Angela Castro - fine art photography

Museo Estudio Diego Rivera

2011-11-29T14:51:00.000-08:00

The full name of this place is Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, a mouthful really. This was Diego Rivera's studio/home that he shared with his wife Frida Kahlo. It is located in the San Angel area in Mexico City and admission is free. If you want to take photographs, it was only $30 pesos at the time I went which was in October 2011. It was designed and built by the famous architect Juan O'Gorman. There are two houses, one for Diego and the other for Frida, surrounded by a cactus hedge. The architect connected the houses by a rooftop bridge which Frida would use to bring Diego his meals.

The entrance

Inside of Rivera's studio space.

A portrait of Dolores del Río painted by Rivera. She was a famous Mexican film actress.

Diego Rivera's clothes

Random stuff I shot.

Next to the studio was Rivera's bedroom. They had a pair of his pajamas laid out on the bed.

Some of his personal items on the nightstand.

A wedding couple made of papier-mâché.

Upstairs, you could look down on the studio space.

Diego's hat

Along the way going over to Frida's side, I saw a table with papier-mâché skeletons laid out on it. They give workshops to kiddos. Here was one of them. They hadn't been painted yet.

Her side was smaller and kind of boring, which was disappointing. They did have her very small kitchen displayed.

Close-up of the yellow skeleton man.

They had photographs displayed throughout both houses. Some of them are permanent and some they rotate out.

This is the outside of the place. The pink building is Rivera's side. The blue is Frida's.

This was my Polaroid attempt with that wretched PUSH! film that I have come to despise. I thought there was enough light but apparently not. It has turned a horrible blue shade by now too. To keep it from going blue, you have to make an emulsion lift out of it but I don't want to do that. I want to keep the Polaroid in its original state because part of my series is displaying the actual Polaroids with the others I shot. Call me stubborn, but they will remain intact regardless of what they look like.

I have three more shots of this film and am not quite sure what I want to do with them. I have less than a month in Mexico too. I will be returning back to the states in late December. I am ready to come home. I've enjoyed my stay here and have learned so many things, mainly with myself. Lots of time to do some self-reflecting and to figure out my priorities.

Next blog: Plaza de las Tres Culturas

Día de los Muertos Part 3: Panteón Xoco and Coyoacan

2011-11-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

The final blog about Día de los Muertos. I swear. This one will be short and sweet. Mainly photographs.

One night, Ariana and I went to Coyoacán to check out the celebrations happening there. There was a crap ton of people. A lot of them were wearing costumes. A lot of kiddos running around asking for candy. Instead of going to houses and knocking on doors asking for candy, they go to public squares or even just on the street and ask for it. There was suppose to be a chocolate festival going on too but we couldn't find it. We just roamed around.

An altar at a church in Coyoacán.

Ariana lost in a sea of people.

An altar inside the market at Coyoacán square.

Some cool puppets.

Skeletons were trying to take over.

A fab couple

Made it to a cemetery, Panteón Xoco, pretty close to where we live. We were there for about two hours. Olivia ended up befriending some girls almost immediately. I find it amazing how social she is.

Right outside the cemetery they were selling flowers.

Some of the graves that were decorated.

The girls that Olivia made friends with. They were cousins.

Next blog: Museo Estudio de Diego Rivera

Día de los Muertos Part 2: UNAM

2011-11-12T08:55:00.000-08:00

UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) is very close to our apartment. They have an annual Day of the Dead celebration they put on called Mega Ofrenda. Every year they have a different theme and this year they were honoring Jorge Luis Borges. He was a famous Argentine writer, essayist and poet. His most famous books are Ficciones and The Aleph. Many students and organizations compete to build the coolest altar. I had no idea that they did this until about a day or two before it started. I was really excited to see all the different altars.

La Catrina was walking about.

Olivia with La Catrina

I thought this display for drunk driving was interesting. Creative use with the beer bottles.

There was a vast amount of altars. I doubled up the photos so I could show more.

The altar with all the balls spun around. The other altar has a more traditional style.

Guess who the skeleton guy is suppose to be?

The pattern on the bottom was made out of seeds.

I took some photos of altars in the day and at night. There were a lot more people there at night.

People viewing the altar pictured above

Justin wearing some glowing horns.

Ariana, Olivia and me being silly.

