Mexico 2019 - Ron, Meg & Oaxaca

My dear friends, Ron and Meg, came down to see Mexico City and I had the pleasure of their company and being their tour guide for 10 days.  I always love to show off the city.  They thoroughly enjoyed the neighbourhood (Roma) and the many cultural sites I showed them as well as those they discovered on their own.  We spent quite a bit of time wandering around Roma and the neighbouring Condesa, full of upscale real estate, leafy streets, beautiful people and oodles of cafes and restaurants.   

Of course I took them out for the Ciclovia which they loved, being outdoor enthusiasts.  

 Ron and me

 The guy seated there designed and built this wooden bicycle

We parked the bikes downtown and explored one of the pedestrian areas where I've taken you before.  There's always something new to see though.      

 After ten days of exploring the city, the three of us took off for Oaxaca.  I've been to Oaxaca a couple of times in the past but not for ten years or so and I've been curious about what it's like now.  For those of you unfamiliar with it, Oaxaca is the capital city of the state of Oaxaca and is about 6hrs south of Mexico City on the bus.  Set at the confluence of three valleys, Oaxaca is an important Mexican city rich in history, indigenous culture, art, gastronomy and crafts.  Here's a little taste before I devote the next posts to it.

Mexico 2019 - Museium of Contemporary Art - UNAM #2

I'm not sure how to respond to this museum on aesthetic terms but it has a certain appeal for me.  I like the angles and colour accents.  

In one courtyard was an interesting installation that offered infinitely changing shapes when viewed from different perspectives. 

 

It's a long journey to UNAM but always worth it. 

Mexico 2019 - Museium of Contemporary Art - UNAM #1

Another museum that's a regular for me in CDMX is the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo on the campus of UNAM, National Autonomous University of Mexico.  This museum displays very contemporary works, as the name would suggest. The building is an interesting piece of art to start with, designed by Mexican architect, Teodoro González de León who designed several other big profile buildings around DF.  

The first exhibit I saw there was Salón Independiente.   

The Independent Salon  "gave rise to the possibility of group organizations that could develop joint and experimental projects, in addition to strengthening attitudes that challenged the established order." 

The other exhibit featured the creations of Zaha Hadid, British-Iraqi architect, and her architectural firm.  Hugely extravagant stuff that seemed somewhat fictional or whimsical just viewing the models but was quite startling to see photos of the models made real.  

They really build these things somewhere, like Dubai in this case. 

Or Riyadh here

There's more to come of this museum but that's enough for now

Mexico 2019 - Tepoztlán

I've been hearing about Tepoztlán for years, described as a pretty, little, new-agey sort of town, another of those Pueblos Magicos, set in the mountains an hour and a half on the bus to the south of Mexico City in the state of Morelos.  Several people had recommended it and so I decided to check it out.  

One of the attractions for me was a hike up to an Aztec archeological site, El Tepozteco pyramid, set high on a clifftop overlooking the town. 

Since I knew the day would be warm I chose to do the hike first thing while it was still cool.  Fewer tourists too.  I followed the main street across town to the trailhead.

  It was a hard, unrelenting uphill hike but thankfully shaded by the forest.  

At the top of this 2km hike that gained several hundred feet in altitude was the little temple that was built in the 15th century and dedicated to Ometochtli-Tepoztēcatl, the supposed inventor of pulque.

Ometochtli-Tepoztēcatl. 

Looks like maybe he had a couple of pulques.

From up here was a panoramic view of the town below and surrounding countryside.  

This portal to the church was all done with coloured beans.  

Parroquia Nuestra Señora de la Natividad.  This church had been severely damaged in the most recent earthquake and was in the process of being repaired.  

I had intended to do some exploring of the town but the hike really took it out of me so I just had some lunch and walked around the centro a bit until my legs started to cramp up and I headed back to the city.  

But stay tuned:  I will return