Viva pilgrimage!
Current mood: thankful
My pilgrimage to the land of Frida is now over...so glad I went! It was absolutely worth it. We went to the Frida exhibit at Bellas Artes yesterday--the largest exhibit of Frida's work ever. The line when we got there went down the stairs (the exhibit was on the very high 2nd floor). By the time we left, it was out the door and halfway to the street.
It was the first time I had ever seen any of Frida's paintings in person. I've always considered myself more a fan of Frida the person than Frida the artist. Of course, I admired her talent, just not as much as I admired her spirit. The paintings blew me away. The prints just don't do them justice. They are brighter and more detailed that they seem in books. I love the ones from New York especially, where Frida shows how different New York is from Mexico City. They almost look like collages, with symbolic objects in random places.
We started our morning at breakfast on the roof of the hostel. When I got up there, Yolanda was sitting at a table with a guy with long hair. It turned out he was from Colorado and was in Mexico studying Nahutal, the indigenous language. He was wearing a cool necklace with green stones and when Yolanda asked him where he got it, he offered to take us to the market to buy the stones to make our own. Intrepid travelers that we are, and avid shoppers indeed, we followed him to a market a few blocks away, on a street that was completely torn apart. We were in heaven in the bead stores, bought some textiles, found some exellent bargains. Yay random Native American looking guys!
It was after our very successful shopping expedition that we went to Bellas Artes to the Frida exhibit. After that, we went to the Postal Palace, which was very cool. It was all gold cages inside, even the elevator.
From there we went looking for lunch and Yolanda found a church. She went inside to check it out while I waited outside in the shade because I was hot, tired and hungry, ok? We found a little place to eat lunch that said they had chilaquiles. I'm a huge fan of chilaquiles, remember? The waiter instead started talking about soup and the menu of the day...turns out chilaquiles are only for breakfast and lunch at this place consists of a set menu with choices of starter, entree and dessert. The tables were painted with fun scenes remniscent of Loteria cards. Our waiter fell in love with me, don't know why, kept calling me "fili" because I told him I was a filipina from LA. He took me to see all of the painted tables, sometimes shoving the diners' plates out of the way so that I could see. Embarrassed much? How about mortified.
With the afternoon came the excursion to the Templo Mayor, which are the ruins of the Aztec temple. They happened to be right next to the Cathedral and behind our hostel. There's so much history there you just kind of trip over it.
When we were taking our nightly stroll, we saw a bunch of military guys standing at attention in front of the National Palace. A bunch of people were standing there watching them, so we asked and were told that they were going to lower the enormous flag in the Zocalo. They marched across the street, around the Zocalo and made a huge clearing around the flag. Then more of them came marching out, with rifles, drums and trumpets, they took down the flag, and escorted it into the Palacio Nacional. There must have been at least 50 of them. And they do this every day, morning and night! Tons of people were standing around the Zocalo just watching.
I felt like yesterday we explored the entire length of Mexico's history. From the Aztec ruins to the modern art and then the current national pride, we saw it all.
When we got back to LA this morning, we felt like it was completely deserted. Where were the throngs of people, the shouting vendors, the careening and honking vehicles? It felt a little desolate, but now we know for sure where to go if we ever feel the need of a few people around.
aloha nui,
Alisa
My pilgrimage to the land of Frida is now over...so glad I went! It was absolutely worth it. We went to the Frida exhibit at Bellas Artes yesterday--the largest exhibit of Frida's work ever. The line when we got there went down the stairs (the exhibit was on the very high 2nd floor). By the time we left, it was out the door and halfway to the street.
It was the first time I had ever seen any of Frida's paintings in person. I've always considered myself more a fan of Frida the person than Frida the artist. Of course, I admired her talent, just not as much as I admired her spirit. The paintings blew me away. The prints just don't do them justice. They are brighter and more detailed that they seem in books. I love the ones from New York especially, where Frida shows how different New York is from Mexico City. They almost look like collages, with symbolic objects in random places.
We started our morning at breakfast on the roof of the hostel. When I got up there, Yolanda was sitting at a table with a guy with long hair. It turned out he was from Colorado and was in Mexico studying Nahutal, the indigenous language. He was wearing a cool necklace with green stones and when Yolanda asked him where he got it, he offered to take us to the market to buy the stones to make our own. Intrepid travelers that we are, and avid shoppers indeed, we followed him to a market a few blocks away, on a street that was completely torn apart. We were in heaven in the bead stores, bought some textiles, found some exellent bargains. Yay random Native American looking guys!
It was after our very successful shopping expedition that we went to Bellas Artes to the Frida exhibit. After that, we went to the Postal Palace, which was very cool. It was all gold cages inside, even the elevator.
From there we went looking for lunch and Yolanda found a church. She went inside to check it out while I waited outside in the shade because I was hot, tired and hungry, ok? We found a little place to eat lunch that said they had chilaquiles. I'm a huge fan of chilaquiles, remember? The waiter instead started talking about soup and the menu of the day...turns out chilaquiles are only for breakfast and lunch at this place consists of a set menu with choices of starter, entree and dessert. The tables were painted with fun scenes remniscent of Loteria cards. Our waiter fell in love with me, don't know why, kept calling me "fili" because I told him I was a filipina from LA. He took me to see all of the painted tables, sometimes shoving the diners' plates out of the way so that I could see. Embarrassed much? How about mortified.
With the afternoon came the excursion to the Templo Mayor, which are the ruins of the Aztec temple. They happened to be right next to the Cathedral and behind our hostel. There's so much history there you just kind of trip over it.
When we were taking our nightly stroll, we saw a bunch of military guys standing at attention in front of the National Palace. A bunch of people were standing there watching them, so we asked and were told that they were going to lower the enormous flag in the Zocalo. They marched across the street, around the Zocalo and made a huge clearing around the flag. Then more of them came marching out, with rifles, drums and trumpets, they took down the flag, and escorted it into the Palacio Nacional. There must have been at least 50 of them. And they do this every day, morning and night! Tons of people were standing around the Zocalo just watching.
I felt like yesterday we explored the entire length of Mexico's history. From the Aztec ruins to the modern art and then the current national pride, we saw it all.
When we got back to LA this morning, we felt like it was completely deserted. Where were the throngs of people, the shouting vendors, the careening and honking vehicles? It felt a little desolate, but now we know for sure where to go if we ever feel the need of a few people around.
aloha nui,
Alisa
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