march 4, 2011 on our way to guadalajara

hopefully via toluca

Thurs March 3, 2011 MEXICO CITY - last day

what a day  ... today we went to the cathedral area and had breakfast at the Casa de los Azulejos ... I love that place !!  it makes you feel like royalty, just seeing the mural by orozco, the huge height of the inside garden, the ladies dressed in typical mexican clothes, the hustle and bustle of delicious food being served ... it is just a happening ....

upon lleaving the house of tiles, we noticed that there was a church across the pedestrian walkway. it was so quiet inside. amazing how there can be throngs of people outside and total silence inside. gold altars. many wooden sculptures. a couple folk praying.

from there we went to chinatown - it is only a one block street, and a short one at that, but it is authentic: everything says MADE IN CHINA !!!  I bought some coins that bring you abundance to give away...can't hurt to have abundance.  I want to share the abundance we have.

from there we came back to the hotel to pack since we leave tomorrow morning. it has been so fun to be here ... and we plan to come back. however, let me say that yesterday and today we saw many many horrible homeless people. don't know where they were the other days, but they were quite present today.

on another tangent, we really like this hotel we are at. it is a 3 star hotel with a deceent restaurant, above average friendly staff, spotlessly clean rooms - they wash the towels every day and change the sheets every day. when i asked why such extreme measures were in place, i was told that it is the law now...ever since the swine flu scare a couple years ago. the result is that the sheets and towels are well worn, which is understandable. well, all i can say is that we have stayed at over 30 hotels this last month and none of them were as serious about this. also, the prices are cheaper than they list online. why ? i have no idea, but this was a good deal.

Wednesday March 2, 2011 Mexico city

we thought we would take it easy today but the day is so gorgeous - it would be a right shame to waste it. so we took a walk and sat at a cafe and people watched for a while ... it is called cafe sheik and it was pretty crowded altho it is a little hole in the wall place.

we then headed towards the park and the palace of fine arts to see if there was a ballet scheduled over the next couple days. There is one, but not there, and to go elsewhere and come back late does not seem like the smartest thig to do. so we left and saw a bulding with blue tiles that looked very interesting....oh my gosh, it is a bookstore in front, so we went in, looked at books, bought some postcards to mail out and then Les in his wanderings around the building, found a huge restaurant inside. Turns out the building is a refurbished palace .... so we had lunch inside a palace !!  it is called the house of tiles. used to be someone's home, way way back.  it was also packed.  we had a delicious meal, first restaurant we have found that has a "light" menu. calories spelled out. not expensive. really good.

folks, life is real good.  above are more pics fromthe museum yesterday.
Below are pics of downtown main square and the house of tiles:

http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/ab45/BajaBlanca/The%20House%20of%20Tiles/

Mexico city day 7 -museum of anthropology

so we went to the muesem of anthroplogy this morning and it ws OPEN !  I am officially sick with a cold, so i was kind of dragging my feet - but loving very second there. there are the most incredible artifacts from all over Mexico ... some in amazingly perfect condition.

from the museum we came back to the hotel to hang around a bit. now we are relaxing - Les with a bottle of superior beer, which in his opinion, really is superior !!

enjoy the photos of a really nice exposition

FOR MORE PHOTOS GO TO THIS LINK:

http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/ab45/BajaBlanca/Museum%20of%20Anthropology/

or paste it and then open it....hope it works !!

Palacio de Bellas Artes

We had such a nice day again. Nothing went according to plan, but that is part of the funn of an adventure…the good part is that I woke up minus a backache. All signs of my intense pain from yesterday and the last couple of weeks – gone. Poof. Gone J

We decided to head to one of the most famous Mexican museums, the museum of anthropology. Got the subway and on the way to change subway trains, we found a medical clinic.  Since we are worried about Les’s heart rate and blood pressure … we inquired.   All of 10 pesos and they wd check him out right then and there. How perfect !!  5 minutes later we know that Les is doing great and we are on our way.

We arrive and start walking towards the museum. We see a Korean pagoda.

We see a guard who informs us that all museums in mexico are closed on Mondays. Duhhhhhhh. I guess we have not gone to one on a Monday BUT we have been on Sundays and they are free on Sundays. And some even free to gringoes if you can prove you live in mexico. So bring an electric or phone bill or your FM and you can then prove residence !!  so we walked to Polanco, where there are very posh houses and nice cafes.

