Mexico 2018 - public art, etc

One my big surprises (my ignorance) when I first came to Mexico was the proliferation of visual arts of all sorts.  I since learned that, with respect to art of the 20th and 21st centuries, this is no accident.  The government has promoted art education since the early 20th century.  Much of the art of the first half of that century, when society was struggling with dictatorship and revolution, had political content as represented by Diego Rivera, David Siquieros, Jose Clemente Orozco, Juan O'Gorman, rufino Tamayo, etc.  This not to discount millennia of prehispanic mesoamerican art but that's a whole other subject.  Whatever the case, here is a series of of sculptures by Leonora Carrington, an English-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter and novelist.

 She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of the time

Leonora Carrington was also a founding member of the Women's liberation movement during the 1970s

These sculptures were oon the sidewalk on Reforma by the Museum of Athropology (where Salador Dali sculputres were last year).






On the other side of the street was a series of poster art pieces of all sorts of subjects.  I especially liked this group of pieces dealing with global emigration with contributions by artists from all over the world.

And off we ride

Mexico (AKA shithole) 2018 - Random CDMX

Tim Burton is very popular here in CDMX evidently as he is in many places.  As I was wondering around on one of my first days here I encountered a series of his little characters outdoors on the Paseo de la Reforma.

 Not your average Mexican music. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=16&v=aPKQBZiPAsA 

Bike build for...............

 Another car free Sunday

Mexico City - bike card

I use the bike share system, Ecobici, here in Mexico City for most of my transportation needs and, for the most part, it works pretty well despite the poor condition of most of the bikes, inadequate infrastructure and the zany traffic. 

 Until this year, there was a protected bike lane for a good portion of Paseo de la Reforma, the route downtown, but, with the construction of a new Metrobus lane, much of the protected bike lane isn't currently protected giving free rein to motorists to stop where the lane should be, making for a harrowing ride. 

It's the type of system that uses docking stations as opposed to the newer type of dockless systems that are springing up all over the world where you need a smart phone to access the bikes but they can be left anywhere.  

 But here's the deal with Ecobici: as a foreigner, you can apparently get short term use of the share bikes, one day for 94 pesos, three days for 188 pesos, 7 days for 312 (nice round numbers).  I say "apparently" because I've never had any success. There is also an annual pass for 416 pesos.  If one is in Mexico for a few weeks the annual pass is clearly the way to go.  BUT, you have to go to an Ecobici office or kiosk and you have to have a Mexican credit card to pay for it and if you're not a Mexican citizen or resident, you can't get a credit card. (Yes, Catch 22). For short term use, you can supposedly use any credit card. To acquire an annual card is a major bureaucratic process with long forms and even a test on the rules. (Don't get me started on "traffic rules" here.) Alfonso also has an annual pass so he has helped me get one, using his credit card, and it goes on his Ecobici account. When I got here I still had a few days left on my pass but on January 5 it expired.  No problem, we'll just go down to the Ecobici office close by and renew.  When we got to the office it was abandoned due to earthquake damage.  Alfonso called Ecobici and was instructed to go to one of their kiosks located on Reforma.  I had my drivers license and a copy of my passport but that wasn't good enough.  The good news was that the process was so slow that by the time I hustled home to get my passport, they still weren't done renewing Alfonso's pass.  The process took about 45min per person and when we were done, the card didn't work.  Apparently Ecobici had changed the system so Alfonso had to go on line and mess around with his Ecobici account some more before the pass worked.  What a relief when he finally succeeded.  

Mexico 2018 - back in the swing

Feeling weary from travel, it took me a couple of days to get back in the swing of things and venture out of the neighbourhood.  On day three I pedaled downtown where I ate a delicious mole lunch at Fonda Mi Lupita and did some shopping in that somewhat sketchy, semi-safe neighbourhood, usually crowded but extremely so on that day.  It was the Friday before the big January 6 Three Kings Epiphany celebration when gifts are given and the famous rosca cake is eaten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosca_de_reyes.  Traditionally, December 25 is not a big deal in Mexico.  So people were out shopping in droves and the traffic was insane even by CDMX standards. Made for interesting cycling. I managed to make my way to the National Museum of Art without incident and took in a couple of exhibits there.  One was a show of mid-19th century Mexican art, not really my thing but there were some interesting portraits.  

Great roach clip

Another was La Merienda del señor Verde, The Snack of the Green Lord, whimsical paintings themed in different colours. 

The beautiful colonial building itself never fails to impress.

 I just can't resist photographing this staircase every time I'm there

 

As usual at this time of year, a pretty good rock band was playing classic rock covers on the sidewalk across the street. 

Mexico 2018 - damage and more in CDMX

The longer I'm here, the more damage I notice and I'm hearing stories about what it was like to live through the earthquake.  Alfonso recounted how it was for them.  They were at home when the quake hit and he described how the house began to shake wildly, knocking everything to the floor.  He and Sylvia ran outside where chaos reigned, people running in the street, buildings crumbling, gas leaks, fear of explosions. One tends to hear about the physical damage and not really realize just how traumatic the experience was.  Mark is an American expat who's lived in CDMX for 30yrs and is temporarily staying at Anys as his former abode was ruined.  He said the experience was horrific.  I think he is still pretty traumatized as I would imagine many are, especially the poor people who are homeless.  And he is one of the lucky ones, alive and with resources to rebuild but he's been without his own home for three months.  

I haven't noticed any damage to the new high rise office buildings along Paseo de Reforma.  A tribute to modern engineering.

 









The Angel de Independencia and HSBC stood firm as did the old mansions.