Today was our last full day here and once again we did battle with the Demons of Art.
Actually we started off trying to get Darcie’s debit card to work at the ATM but without joy. We called the bank and they don’t see any problems so it seems that whatever number D thinks she recorded is not the number the bank actually did record. Of course the only way to find out is to go back to the US to a BofA since it is not info they can (or will) give out over the phone (sensibly I might add). So we are already down to one card at least from the point of view of extracting cash. Her card still works fine to charge things against.
We walked back up to Bosque de Chapultepec to get a tourist map of an area south of the city called Xochimilco (pronounced “So chi mil ko” or thereabouts) which was once the breadbasket of the Aztec nation before the Spaniards showed up. We also rambled through the diminutive botanical garden which did have a great bromeliad/orchid collection in a nicely designed greenhouse.
We had our first minor disappointment with the Metro shortly thereafter. We paid our outrageous (grin) two pesos (remember that is about 17c!) and then stood on the platform for 20 minutes with an ever increasing crowd. We smartly, actually Darcie smartly, then figured we could go two stops in the other direction and then hop onto another line to get to where we wanted to be. Problem solved. We made it down to the end of the line at Tasquena and then hopped on the light rail (looks just like MUNI metro) down to a stop called La Noria (The Well I think although Babelfish translates it to The Chain Dump!).
This is the stop for a really terrific art museum called La Museo Dolores Olmedo. She was a rich patron of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo and her former house is littered with their respective works. It was nice to actually be able to see more than one or two Frida paintings (mostly what all the others offer). Here there were several rooms dedicated. The grounds are lovely which is a surprise and a treat since the surroundings outside are rundown for the most part.
Dolores Olmedo was also a breeder of Mexican Hairless Dogs, a dying breed that is facing extinction apparently. The museum has a whole herd:
In addition to the Rivera/Kahlo art (which you cannot photograph) there was more Dia de Los Muertos-related art:
After spending a delightful (I can’t say enough about this museum – you must go if you come to the DF, slang for Mexico City) three+ hours here we hopped back on the train to the end of the line and Xochimilco.
The fame of this area is the “floating” gardens or chinampas that the predecessors of Aztecs created. Basically reclaimed land from the lake crisscrossed with canals. A chunk of this system survives to this day and a thriving tourist market exists to take both the tourists and “locals” around on punts for three to four hours. We got there so late in the day that it was not worth it (dusk was only half an hour or so off) and a lot of the punts were locked up for the night. As it was we wandered around for a couple of hours, discovered the market which was great, an outdoor fruit and veg market which went on and on for seemingly blocks and was amazing and yet another town square with a free concert just getting started.
Just before the concert there was a local talent show of hula dancers. Who would have thought that hula would be popular in Mexico? Anyway there was a group of roughly seven to eight year olds which were oh so cute and boy could they shake it followed by a group of fifteen or so year olds whose hips did things they just shouldn’t do (grin).
We got some cheap and good espressos from a nearby stand and wandered over to listen to the Mexican rock/blues that was belting out from the nearby bandstand. The guys were in their late forties/early fifties and having a great time. The bass guitar player must have had a thing for The Who since he had a bunch of their moves down. It was all fun. It looked like it was going to be a while before the next act showed up so we took off for the hour or so ride back to the hotel to freshen up and go off more more great tacos at the local stand. We had more of the al pastor that I am so fond of and I also tried lengua (cow tongue) which was yummy and some pork rib meat that was good but not great.
Before I forget I also saw my first real destitute/homeless people and the first public drunkard while we were in Xochimilco. As expected there was also no overt police presence there either unlike the more touristy areas – not that this is/was a problem since everyone is very courteous and there was no argy-bargy going on. On the ride home there were the usual coterie of hawkers selling tic-tacs, booklets of some sort and CD’s. We heard a really great version of Coldplay’s “Parachutes” with a really cool salsa beat track laid over it. Almost good enough to buy but the next three songs on the disc were such crap…
There were also a great many young women putting on make-up while riding the trains. We must have seen at least 5 today. We figured, they didn’t have time to put it on at home, or, some were young enough not to want their parents seeing the amount of make-up they had on as they left the house.
We have really enjoyed our stay here and I reckon that once we actually have some language skills under our belts (more than ordering food and drinks anyway) we should be able to have an even better time since then we can actually chat with people and get ideas for places to go that are off the beaten path.
Tomorrow at lunch time we take the luxury bus up to San Miguel for the first of our language courses.
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