Kahlo, Guadalupe, Templo Mayor, Mexico City

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Well, after three weeks here in Mexico City, I’m moving on to Puebla tomorrow. I’ve gotten to the point where about a half day of doing stuff is all I want to do without risking the burnout I anticipate having eventually before petering out and seriously looking to locate somewhere again. With hours on my hands to kick back, this blog may turn more into a diary than the usual semi-regular posts I’ve done in the past.

The highlights of the past few days since I wrote are visiting Frida Kahlo’s Blue House which is now a museum, Xochimilco, Guadalupe and the Templo Mayor.

As you can see, Kahlo’s and Diego Rivera’s house is indeed blue. Inside, you can see how she lived, some of his and her art, though none of her most famous pictures are there. It was more interesting just to have been there and seen her stuff and how she lived. I already forgot if they allow photos inside, but I didn’t take any, anyway. I did take pictures of their garden area. Here is from her bedroom window toward the back of the house.

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Here’s back up in that direction

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And here’s just panning to the left toward the back of the front of the house.

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I have been looking at their art here and there since I got here. One of the best collections of Kahlo’s works belonged to woman, Delores Olmeida Patino. (I don’t have a Spanish keyboard, so that “n” doesn’t have a tilda.) When she died, her home and grounds in Xochimilco were turned into a museum. What a lovely place she had.

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The biggest steel grey dog there is a statue, bronze I think. The other’s are real and look just like the statue. A couple of peacocks were strutting around.

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Unfortunately, most of Kahlos’s painting from there are currently on world tour. Oh well. Rivera and Kahlo were prolific, so there has been and will be plenty to see.

Xochimlco is in the  south of Mexico City, and is most famous for it’s canals. In olden times, most of Mexico city was canals, marsh and lakes. The watery ways give you a hint of what it was like before Mexico City was built over it all. It’s quite touristy, now, though. You go down to the embarcaderos and there are maybe hundreds of boats to take tourists along the main canal.

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When I got there at 10 AM, it was dead as a doornail, so when I started on my little 1 1/2 hour ride, I think I may have been nearly the only one there. The guy poled me along alone, maybe feeling lucky he had at least one customer.

Here’s what it looked like around noon, when some others got some business and the sun was behind me so the pictures turned out.

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Obviously, at times not during the week and during tourist season, the canal is crammed with boats. I must be a completely different vibe than the bucolic one I had. Restaurants like this along the banks…

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… must do a good business, as would the many barquitos that come along-side to hawk stuff. You could get your mariachi fix from a floating band. I imagine when business is hopping, it might be a mariachi cacophony.

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I had to go to Xochimilco. Since I was a little boy in Stockton, I’ve gone to a restaurant by that name there. I didn’t know till this trip what it was. Now I know.

Today, I went to the Cathedral of Guadalupe and the Templo Mayor.
Most readers will know Guadalupe is the site where, in the 16th century, a campesino is said to have seen an apparition of the Virgen Mary. A painting representing this apparition is firmly embedded in the brains of those of us brought up Catholic. Tens, if not hundreds of millions, of Catholics believe in this miracle. I have seen many holy sites, Christian and other, and I always want to see if I sense spirituality there. My spiritual antennae doesn’t rate Guadalupe very high, but then again, that may be a function of how many holy sites I’ve seen. I could be jaded. For sure, for me, the clear winner as a place where spirituality permeated the air and affected me is Medjugorje, Bosnia. Guadalupe is a completely different scene. In Medjugorje, there are masses in several languages and translators everywhere, and a far more diverse tourist/devotee crowd. Besides that, I admit my impression is just my impression.

There is a new church there now, where the famous picture is. There was a mass going on, so I didn’t even consider going up close to the picture which hangs behind the altar area. A couple of us in the back were taking photos, so I took a couple quick ones. If you want to see it close up, the are many copies in the museum at the back of the old basilica, not to mention everywhere postcards are sold.

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Here is the outside of the new church.

DSCF0161DSCF0154It’s quite laid back and friendly ouside, or at least it was While I was there. Sundays and holy days must be different. Like, you can walk up and talk to this bishop or whatever he is. He’ll pose for a picture, give a blessing, or just seemed willing to chat. He hung in there, letting the faithful approach him on their knees to kiss his ring or to be chatted up, as you like.

Looking to the right is the old basilica, a couple of other chapels and some auxiliary buildings.

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It’s a nice walk up to the convent grounds on the hill above.

DSCF0163From there, there are nice views of the back of the old basilica, the new one to the right, and downtown Mexico city in the distance.

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Here’s an old chapel on the grounds.

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The other thing I did today was go to the Templo Mayor. As I wrote before, it’s just behind the cathedral at the Zocalo.

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 This was the principal temple of the Aztecs. Most of it was built during the last couple of centuries before the Spanish conquest, though those constructions were on top of earlier temples going back to the time of the Teotihuacan.

DSCF0173 Pretty much, the max price for going in somewhere in Mexico City is about 4.50 USD. At first, I was wondering if it was worth it, especially after paying that for the wonderful Museum of Anthropology, but was. So many great things were unearthed! Surprisingly, though fairly competent excavations were made at the beginning of the 20th century, many artifacts were discovered after modern archaeological digs started in 1978. slowly, slowly still, they are working their way down, as well as finding more things around downtown. It’s artfully laid out, lighted in subtle and interesting ways and, like the Museum of Archaeology, is an enjoyable experience.

DSCF0174 Speaking of laid out in interesting ways, I know that in the past, my blog format has been pedestrian, to say the least. I’m sure WordPress had capabilities I didn’t know how to utilize, but after not blogging for some time while I was in Chongqing, I went to do some blogging and got an advisory to upload updated WordPress. How to do everything was so radically different, I had to relearn everything. The result is that I know how to change the pictures around, make them smaller, edit them there instead of on Windows, and some other stuff. Any suggestions in the comments or to my email would be appreciated. I will try to figure out how to do it.

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Mexico City has been fine. I’m so glad I came. My experience is Mexico is so limited. I drove with my then fiancee, Janet, to Guaymas in about 1972, and in 1984 went on a cruise ship that put in in Puerto Vallarta, Zihuatenejo/Ixtapa (which was brand new then had been immediate destroyed in an earthquake) and Acapulco. Like, as if shore trips off the boat is seeing a country. After I’ve been here for a substantial amount of time, I can no longer feel odd, having seen far away places but not America’s neighbor.

My long term strategy remains the same. I figure to do what is doable for me as I age. That is to continue to be halfway adventurous and carry a pack around while I can, then slow things up till I need wheelchair accessibility. The timeline for that remains, of course, up to the gods, fate, or whatever. Settling down for periods is much more in the cards than years ago. This is especially the case if I want Myung to stay with me.

My short term plan is to go to Puebla tomorrow, and figure out what to do the day after tomorrow, after I get there and sniff the air.

Until next time, be well, all of you.

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