Mexico City

I have never been to Mexico City before, but Jim has.  It was very sweet of him to say that he would go one more time with me this past winter.  We stayed three nights at a well-located Airbnb apartment in the Zona Rosa District.  During those three days, we saw Chapultepec Park, the National Museum of Anthropology, Templo Major, and Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul.

This very tall building was just to the left of the entrance to Chapultepec Park.

The people in this mile-long line in the park are waiting for a healing blessing.

The National Museum of Anthropology displays nearly all the movable artifacts from all the historical sites around Mexico.  Copies replace some of them in their original places.

This is the original Mayan calendar that is copied onto countless t-shirts.

The pedestal is a fountain that holds up the center roof of the museum.

In 1989 I first toured Palenque with my friend Lisa.  We saw the tomb where these artifacts were discovered.  It was an empty tomb.  In the museum the tomb is recreated, and I finally got to see the many precious items that were taken from the original.

Chacmool

At the main Zocolo of Mexico City, we explored the Templo Mayor site and museum.  The original indigenous temple buildings were built here and added to over and over again.  After the Spanish conquered Mexico, the stones of the buildings were essentially recycled into new buildings over the old foundations for the conquerors.  It is only recently that the site has been excavated, artifacts removed to a new onsite museum, and self-guided tours created through the area.

On our last full day, we took the metro out to Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul.  It seemed to be a wonderful place to have lived.  I did not know about her paper mache sculptures.  The skeletons were her creations to reveal how empty and childless she felt as a result of the tragedy in her life.

I enjoyed Mexico City for the time I was there.  It would be a hard place for me to live due to the pollution.  But people enjoy life in Mexico City.