Mexico~May, 1996

Thursday, May 9, 1996

Another air-courier trip. Left LBI at noon, the phones were really busy. Made a quick trip north, reaching Air Facility in Jamaica, Queens, about 2:30. My contact, Alex, led me to long term parking, and then drove me back to AF. About four I left in the truck with many bags of “stuff” and boarded my Aero Mexico flight promptly. The flight was fine, typical, and we arrived in Mexico City at nine local time. I met my contact and proceeded through customs. Just before the actual clearing line, I went over to the Hotel/Reservations counter. There I met Miriam, an English lady, who needed a room for the night. She mentioned the Hotel Canada, which was the one I had planned to call. She had stayed there before and said it was fine. So we both booked rooms. We paid for one night there, 25 pesos, $18. Then we bought a cab ticket, which was great. I had planned to take the Metro, but the cab was $3 apiece door to door. The room is fine, private bath, TV, even reading light over the bed, somewhat rare in by experience. I changed some money at the airport and got 7.42, a pleasant surprise, since the Sunday paper had said 6.6. Miriam would have gone out on the town, but it’s 11:30 (12:30 my time) and I’m tired.

Friday, May 10

Well, this is a wonderful place. It’s 8:21 PM and I’m back, showered and exhausted. I guess I walked for about twelve hours today. This hotel room is very good, but it was quite noisy last night. It’s in a wonderful location in the heart of the historic district. Mexicans seem to be like Spaniards in that they party late. There was a very rhythmic drum playing very late right under my window. Got up about 7:30, dressed and knocked on Miriam’s door. Her flight was at 12:30, but she had time for desayuno (breakfast), so we went to an outdoor café where we both had huevos mexicanos (eggs on a tortilla, covered with spicy salsa and served with cheese topped with refried beans), large jugo de naranja (orange juice), large coffee and a basket of crispy bread and sweet rolls ($4 each). Miriam left.

I bought a good map of the cit and set off for the famous Pyramids of San Juan Teotihuacan. First I bought my metro ticket to the Northern bus stations. Tickets are one peso ($.135) and are transferable (you can change to any of the several underground lines, all on the same ticket). At the bus station, I got a ticket for the one hour ride ($1.28). The ride was interesting. I got my favorite seat in the front, once we got out of the city. First, it’s huge, with 24 million people, it’s the largest city in the world and the air pollution is horrible. I can see why Mexicans feel at home in LA. The ruins are truly remarkable. Teotihuacan means “place where gods were born”. People began living there about 500 BC. By 500 AD, it had 200,000 inhabitants, more than Rome. It was the dominant city in Meso America. The first building/area is the Citadel and was the center of government. The most interesting thin, in my opinion, is close by, The Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. Then I walked down the Avenue of the Dead to the Pyramid of the Sun, the third largest in the world, after the great Pyramid of Cholulu, the largest structure ever built, according to Frommer and the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. Building it occupied 10,000 for twenty years. It’s 210 feet high and I climbed to the very top! The view was wonderful. I didn’t climb the Pyramid of the Moon, but admired it from afar and enjoyed walking around the grounds. The Palace of the Jaguars, with murals and carved pillars was also interesting. I think I said “No” more today than any other day in my life. Everybody wants to sell you something.

I got back to the bus terminal about 2:30 and decided to visit the Museo National de Antropologia today instead of Sunday. It’s far away from the hotel and everything else, so the transportation wouldn’t be so complicated. The Museum was very interesting and brand new. It’s a great museum, just dedicated to Mexico and chocked full of artifacts very well displayed. There is a beautiful courtyard with a giant fountain. The first floor is historic, and the second “ethnographic”, with exhibits about the different groups living in Mexico today. I went there first, then had a meal at a very nice restaurant right in the museum. I had Enchiladas Tre Colores and two beers for under $7, with tip. Mexico is CHEAP! Then I went through the first floor, which I like better, although the whole was very worthwhile.

It was pretty late, and I was pretty tired (Mexico City is 7000 feet high and that may have had something to do with it). The Zocalo, or main square, is my Metro stop. It’s where everything is happening. I hope it’s just as exciting tomorrow. It should be. I just couldn’t appreciate it tonight. Oh, I forgot to describe the subway stations. They’re marvelous. Each one is different, and they house remarkable art and technology exhibits. Lots of stone carvings and frescos, but other things as well. The La Raza station has a very long walk from one line to the other. It starts out with beautiful color photos of animals, birds and fish. Then you walk through a “Celestial Highway”, sort of a planetarium effect, and, on the other side of the tunnel one side has photos take, either from space of from a telescope, and the other has computer-generated fractal photos, kind of man-made space. Neat!!

Saturday, May 11

Another beautiful day, sunny and warm, with very low humidity. I was up early after a second night of enjoying the disco experience from the comfort of my own bed. Breakfasted on chilaquiles (tortillas cooked in a green tomato sauce and served with chicken, cheese and cream), OJ, café and bread in the same place, gain at a table by the Zocalo. Then I crossed to the Cathedral and was disappointed to find the entire inside filled with scaffolding. I’m sure it will be exquisite when the renovations are done. All along the interior outer edge, “skilled craftsmen” without shops line up with the tools of their trade: electricians, plumbers, carpenters for hire. The cathedral was built on a soft lake bottom so, like New Orleans, it’s sinking and presents an uneven façade. Next to it there’s a model of the Lakes Region as it appeared when Cortez entered the city.

I spent the rest of the day walking around the old city. Everywhere is like one gigantic flea market and at least 90% of the people are Mexican. It is definitely not tourist season. I stopped at the box office of el Teatro de La Cuidad, because the book said tickets to the Ballet Folklorico Nacional Astlan were 1/3 the price of the one at el Palacio de Belles Artes. I got a ticket for the 9:30 AM show tomorrow. Mexico was founded, legend has it, when the Indians saw an eagle sitting on a cactus with a serpent on its claw. Pretty squares were everywhere.

