mesoamerican city reaching its apex 1 AD to 500 AD when more than 125,000 residents lived there. It is unclear who settle here, but most speculation suggests people from Oaxaca.  Across the access road to Teotihuacan are the ruins of Tepantitla, a residential complex that contains a number of murals painted around the year 450. 

Finally, we managed to visit the Ministry of Education, a visit previously cancelled due to the Feminists' protests. Originally this building housed the Spanish convents. It was secularized in the 19th century and taken over by the Secretary of Education.   Here we saw Diego River's first large-scale mural project completed in 1928. His and other murals cover nearly all the walls of the two inner courtyards. See more of our exciting day at Flickr.

Dia Cinco 3/11/2022

Where's Waldo?  Here we are in Casa Azul

This was my favorite day so far.  Early morning we drove to Coyoacan, a borough of Mexico City. The name comes from Nahuatl and probably means "place of coyotes". The Central Garden Park pays homage to this with a fountain topped by coyotes.  This great bohemian neighborhood was home to Frieda Kahlo, Trotsky, Diego Rivera and other well-known artists and political activists.  We toured the Casa Azul, Kahlo's home, visited the San Juan Bautista Church, and took a very interesting lunch boat tour on the canals.  A fun virtual tour of Casa Azul is here.  The day is much better depicted in photos at Flickr.

Dia Seis 3/12/2022

Road Scholar Tour Group at the National University of Mexico

Today we went to college in search of more murals.  We walked into the campus past the University Olympic Stadium. This was the site for the 1968 Summer Olympics where the infamous Black Power salute debuted.  I was more excited to think of that than viewing the Rivera mural done in relief with stone.  The main campus is built around a huge field that was filled with people of all ages taking part in a variety of activities.  Tossing balls for dogs, tai chi, dance, drumming, etc made the place seem more a civic park than a campus.  Our main focus was on the numerous murals and mosaics. The University is in the area of San Angelo which is near the Coyoacan neighborhood we visited to see Freida Kahlo's home.  In San Angelo proper there is a weekly Saturday art bazaar in the San Jacinto Park.  It was really large with many artists and crafts people.  We were left on our own to shop for 2 hours.  Wayne and I spent about 30 minutes, got bored and went looking for something else.  We explored and found a hotel with garden dining where we had truly the best margaritas yet along side the Mexican one percenters.   Dinner was out tonight at Restaurant El Bajio.  So far we have been less than amazed at the food choices.  It was one thing I was excited to experience.  But our offerings, other than the soups, have been bland.  Pics at Flickr.

Dia Siete 3/13/2022

Palacio de Bellas Artes

We spent the majority of our last full day here at the Palacio de Bellas Artes where we attended a morning performance of the Ballet Folkloric of Amalia Hernandez and afterward visited the great murals in the same building.  In the performance hall the stage curtain is a mosaic of almost on million pieces of glass made by Tiffany. The ballet has been performed since 1952. It brings together in one performance the music and dances that reflect the various regions of Mexico from pre-Columbian through modern day. The costumes were the best for me...so, so colorful.  After the performance, we entered the building again and viewed the murals that surround the second floor.  They were by the 3 big guys: Sequieros, Rivera and Orozco.  Most notable was Rivera's, "Man, Controller of the Universe" which he reproduced in response to the Rockefeller center mural, Man at the Crossroads, that was destroyed.  

In preparation for flying home tomorrow, we had a covid test and passed.  Everyone in the group passed.  Kudos to Road Scholar for keeping us safe; Kudos to the citizens of Mexico City for the complete compliance with Covid cautions.  Pics at Flickr.

Restaurants we dined in.

• El Mayor which overlooks Templo Mayor
• La Casa Churra
• Gran Teocalli where we were entertained by Aztec dancers
• El Comal de mis Amores in San Angelo where we had stuffed poblano peppers
• El Bajio
• la Parrilla Leonesa
• Mercaderes

Point Loma

Wayne at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park

We moved into a Sheraton in San Diego proper in order to catch a 6:15am flight.  The hotel and airport are very near Point Loma Peninsula so we drove up to the tip where the Cabrillo National Monument is.  It's a fairly simply park that commemorates the landing of Juan Cabrillo, the first European to explore California.  The views of San Diego Bay and surrounding areas are vast and lovely.  On the west side of the Peninsula is Sunset Cliffs Natural Park.  Here was yet another gorgeous coast with soaring cliffs and brave, brave, brave young people hopping around and hanging off those cliffs.  

