Sunday,
April 2, 2006, 7:35 am
Hello from Mexico City: Exploring the Paseo
de la Reforma, el Bosque de Chapúltepec and the lovely neighbourhood
of San Angel
This morning another wonderful Mexican breakfast was in store:
Vanessa had made "tlacoyos con nopales" (fried
dough covered with fruits of the prickly pear cactus and melted
cheese on top) which I really enjoyed. Around 9:30 we got going
and Vanessa’s sister dropped us off, right in front of the
Angel de la Independencia, a monument erected in 1910 to commemorate
independence from Spain, on the Paseo de la Reforma.
The Paseo de la Reforma is an almost 4 km long tree-lined boulevard,
connecting the center of the city
with the Bosque de Chapúltepec. Various monuments adorn its
glorietas, or traffic circles, and we had already seen
one of the monuments, the Caballito, yesterday.
Right next to the Angel de la Independencia, an officer of the
tourist police stopped us and asked us where we were going and if
he could be of help. He was a very charming young man and pulled
a laminated map out of his security jacket and pointed out all the
major sights in Mexico City. We had seen quite a bit, but inevitably
we were going to miss quite a lot as well since there was so much
to see and there just was not enough time.
After a photo op with the tourist policeman we headed on and kept
exploring the Paseo de la Reforma. From the Angel de la Independencia
we continued on to the Diana Cazadora (Diana the Huntress)
statue, which caused quite a stir when it was originally unveiled
since it is a statue of a naked woman. The city authorities decided
to cover up the statue for a while, but sanity prevailed and the
shameful covers were removed after some time.
Diana Cazadora
We continued our mid-morning stroll towards the Bosque de Chapúltepec,
a former sacred ground for the Pre-Colombian cultures and now Mexico
City’s biggest park. Walking up to the castle, you first encounter
a big monument called the Monumento a los Niños Héroes,
commemorating the army cadets (the “boy heroes”) who
died defending the castle from an American attack in 1847.
From there we explored the Castillo de Chapúltepec, which
was originally built in the 1760s, but is most well-known for having
being the residence of the unfortunate Austrian-born emperor Maximillian,
and his wife Princess Charlotte, who only governed Mexico for a
few short years until 1866 when he found an unfortunate end by firing
squad.
The Monumento a los Niños Heroes
We slowly strolled up the castle hill, paid our entrance fee and
started exploring the castle. In true Habsburg tradition, it is
furnished with ornate, baroque style furniture, and the first thing
you see are the royal “carrozas” (carriages)
when you come into the first hall of the exhibition. From that point
onwards you see a variety of rooms as they were used by the Habsburg
monarchs – dining rooms, living rooms, a bedroom as well as
a meeting room, that illustrate the extreme opulence that these
royals enjoyed. No wonder the population, who was merely scraping
by, got upset with the dominance and privilege of the aristocrats.
We then walked to the top level garden which is enclosed by glass
windows. Right next to one of these glass walls on the ground we
noticed a tiny “colibri” (hummingbird) that
had flown against the glass enclosure and knocked itself out. Vanessa
rescued it by taking it gently in her hand, we then walked downstairs
and Vanessa set the tiny bird free on the grass. When she opened
her hand, the bird had regained its wits enough to fly away back
into freedom.
Wonderful views from the Castillo de Chapultepec
Then we explored the Museo del Caracol (the “Snail
Museum”, due to its shape), which also holds a museum on the
history of Mexico (Galeria de Historia), featuring a series
of dioramas depicting scenes from the fight for independence to
the Mexican Revolution.
The view over the city from the castle hill is astounding and you
literally enjoy a 360 degree panorama. Then we walked down the hill,
past a whole series of street vendors, selling everything from Mexican
snacks, to sun hats and visors, to disposable cameras, much of which
is announced by promotionally shouting out the assortment of merchandise
to the parade of visitors.
The Lago Chapúltepec is a popular weekend destination for
Mexican families and features rowboats, swans, stages for theatre
and ballet presentations and many beautiful spots to relax. We explored
the Casa del Lago, an art centre run by Mexico’s largest university,
the UNAM. Right in front of the Casa del Lago people of all ages
were painting, drawing, reading newspapers, and this location offers
many free artistic and cultural activities to the local population.
Art in the Parque de Chapultepec
Just after our visit we continued walking on the walkway with all
the street vendors and saw a local artist who was producing miniature
paintings, using his fingers, his fingertips, and the occasional
brush stroke. He produced a variety of landscapes, including one
with the well-known Mexican volcano Popocatépetl. I had a
chance to take a video of his artistic endeavours and ended up buying
3 very colourful miniature paintings depicting typical Mexican scenes.
While he was painting he was telling stories about the themes he
was painting, and he cracked the occasional joke, which made the
entire crowd of onlookers laugh.
Then we headed back onto the Paseo de la Reforma towards the Auditorio,
Mexico City’s famous outdoor concert facility. On the sidewalk
beside the busy 6-lane road, there was a public art project: a whole
series of life-sized cows that had been painted and decorated in
very unique ways and provided great photo opportunities for the
enthusiastic visitors. This public art campaign reminded me of Toronto’s
moose exhibits from a few years ago. I believe Chicago had a similar
campaign with cows as well.