We had some coffee and met a very nice gentleman (Alfredo) who has a friend who is selling a hotel for 21 million dollars in Cozumel, close to Cancun. If you know anyone who might be interested, we have a card and  will be getting more details soon !!

From polanco we went to the zocalo and found the millions of st judas worshippers who were buying statues and roses and heading to his part of the main cathedral. Throngs of people. Throngs of sellers. Throngs of police. It felt safe and it felt busy. I began to not feel so hot – looks like I have myself a cold.

As we were walking we saw the palacio de bellas artes and there was to be a free talk in 30 minutes. We waited. It was worth it to see the theater itself. It took decades to build it…it weighs over 78,000 pounds. It has mostly Mexican marble but the statues are all Italian carera marble.  A hangarian woman did the ceiling skylight. The original architect never saw his dream come to fruition -  a revolution in 1910 held everything up for years. There was no show tonight or we might have gone. The opening night had diego rivera, frieda kahlo and the president at the time in attendance, as well as a famous Mexican actress named Dolores del rio (I guess she lived in hollywood at the time).

http://s848.photobucket.com/albums/ab45/BajaBlanca/Palacio%20de%20Bellas%20Artes/

I think if you hit the link above, you will be able to see all the  photos.

Maybe tomorrow we hit the museum of anthropology …. Such a nice day ….

Sunday Feb. 27, 2011 MEXICO CITY

we played hooky today. i woke up woth a bad back - could hardly move, could hardly breathe. ur restaurant at this hotel closes on sundays, so we walked and i barely crawled, across the street to the best wetsern. Les went for some pain meds which I took one with some juice.  Aftr an hour, i still wasnt better so I took anothr one and within about 15 minutes I was out of pain and happy !!

spent the day watching tv and siesta-ing. Les went out and about to window shop, andhe bought us some really nice t-shirts for us ....

time for dinner. adios amigos !!

xochimilco

so we went to xochimilco today. we took the subway and then another line of subway called the tren ligero. it was a piece of cake (only cause Les has an innate sense of direction that is downright uncanny). then we walked abut 6 blocks to get tothe boat rides.  after intense negotiations since the captains were asking for 800 pesos, we got them to lower it to 400 pesos, both of us, two hours.   the full on deal !!

well amigos and amigas, i thought the boat trip would be educational, i thought it would be fun, i thought it would be many things but the reality was far more fabulous !!!!

there are over a hundred boats and they filll up with couples or big groups. then, as you are slowly and gently rolling down the canals, vendors come by with roses (helloooooooooooooo)

they come by with beer

they come by and offer lunch which they set up on the boat

oh i hope all of you come here one day and experience these 2 hours of absolute delight for yourselves.

and now for some history - the aztecs called it THE PLACE OF THE FLOWER FIELDS, and it is still used for flower and vegetable growing nowadays. In spite of being revered by the aztecs, cortez and his men never saw it. the aztecs built up islands with tree branches and soil. they are the only portion of their paradise that remains intact snce the spaniards destroyed all they could when they were conquering mexico.

mexico city tour

well, we spent 6 hours taking a tour of the whole city...would i do it again ?? no way.  one half of the trip is enough....what i did see is that there are way too many cars,way too many buses and tons of parks everywhere. some of the bohemian neighborhoods are just great and remind me of cafes or restaurants all over in europe.  i imagine they are lovely places to live

except of course for the horrendous pollution. 

we still  love our hotel, the location could not be better and the price is outrageously great - i think we are paying 350 a night or 30 dollars. the restaurant has a delicious chicken breast dinner for 65 pesos, i mean, come one !!!!  those are great prices all around.

tomorrow i hit the brazilian consulate.

and tonight sometime i should hear for regina about what is happening in rio with my birth certificate. so many things in the works...and tomorrow we shall go to XOCHIMILCO ... the Aztec capital underneath and before <Mexico city came into being.....

MARVELOUS MAINLAND MEXICO

so today i want to put down some of the first impressions of mexico city

as we were driving, the mountain was so high that on the way down, there were FOUR emergency gravel areas for cars or trucks without brakes.

as we came into town - the famous corrupted police confirmed their pressence. and we were headed for the first hotel that we could park the car and leave it till we left the city.

right outside the entrance to mexico city, there were many, many prostitutes. each within a few feet of the others and all with high heels and all in the bright light of day - we arrived at noon.

the city is clean.

nightmare to drive in town since all the sidestreet are one way.  arrive and park.

lots of police presence everywhere.