Tonight we had the funniest dinner.  There comes a point when waiting for a restaurant dinner to be served that one instinctly thinks, "This is a long wait". Then a little later one says aloud, "This is way too long a wait."  Then one starts shifting in the chair, glaring at the waiter, finally standing.  At that point the waiter comes over and says, "Let me check."  (which he should have noticed and done already without our encouragement).  Turns out the order was never begun.  Then, about 10 minutes later my burger shows up.  The waiter asks, "anything else?"  I say, "Yes! Wayne's order".  The short version is Wayne did finally get his order.  The waiter refused to charge us. (he got his tip).  We were laughing so hard by then.  What else can you do?  Pics of the day at Flickr.

On the Final Day

 

Here's to Our Next Adventure

Fish tacos at Mike Hess Brewery while sitting at a fire pit seemed to be the best way to end our time in Imperial Beach.  It was a most pleasant sit.  We had weird encounters today.  At a stop light the man in the adjacent car began to make crazy faces and wild hand/arm gestures.  He was yelling something I couldn't and didn't want to understand.  He was driving a Prius, maybe jealous of our classy Ford Fiesta?  When we got home, the digital lock wasn't working.  Fortunately, Jasmin was able to remotely open the door after about 15 minutes.  The bathroom never looked better.  Tomorrow we go the San Diego for an overnight.  The plane leaves at 6:15.  Way too early for a couple of septuagenarians.  A couple of pictures at Flickr.

Adios North Beach Trail

 

Tijuana River

We took our last walk along the North Beach Trail.  There seemed to be more sea birds today.  I saw white pelicans for the first time, and watched them catching fish. It's breeding season and the males have nuptial tubercles (orange fin-like growths atop the bill).  These fall off after breeding season, which leads to speculation they are used to attract females.  I also discovered that near the Coronado Islands (pictured on the horizon) is a living reef memorial.  Here cremated remains are used to enhance and build reefs.

Because of the low lying clouds we had a gorgeous sunset.  I couldn't stop taking pictures.  

Sketch of the Day: White Breeding Male Pelican

A Chill in the Air

 

Rudy Duck, Tijuana Estuary

The Rudy Duck was visible today on our walk in the Estuary.  The breeding male has a bright blue bill.  Very cool.  Speaking of which, the climate here has been cooler this entire visit than prior times here. Only one or two days have warranted shorts.  Today was cold enough (50s) that we cancelled going out for dinner.  This, of course, is because we still dine only outside.  Our minds are on winding down here and finalizing plans to get to Mexico City March 7.

Sketch of the Day:  Rudy Duck, Tijuana Estuary

  

Lunch with Lola

 

Wayne, Adam and Lola at Point Loma Seafoods

Look at that fish.  Boy, I wish we had a fish market like that. It's so baffling that we live next door to New Bedford, MA, America's #1 fishing port and don't have decent fish markets.  Any who, we met Lola and Adam at Point Loma Seafoods for lunch.  Talk was about wedding plans, teaching strategies and travel.  We're invited to the October wedding, and will try our best to attend.  Later we headed for a walk on the beautiful Torrey Pines beach.  Photos

Sketch of the Day:  Torrey Pines State Beach

It's All Happening at the Zoo...

 

Wayne in the Aviary, San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo is in Bilbao Park but requires a separate entry ticket. It grew out of the abandoned exotic animal exhibitions of the Panama-California Exhibition of 1915, which resulted in the expansive Bilbao Park we know today.  I remember Joan Emery visiting Johnny Carson on the Late Night with animals from the zoo.  Always so funny.  My favorite spot in the zoo were the aviaries. The colors and songs of the birds were mesmerizing.  Photos

Sketch of the Day: American Flamingo, San Diego Zoo