Huerto Roma Verde is an outdoor community center featuring a cafe, garden & a variety of socio-environmental activities. A huerto is an orchard or vegetable garden. I'd ridden by there many times and, because there is a lot of greenery and interesting structures you can see beyond the fence, I was curious about what went on there. So, one day I stopped and explored the place.
The garden
It's a quirky place with whimsical structures and decorations, a bit of a hippy vibe.
This structure is made of the big five gallon water jugs known as garrafóns here.
A bamboo geodesic dome that that serves as a performance centre.
A daycare
A recycling centre
Ceramics studio
Baños
Medical services
Classrooms
Maybe a kiln and firepit area
And more garden. If I come back next year, I'll volunteer there. I found out about it too late this year.
A lovely little oasis in the middle of this bustling neighbourhood.
I neglected to post this video from our visit to Chapultepec Castle. This group of people were marching in formation out on this hot courtyard for most of our visit. They looked like they might be staff at the castle as they were wearing identification tags. Most of the women were wearing the same styish red high heeled shoes. It was puzzling.
Kim and I also visited the Citibanamex art collection where there was a temporary exhibit of alebrijes made of paper mache, all created by one particular family. We were quite taken by them.
Of course I dragged Kim along to a Cyclovia. Actually, it didn't take much dragging, she was game. We rode out to the Virgin of Guadalupe shrine, always impressive. These photos of a couple of chopper kabuki cabs were the only photos I took.
No visit to DF would be complete without a trip to Teohuacan to see the pyramids.
Last week my dearly beloved Niece, Kim, visited me, her first time in Df for about 40 years. Things have changed and she was pleasantly surprised by the DF of today.
The obligatory stop at the cafe on the roof of the book store overlooking the Aztec ruins.
I took a long bike ride to the Museo de la Intervenciones in Coyoacan. As so many of them are, this museum was housed in a beautiful colonial building, an ex-convent, with lovely grounds and exhibitions highlighting the many invasions into Mexico from the Spanish to the USA and French. I found the building and grounds to be more interesting than the exhibits.
This is definitely in the top ten most gruesome religious artifacts
Alfonso and Andrew dream of stuffed baked potatoes overlooking the Alameda on a Sunday afternoon.
A fellow gardener from my community garden in Victoria and her brother came for a visit to DF. They stayed in this beautiful ex-convent converted to condos in the heart of downtown.
We also went to one of the largest art fairs in Latin America, ZONAMACO https://zsonamaco.com/ I didn't take any photos, regrettably, but you can get the idea from their website. It was pretty overwhelming. I've never seen anything like it.
This was an interesting Cycloviawith a protest march thrown in. Protest marches are a regular occurrence in DF. They occur at least once a week. I think the government has learned that it is better to accommodate them than to push back with violence as has happened more than once in recent history, most notably in 1968 when many students were killed by government troops sent to quell protests. I think the attitude now is, sure, go ahead and protest, we'll even block off the streets for you, but nothing will change. And I'm sure it pisses off motorists who are inconvenienced by the disruption of closed streets. And on top of the Cyclovia which, I'm sure is tolerated to varying degrees by drivers, especially taxis who don't like cyclists to start with. Whatever, for me the Cyclovia is a highlight of the week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gslpJ1RrvmU
For you, Jack. Are you ready for Zumba a la Mexicana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gslpJ1RrvmU
"Mexicans to the cry of peace"
"Return me to my family"
"Stop with the delinquency"
This route of the Cyclocia goes all the way to the Villa de Guadalupe, the most visited religious site in the world. As you can see, it was packed on this Sunday. On December 12, the celebration of Guadalupe, some 10 million people make the pilgrimage to this site.
Pilgrims streamed for kilometers up the Calzada de Guadalupe
