Behind Patty, Kristina and Pete is the coyote fountain in Jardín del Centenario park.
The park had benches with coyotes and was surrounded by colorful buildings.
Coyoacán dates back to 1521 during the Spanish conquest when it was the capital of New Spain. The Parroquia San Juan Bautista church was built in the 16th century.
The neighborhood had lots of bright colors. It was only in 1857 that Coyoacán was incorporated into Mexico City as a district.
While we were in Coyoacán, a festival in honor of San Sebastián Mártir was taking place.
In front of the Parroquia de San Sebastián church, a band was playing while costumed dancers danced.
Pete and Patty are in front of Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo’s home, which is now a museum. We had to wait in line to get in.
This portrait of Frida was taken by Nickolas Muray in 1939 in New York.
This bench was Frida’s as a child. Later she painted her name on it, along with watermelons and the year 1910. She was born in 1907, but she identified so strongly with Mexico and Mexican independence that she changed her birth year to coincide with Mexican Independence.
This painting Viva La Vida from 1954 uses the colors of the Mexican flag.
Severely injured at age 18 in a street car accident, Frida's back pain steadily worsened over time and she was often bed-ridden or forced to use a wheelchair when she painted. This is a photo of her studio. “I am not sick. I am broken. But I am happy to be alive as long as I can paint.”
We noticed many mermaids throughout the house and learned that Frida identified with the figures who don’t have legs. “Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?”
Throughout the house were Judas figures, which are traditionally burned on Easter. This one by Kristina is a Frida-Judas, complete with Frida’s necklace.
Frida was married to the painter Diego Rivera. When she died, Diego turned Casa Azul into the Frida Kahlo Museum.
This is the very traditional kitchen that had only a wood burning stove and no refrigerator.
Pete is on the stairwell overlooking the beautiful courtyard. We are happy we could visit Casa Azul.
Nearby was Casa Leon Trotsky, a museum about Leon Trotsky. Trotsky was granted permission to live in Mexico in 1937 through the efforts of Diego and Frida.
This is Trotsky’s study where he worked on many things, including an unflattering biography of Stalin. He was assassinated in his house in 1940. The house felt a bit like a bunker, with the windows blocked up to try to prevent an assassin from shooting Trotsky through the windows.
We liked the look of the simple bathroom with claw foot tub.
Also in the Coyoacán neighborhood was the National Museum of Popular Culture.
Here’s Pete doing his fiercest expression, with an Otomi indigenous people’s mask behind him.
This tapestry is of a rain dance. Entitled Petition del Agua, it was created by Ezequiel and Clemencia José.
We liked all the musicians in it.
This painting Dios de Maiz, Corn Gods, by Rafael Lechuga shows the importance of corn to the Mexican people.
The exhibits on corn, beans, squash and chilies were fascinating.
After seeing all those Mexican ingredients, we were hungry for lunch, so we made tacos. Ready to assemble are tortillas, pork, guacamole, pickled onions, jalapeños, nopales and chicharrones.
Here are the tacos, ready to be thrown down.
We went to the historic district in Mexico City. Kristina and Patty are in front of Palacio de Belles Artes.
Built primarily in the Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles, inside was grandiose with lots of natural light through the domes.
We noticed the Mayan rain god, Chaac, represented here in an Art Deco style.
The murals inside were wonderful. During our trip the four of us reflected on and appreciated the five international trips we’ve made together: Japan in 2013, Quebec in 2014, Spain in 2015, South Korea in 2016 and now Mexico!
Here's one of our favorite photos of Patty and Bill. It is from their wedding in 2007.
This is Man at the Crossroads by Diego Rivera. In 1934 (and shortly after a similar mural was removed from Rockefeller Center because of its communist themes), Rivera painted this mural in Palacio de Belles Artes.
You can see Trotsky, Karl Marx and Joseph Engels.
Pete asked Bill to hold up the menu for a photo, and Bill hid behind it. We always have fun when Kristina’s folks travel with us!
We love the decadent churros. We also tried Mexican hot chocolate.
We strolled through Central Alameda Park.
We came upon a sculpture garden and had fun posing by our favorites, all by Alejandro Velasco. Pete is posing next to Niño Insecto. Behind Pete is Casa de los Azulejos, which is covered in blue and white tiles.
Patty is posing by Niña Cangrejo, Crab Girl. Patty is a Cancer, so perhaps this is why she chose the girl with crab claws instead of hands.
Kristina chose to pose with Hera. She always like to see bikes in art.
We went to lunch at El Cardenal. Kristina had incredibly tasty barbecued lamb with guacamole and nopales.
We also went to the Diego Rivera Mural Museum and fell in love with Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park. Each person in the mural is having their own dream.
This close up shows death as a Kukulcan skeleton with serpent flanked by a young Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
Mexico City has lots of street art.
Here the Mayan theme of Kukulcan is evident in the boy on the left.
Mexico City rebranded itself as CDMX about ten years ago. CDMX stands for Ciudad de México. Sin Poesía No Hay Ciudad is a collection of poetic phrases painted along the wall and is the work of Mexican poet and cultural promoter Armando Alanís Pulido.
A highlight of our time in CDMX was visiting National Anthropology museum. Patty and Kristina are next to Paraguas, Umbrella, by José Chávez Morado.
Native to Guanajuato, there is more of Chávez Morado's work later in this blog. This is a closer look at the umbrella handle.
We walked through this large courtyard with a wetlands to get to the anthropology exhibits.
We were very impressed with the Maya artworks, like this is Chaac rain god with his upturned nose asking for rain.
