July 11 2004
The weather was perfect yesterday. Most days here during the rainy season are fairly overcast, but Saturday was clear and blue; I could see the green mountains circling the city from the roof of my hostel. So it was a photo day, check these out:
http://docedemayo.typepad.com/photos/strolling_in_the_df/
My neighborhood is close to the Centro Historico, so there are plenty of tree-lined streets, Euro-style parks and 19th century houses mixed in among the typical DF concrete crap. It’s got everything one could ask for within a few blocks: good cheap restaurants, taquerías, tarot reading, pirated movies, Internet cafes, etc. It’s right by the Monumento de la Revolución and the Revolución metro stop, so the old revolutionary PRI institutions like the Worker´s Bank and the Mexican Workers’ Confederation are headquartered here.
After the photos it was off to Coyoacan with Jackie, who is staying at the hostel while she researches the history of indigenous migration from Veracruz to Chicago. We shopped for a bit at the hippie market and passed up most of the wares, which were mostly incense and Bob Marley T-shirts. I did, however, pick up a Cruz Azul soccer team button, two wrestling masks and a couple of Dia de los Muertos skeletons Don’t know what I’ll do with them but they do add character to my monkish room at the hostel.
Jackie wanted to see Frida Kahlo’s place, of course. It was my second time there. I had forgotten that Frida's ashes are just sitting there in her old bedroom (in an urn), so that she can gaze up at the mirror on her canopied bed for eternity. She’s such an icon, and she became one by being completely obsessed with her own reflection.
Then Los Danzantes for dinner. Nouveau Mexican cuisine. Absolutely delicious huitlacoche fondue followed by seared tuna wrapped in a leaf of hoja santa with red mole.
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