The cultural capital

Taking down of the flag at the Museum of Anthropology

Jon & Russell with Poseidon (We think)

Various Heads

Aztec Sun Stone

Russell under the water

Nils-our Aleman (German) flatmate

Alameda Central & Caballo Policia

Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads

Zocalo Square Cathedral

Zocalo Square

 

2-23-12

Thursday

We are still in Mexico City going to Spanish class and will be here until March 3^rd.  So this morning we went to class.  The class is getting less helpful as the week progresses.  I’m already losing interest and as I sit there fidgeting in that small plastic chair with desk attached while the teacher wastes our time beating a dead horse I recognize the old “this is stupid” feeling that I had constantly in high school coming back again like an annoying old friend that I had to share a desk with.

But after class Marcie, our flatmate Russell and I walked out to Bosque de Chapultepec, the largest park in Mexico City, on the way we stopped at a Swiss Bakery so Marcie could get her daily pan dulce.  Once at the park we went to the Museum of Anthropology.  This is a world class museum featuring relics from the ancient Mexican civilizations that lived before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived.  There were lots of skeletons in their burial tomb, temples covered with carved stone gods, an endless amount of ornate jade and gold jewelry, and musical instruments made of human bones. The Mayan hall and the Aztec hall were particularly impressive.  The museum has so many artifacts that it is a lot to take in at once.  After spending a couple of hours there we were all wiped out so we walked about a mile or so back to our flat. 

That night we half watched The Karate Kid, and did some travel research in Lonely Planet Mexico.  Buenos Noches.

*We picked up one of those head-sized cinnamon rolls to share with all our mates at our flat.  It was large enough for seven people to try and for Jon to have again for breakfast. Dios mio!

Friday 2/24/12

Alright TGI dang F! 

So class was better today.  Still too much technical grammar stuff and not enough practical get things done in another language stuff.   It’s Friday nonetheless and it feels great to get out of class on a Friday afternoon. 

We hung out with the roommates for a little before Marcie, Russell and I walked up to the metro station to get the subway to the central historic district and the Temple Mayor, also known as the Zocalo.  The metro was so fast and easy that we actually went two stops too far before we noticed and got off there instead.  The central historic district is a mash up of sights and sounds.  There are thousands of people around selling everything under the sun from their sidewalk blankets and carts, traditional Indian dancers in loin cloths and feathered headdresses, amazing gold encrusted presidential palaces, monuments to all kinds of foreign heroes and museums where treasures of art and history are housed.

When we got off of the metro and walked above ground our senses were assaulted by carnival of Mexican life.  We walked through the Alameda Central to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a huge white marble building originally built in 1905 in art nouveau style, until its heavy ornate façade caused it to sink into the soft soil that 500 years ago used to be Lake Texoco.  It was then finished in the 1930’s in the more streamline and lighter art deco style.  Inside were some really stunning murals depicting Mexican life, their revolutionary and communist leaders and their ancient Aztec gods.  One of the most notable was Diego Rivera’s “Man at the Crossroads*”.  After that we walked around, ate some tamales (these are great by the way and cheap, usually about 10 pesos apiece, we have been getting them all over the country whenever we can) and watched some Indian dancers in full traditional dress blow out of conch shell horns and shake their thangs, while some females from their tribe were off to the side chanting and brushing incense smoke out of a clay bowl with bird feather brushes onto other people who I think were paying for this.  Then we walked over to the Temple Mayor ruins where used to stand the main temple for the Aztecs before the Spanish destroyed it in the 1500’s.  This is the legendary spot where according to Aztec myth they saw the eagle eating the snake while perched on a cactus.  They took this as a sign from the gods and built their capital city on that spot.  We watched a military drum and trumpet band and then walked down to get something to eat at this old restaurant called Café de Tacuba.  I had fried cattle brains.  It was ok at first but then the mushiness started to get to me and I could not finish it. 

Marcie, Russellmania and I had a couple café americanos and then walked back to our flat. 

On the way back I got wet running through a fountain with a lot of Mexican teenagers on makeout dates and also got separated from my crew when I went off to take a leak in the bushes.  When I got back on the sidewalk they were not there and without cell phones all of a sudden Marcie and I were separated at night in this strange and violent city.  I hoped that Marcie and Russ had the sense to go back to our apartment so I walked the 30 minutes there.  I only waited about 20 stressful minutes before they pulled up in a cab.  We are unwinding now drinking tea and watching Jaws in English.  Tomorrow the pyramids of Teotihuacan! 

*This mural was the famous controversial one that Diego painted in the Rockefeller Center in New York but was destroyed because Rockefeller didn’t like what it depicted.  Diego then repainted the mural in Mexico.