Public art featuring cows
Once arrived at the Auditorio we purchased a refreshing
“nieve” (crushed ice, in this case flavoured
with lime) and walked back on the Paseo de la Reforma towards the
famous Museo de la Antropología. We explored the
outside and the lobby, unfortunately we did not have enough time
to explore the inside. The Museo de la Antropologia is one of the
most famous and most extensive museums in Mexico. It was opened
in 1964 and has various collections of artifacts from Mexico’s
various pre-Columbian cultures. Right outside the museum is a huge
stone statue of the rain god Tlaloc.
Then we took a bus (a ”pesera”) to the another
part of the Bosque de Chapúltepec, close to the Lago Mayor,
where we exited near the Children’s Museum and started exploring
this portion of this huge park. We were in search of the restaurant
overlooking Lago Mayor and had a bit of a hard time finding it first,
since there is a Restaurante del Lago and a Café del Lago.
Finally after Vanessa had asked several passers-by, we figured out
we had to go to the Café del Lago and sure enough we found
our lunch destination. The Café is an attractive looking
structure overlooking the lake, and it features a buffet lunch every
day. Fortunately we negotiated our way into just ordering a soup
since we had already snacked on “chicharrones”
(usually puffed and fried pork rinds, but these ones were made of
wheat flour) and there was no way we could handle a full meal. I
simply had a delicious chile poblano, a green soup made
of chili peppers that was very tasty and creamy.
In front of the Tlaloc next to the Museo de Antropologia
Then we made our way back onto the road where we hopped onto another
“pesera” that would take us to the subway station
at Los Constituyentes, where we descended about 3 or 4
major staircases downwards (we must have been about 40 or 50 meters
below the surface) and caught three subway trains back into Vanessa’s
neighbourhood. After a quick and inexpensive stint (5 pesos, 70
cents) in an Internet café, Vanessa’s parents and her
sister picked us up to take us to San Angel, another beautiful neighbourhood
in Mexico City with colonial buildings and cobble-stoned streets.
We started by exploring the Iglesia de San Jacinto, which features
an inner courtyard with a rain chute to capture rain water, and
a beautiful enclosed private garden in the back of the church. Inside
a big festivity was taking place: a "quinceñera”
– a ritual celebrating a 15-year-old girl’s entry into
adulthood. Then we explored the Plaza San Jacinto which had hundreds
of street vendors, selling different types of artwork. San Angel
is known as a city district that is home to many artists. It features
numerous permanent galleries as well as the weekend “tianguis”
or “mercado ambulante” (“walking market”)
with vendors that set up shop only on the weekend.
Quinceñera celebration
For dinner we picked one of the restaurants overlooking the square
and had some traditional Mexican dishes. I had a "sopa
de la fonda" (chicken soup with pico de gallo and avocado)
followed by an “ensalada de berros” (watercress
salad with diced tomatoes, onions and bacon). Vanessa’s family
had a variety of seafood dishes and “chile relleno”
(chili peppers stuffed with minced meat, covered with a sauce made
of cream, nuts and cinnamon).
At about 8 pm we had finished our dinner and since we had had a
pretty exhausting day we headed back to catch up on some sleep and
rest up for our departure day.
Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Mexico 2006 - My cultural immersion
experiment
Hello from Mexico City - First impressions
Hello from Mexico City - A skyscraper,
a little horse and a government pawn shop
Hello from Mexico City - The Zócalo,
the Cathedral, a healing ritual and a university dedicated to a
16th century female poet
Hello from Mexico City - A relaxing
evening in Coyoacán
Hello from Mexico City - Exploring the
Paseo de la Reforma, de Bosque de Chapúltepec and a nice
evening in San Angel
Hello from Cuernavaca - Arrival and
first impressions
Hello from Cuernavaca - Getting to know
my B&B hostess Marta Elena: A true riches to rags story
Hello from Cuernavaca - My first day
learning Spanish and two local icons: the Robert Brady Museum and
the Jardín Borda
Hello from Cuernavaca - A lovely dinner
in a garden paradise
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Las Estacas, checking out orchids and a meeting at El Cafecito
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Lake Tequesquitengo and a visit to the doctor
Hello from Cuernavaca - A conversation
with Andy Grater, local B&B owner and President of the Newcomers
Club
Hello from Cuernavaca - A presentation
about ecology at the Newcomers Club Meeting
Hello from Cuernavaca - Opening of a
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Hello from Taxco - The city that silver built
Hello from Taxco during Semana Santa - The
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Hello from Cuernavaca - A new language
school, visiting 'Casa Vamos' and an evening with a very sad ending
Hello from Cuernavaca - My most intense
day: more language studies, 3 interviews, a guided eco-hike and
dinner at the Marco Polo
Hello from Cuernavaca - A day outing
to the enchanting mythical village of Tepoztlan
Hello from Cuernavaca - My last day
of school and a visit to Cuernavaca's Spring Fair
Hello from Taxco - An eerie experience: Visiting
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Hello from Taxco and Cuernavaca - Interviewing
one of the penitentes and enjoying my last day in Mexico
Related Interviews:
Presenting:
Ruben Córtes from Morelos Trails - Local adventure sports
and cultural guided tour operator, expert on Morelos and Cuernavaca
Presenting: Pablo
Buitrón from Fundacion Comunidad, helping local
women empower themselves
Presenting: Jorge Torres from
the Cetlalic Alternative Language School - Learning Spanish with
cultural, social and political awareness
Presenting: Hermilo Brito
from the Ideal Language School - Making Spanish learning fun
Helpful links:
Mexico
Tourism Information
State
of Morelos Tourism Organization
Official
website of the City of Cuernavaca tourism
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