This is a chac mool, sacrificial altar, which was carved sometime between the 10th and 13th centuries.
A recreated tomb of King Pakal was incredible. King Pakal is wearing a jade mask and is covered in cinnabar.
The jade mask is considered to be the height of Maya art.
Just outside the anthropology museum Pete posed with these incredible wings.
Another day we went back to the historic center of CDMX and checked out the Cathedral.
Across the street is Palacio Nacional. This is the courtyard.
We came to see the Diego Rivera murals, The History of Mexico, which were painted between 1929 and 1936.
Both Patty and Kristina look happy to see these incredible murals and to learn more about Mexican history.
This west wall mural shows the importance of corn in Mexican food.
All too soon it was time for Patty and Bill to fly back to San Diego. We went to the January 21st Women’s March sister rally in CDMX. Our estimate is there were at least 1,000 people at the march and about half were Americans. The march went around El Ángel near the US Embassy.
Kristina took a turn holding up the Women’s March sign. She is also holding her handmade sign, Mujeres Unidas, which means Women United. As we marched and chanted with the other protestors, we felt energized and supported by like minded people.
And this sign, “respect Mexico and Mexican immigrants” really resonated with us. We committed to ourselves to continue resisting Trump's racist, climate-change denial, conservative agenda and signed up with Two Hours a Week to take action daily.
Both of our Moms liked it when we wrote our blog in Spanish, so the next section is dedicated to Patty and to Pete's Mom, Csilla. (And if you'd prefer to read it in English, you can use Google Translate.)
Tomamos un autobús a Guanajuato. Aquí está Pete en la entrada de nuestro hotel, Mesón de los Poetas.
Todas las habitaciones tienen nombres de poetas, y nos quedamos en la habitación Juan Valle. Él nació en Guanajuato y era ciego.
Aquí Kristina está encima de las escaleras en el hotel. ¡Fue la primera vez que supimos que hay escaleras en todas partes de Guanajuato!
Subimos a ver la vista de la ciudad. La nombre Guanajuato es de lengua indígena y que significa lugar de muchas colinas. Es la verdad.
¡Los edificios tienen tantos colores que siempre vimos mirando! Y los edificios parecen aferrarse a las colinas.
Guanajuato se fundó en 1522 de los españoles. Encima de la colina que subimos hay una escultura grande, se llama el Pípula. El Pípula es el símbolo de la independencia de México.
Aprendimos que en 1821, el Pípula puso una piedra en la espalda y quemó la puerta de la Alhóndiga, una acción que comenzó la guerra contra los españoles.
Visitamos la Alhóndiga y vimos que el exterior tiene huecos de la guerra. En 1820, el edificio se usó para conservar grano y cereales.
La Alhóndiga es un museo ahora, y tiene murales con El Pípula.
Nos gustó aprender la historia de Guanajuato. Peter está cerca de la campana de la independencia.
Kristina está al lado de un coche de mina. Durante 250 años, las minas de Guanajuato produjeron el 30% de la plata en el mundo. Los españoles eran ricos cuando la gente de Guanajuato era muy pobre, así que la gente se rebeló y comenzó una guerra que se extendió a todo México durante once años.
Lo que más nos gusta que hacer en Guanajuato es andar por la ciudad para ver todo.
Muchas calles aquí son muy serpenteantes.
A veces no hay espacio para coches, y cuando la calle estrecha está en una colina, tiene escaleras.
Este edificio es la Universidad de Guanajuato.
Los edificios tienen letreros encantadores con el nombre de la casa o información sobre el edificio.
Hay fuentes en las plazas y también en las calles.
Vimos las ruinas de fuentes con agua para beber en las calles.
En todos partes de Guanajuato hay casas con colores brillantes.
Cerca de nuestro hotel está la Plaza de la Paz con la Basílica Colegiata de Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato que se construyó entre 1671 y 1696.
Por la noche la basílica es muy bonita.
También la ciudad es bonita por la noche.
Nos gustó quedarnos en el centro histórico de Guanajuato. Muy cerca de nuestro hotel está el Teatro Juárez.
Durante un día, lo visitamos. Kristina es en la puerta del teatro.
El teatro interior es grande.
Con muchos detalles finos, el techo es espectacular.
Hay unos murales en la ciudad. Este es de José Chávez Morado, quien nació y vivió en Guanajuato.
Chávez Morado era parte del movimiento arte de muralistas mexicanas pero también él hizo grabados. Este grabado se llama Obreros de Ciudad Universitaria, y muestra un coche de mina plata.
Hay muchos túneles en Guanajuato. Primero pensamos que los túneles eran de las minas. Pero en verdad, eran de la sistema a controlarse la lluvia y pararse deluges.
Tenemos sorpresa que Guanajuato es enamorado de Cervantes y Don Quijote. Kristina está al lado de un gran estatua de Don Quijote.
Hay Teatro Cervantes. Cada año hay una feria de Cervantes durante dos semanas.
Visitamos el museo de iconografía de Don Quijote.
Y visitamos la casa de Gene Byron, quien era canadiense y vivió en Guanajuato más que veinte años.
Byron hizo esta puerta.
Y el arte en su sala.
Nos gustó la casa de visitas.
El patio también es bonito.
Comimos muy bien en Guanajuato. La comida más interesante que comimos fue chapulines. Con guacamole, el sabor era muy rico.
Buscamos una gelateria y comimos helados cada día. Nuestros favoritos eran cardamomo y ciruela con chocolate. Aquí Kristina tiene caramelo y chocolate.
Demasiado pronto fue tiempo salir de Guanajuato. Próximo vamos a visitar a Cuba.
