Arriba Mexico!

Mexico City

Street art in Mexico City

With almost a month in Mexico, I knew we’d be in for a treat. This would be my 4^th time in Mexico and Baby D’s 2^nd, but we had never ventured further than Quintana Roo; around Cancun and Playa Del Carmen.

Once we’d arrived at Mexico City and they’d finally let us off the plane, I knew we had a problem. No one spoke a word of English and our Spanish was virtually non-existent. Somehow, we muddled through and made it to our hotel where we slept for a few hours having taken a night flight and not getting any sleep. We were up and out around lunchtime and decided to explore the area we were staying in, Roma Norte.

This is hailed as one of the nicer areas to stay in the city and it really was lovely.

Tacos

Museo del objeto del objeto

Trendy restaurants, cafes and bars, cool quirky museums such as the Museo del Objeto del Objeto, and oddly, plenty of nitrogen ice-cream places. After stopping in a cantina-type place which offered food of all nationalities (we had flautas and tacos of course), we strolled down to the Museo del Objeto del Objeto. This was pretty much a museum of Mexican alcohol which suited us. 

The next day we headed into the historical centre of the city, to the Metropolitan Cathedral where there was an exhibition about the Turin Shroud. 

Cathedral

 It was pretty good actually, and quite scientific too. We were double charged at the gate because we wanted English audio guides, but we actually got a refund when we told them that the guide stopped just before the end of the exhibition.   

We carried on walking round the city, checking out the street art, which was everywhere, visiting churches, the House of Tiles and the National Museum of Culture (free to enter, and home to art and relics from all over the world, with a special Peruvian exhibition), and stopping for street food (9 pesos for a taco, which is about 30p!) 

House of Tiles

We finally reached the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a gorgeous art nouveau building which is an art gallery, exhibition centre, museum and theatre. 

By then we were exhausted, so we decided to come back to see it properly on the following day and we jumped on the metro back to the hotel. that was an experience in itself; there were numerous sellers on the trains, one of whom was flogging cut throat razors.

Palacio de Bellas Artes

On the way back to the Palacio de Bellas Artes the next day, we stopped for some tacos in a little food market that had popped up opposite our hotel, then took a little diversion to The Altar of The Holy Death.

Altar of the Holy Death

This was Baby D’s idea and I just assumed it was another church, but it turned out to be a skeleton in a Perspex box on the side of the road, surrounded by flowers like a shrine. Further along the street was a disused shop closed off by a metal gate, with another similar shrine, and on the floor above that, was yet another shrine, but this time the skeleton was wearing a wedding dress. 

As we stood gawking, a young woman and her son arrived and started praying in front of the altars. A quick google search told us about this new religion which probably stemmed from Catholicism and that was being practised in countries such as Mexico, Japan and Australia, where devotees worship a Saint of Death, and pray to it to ask for favours that they wouldn’t feel able to ask a normal saint. It is thought that this practice came about because of all the violence in Mexico. Just that day we had stopped at an Oxxo (bit like a 7-eleven or a co-op) and we saw a newspaper with butchered men on the front cover, including 3 heads with no bodies; violence is pretty rife.

Mural in Palacio de Bellas Artes

  

When we got to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, we were pleased to see that there was an exhibition of the works of Pablo Picasso and renowned Mexican artist, Diego Rivera, and another of photographer Leo Matiz. The two exhibitions were only 60 pesos each (£2.50). We also went up to the architecture exhibition which focused on the development of apartments and family living in Mexico City. That particular exhibition was only 45 pesos. (We’re definitely making up for all the money we spent in Australia).

Last stop for the day before the forecast storm kicked in, was to the Mercado de Sonora. This is market is famed for its local knick-knacks, live animals and voodoo type potions for love, virility etc. We didn’t hang around long; the animals in cages was quite an upsetting sight, especially the puppies. 

Inside Palacio de Bellas Arte

Back at the hotel we tried for an early night but for the third night in a row, neither of us was able to sleep – partly due to the noisy neighbours, but maybe in part because we were excited to be going to Cancun the next day! We would be back in Mexico City when we left the country, which we were really pleased about, because we thoroughly enjoyed it, even though we had heard such horror stories of this city. 

We found it colourful, vibrant, friendly, interesting, trendy, with a bit of spice and danger, which we noticed when we wandered into the less salubrious parts of town. It’s a city that can be immensely enjoyed as long as you have your wits about you.

#mexico #mexicocity #bellasartes #romanorte