Then I went to Belles Artes where there was some very good art. There were two special exhibits: Byron Galves (who works under his first name) does very large Picasso-like works in bright colors, and Luis Felipe Noe, whose works were very strange constructions that didn’t appeal to me much. There was also a large collection of the works of the three most famous Mexican muralists, Diego Rivera, whose works are all over this city, David Alfaro Siquerion, and Jorge Gonzales Camarena. One huge Rivera mural was originally commissioned for Rockefeller Center in 1933, but the message was not politically correct, so they had it painted over. Rivera recreated it here. In the center is a very Aryan type wielding the controls of a machine which is sucking up the fruits of the earth, universe and microsphere and using them to enrich the hard drinking, card playing decadent industrialists of the west, shown on the left (with a Christian Zeus, mob-beating police and gas-masked bayonet-carrying soldiers) while on the right, peaceful masses join hands with Lenin, beautiful girl athletes run, and the Workers of the World unite.

I mailed some postcards at the Correos, a beautiful white stone building. All day, l I kept coming upon peaceful or at least green and calming squares or plazas full of people eating and strolling about. I was glad I had remembered to bring bottled water. I’m very thirsty and all instructions are not to drink anything that’s not bottled and NEVER ORDER ICE!! Toward the late afternoon, I made my way to the Mercado de la Merced. Unbelievable!! Literally miles of streets full of vendors of everything imaginable, capped by a huge indoor fruit and vegetable market. Piles of red tomatoes, green tomatillos, peppers everywhere, sacks of spices that made my nose itch and my eyes water, squashes and melons, mangos and tropical fruits I couldn’t identify, onions and potatoes, row upon row upon row. Also there was one street of prostitutes. I took no pictures. The market had made me hungry, so I looked for El Café de Taguba, where I had a good meal of a taco, crème soup, roast chicken with rice and salade confetti (cole slaw), bread and dessert. I’ve stuck with Corona, since I never heard of Mexican wine. Strolling singles completed the atmosphere. Came back, called Jerry, laid down for half an hour, and went out for an evening stroll. This was a fine way to spend an evening. I went to my favorite café, Flash Taco, where the waiters now know me. It seems to be the only one with tables right on the Plaza de la Constitution. I was just going to have a beer and watch the sunset. Then the people at the table next to me ordered Jalapeno poppers and they looked so good I had to try them. Delicioso, but only time will tell. Tomorrow, it’s the ballet first thing.

Sunday (Mother’s Day), May 12

My café was just opening at 8:30. They told me last night it opened at 7, so I passed by and walked back to the Teatro La Ciudad, stopping for a 3 peso jugo de naranja. As I stood waiting for the theatre to open, with my cup in my hand, people looked with disgust on my “begging”. The show was terrific. I guess I look like a tourist because I was ushered in and told to “take any seat”, so I sat right in the middle of row 6, a 100-peso seat (I paid 80). The lady next to me was from Canada and had paid Greyline tours 300 pesos for the same seat. This was a two hour extravaganza beginning with feathered and bejeweled Aztecs and including folk dances and songs from all over Mexico, very colorful and athletic. I kept thinking how much Megan and Janet would have liked it.

Then it was off to the Plaza Tolsa, with its huge equestrian statue of Carlos IV of Madrid fame atop a high-stepping horse. This plaza is in front of the Museo Nacional de Arte, which Frommer says is one of the city’s best but least visited. It’s a beautiful building but the works were rather disappointing. Most were from the 17th to 19th century, and, except for some pretty landscapes by Velasco, mostly poor imitations for French and Italian religious and historic paintings. Some of the sculpture however was quite good, including a special show of works by Oliveria Martinez. His pieces and the other sculptures all reminded me of Botero. Maybe Latin artists see figures and animals bigger than life, for some reason. The Alemeda is the very big, busy park I visited earlier this week, and it was even busier today. More vendors than you can imagine, a band playing, and Mexican families out enjoying the beautiful day. The artisans’ shops were closed, but the Museo Mural Diego Rivera was open. A strange man followed me all over. Finally, I stomped my foot and told him to go away. This is an architectural marvel. The mural is huge, 50 feet by 13 feet, and was painted for the Hotel Prado, several blocks away. The hotel was badly damaged in the earthquake of 1985, but the mural, “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alemeda Park,” was saved and moved to this new home. It’s a great picture of historical figures in Mexican history, starting with Cortez.

On my way to the hotel, I felt a sharp, burning sensation at my neck. Someone ripped my gold necklace right off and took off running. The moment of shock was enough for him to get away. I ran after him, screaming, but he had disappeared in the warren of alleys. Definitely put a damper on my Mother’s Day. I walked back and opted for a recommended meal at the Hotel Majestic Rooftop Restaurant. It was a decent buffet with a wonderful view of the Zocalo. My finale was the Museo del Templo Mayor. This was a great visit. The excavation was interesting, but the museum was super. I’m a bit tired of hustle and bustle, so I came back early. Maybe I’ll try the Café Cinco de Mayo for a sandwich later. I had quesadillas with salsa and guacamole and OJ.

Monday, May 12

I almost feel like a native, at least herein el centro historico. I don’t have to be at the airport till five but check out is at two. I had tortillas Espana with OJ and café, then toured el Palacio Nacional, or at least the parts of it not guarded by soldiers (they are everywhere). It’s a wonderful building surrounding a plaza with a fountain. On the second floor are quite a few Rivera murals depicting the history of Mexico. Stopped at the pawn shops and bargained for a replacement necklace. Took the metro to the airport. An excellent trip