Olivia

Next blog: Día de los Muertos Part 3: Coyoacán and Panteón Xoco
This will be the last of the Day of the Dead blogs

Día de los Muertos Part 1: Going to Market and Building an Altar

2011-11-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

The official day for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is November 2nd but it is celebrated about a week prior to that. The holiday focuses on family and friends gathering to remember loved ones they have lost. Part of the tradition includes building private altars honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds (cempasúchil,) the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, photos of the deceased and memorabilia. People also visit cemeteries and decorate the graves with ofrendas (offerings.) The intent is to encourage visits by the soul so the soul may hear the prayers and comments of the living directed to them.

Since I am in Mexico and I've always been fascinated by this holiday, I wanted to partake in making an altar. My father passed away last year so I built my altar in honor of him. My dad, Terry, was a huge OU and Chicago Bears fan. (This has trickled down to my brother and I.) An overall big sports fan really. I incorporated these things into my altar for him. I used some of my clothes to represent this. I had to get some marigolds, candles and sugar skulls to decorate with so I went to the market that Ariana and I have frequented before. On this particular trip, it was just Olivia and myself. A big step for me since my Spanish is still pretty poor. I managed quite well though and Olivia had a blast.

Sugar skulls, they come in various sizes and designs.

They had chocolate ones too.

Candied coffins

View of market in the front of the building.

One of the vegetable stalls inside.

Fresh fish

Fresh chicken

This guy was nice enough to let me photograph him.

Some papier-mâché skulls.

Pig heads in a case.

The grain stand where I buy my granola mix I like so much.

I bought some marigolds from this stand.

For my altar, I used three different sized boxes to make a pyramid shape. I draped one of my Bears shirt over the main one. I used a pair of OU Sooners shorts for another box. Since my dad was a huge fan of these teams I had to represent this. I was pretty limited on what I had available so I did the best I could. Conveniently, I had brought photos of him with me. He liked to drink Dr. Pepper so I bought a can. It's kind of difficult finding Dr. Pepper here. Mexico is more of a Coke place. I bought a piece of pan de muerto. That is very common to place in altars. I also bought some sugar skulls, candles, a big bundle of marigolds and a few neat looking purple flowers. Pretty simple really. I think I will make another altar next year and get a little more elaborate.

The final outcome

Lit up at night

My dad when he was a young man.

Close-up of the Pan de Muerto.

Olivia helped out.

I have come to really appreciate this holiday and understand its purpose. It really allows you to take time to reflect on the ones you have lost and to remember those moments that make life so great.

Next blog: Día de los Muertos Part 2: UNAM (lots of altars and lots of photos)

The Basílica de Guadalupe

2011-11-04T20:08:00.000-07:00

The Basílica de Guadalupe (also known as Basílica of Our Lady of Guadalupe) is the most visited Catholic shrine in all the Americas. Many believers make pilgramages here throughout the year, especially on December 12th. That was the day in 1531, when a man named Juan Diego had a vision of the Virgin Guadalupe. She told him to build a temple here and imprinted her image on his tunic to show proof that he had seen her. Diegos tunic is hanging in the new church and still looks pristine. The area is made up of a complex of buildings situated at the foot of a hill, the Cerro del Tepeyac.

The modern basilica. This was built because the old basilica was sinking due to weakness of the ground. It can house up to 10,000 people.

The old basilica. It was closed for many years for repairs. It is open again to the public.

Capuchin Nuns' Temple which is next to the old basilica.

There was a large clock monument which is directly opposite of the modern basilica. The large plaza in front of all of these buildings is called Plaza Mariana.

I went with Ariana and her Aunt Teresita. This is Tere and I.

People will walk on their knees to pay respect to the Virgin and reaffirm their faith.

Inside the Pocito Chapel which means chapel of the little well. It was built around a water well that had healing powers.

After walking up some stairs, the Saint Michael chapel sits on top of Tepeyac Hill.

These prayers were sitting outside by the Saint Michael chapel.

Some of the things you could buy from vendors.

Inside the modern basilica.

The original tunic with the Virgin of Guadalupe image.

This was how you viewed the sacred image.

Before we left, I took a Polaroid of the old basilica with new film I haven't used yet. It was the Push! Colorshade film from the Impossible Project. You have to let it develop for at least 4 minutes and shield it immediately from light. While I was waiting to see how it turned out, I saw this man sitting by the modern basilica.

When I went to check out my Polaroid, it had a pink hue to it. I was some what disappointed but I went ahead and took some photos of it.

After I got home, the pink hue had almost completely disappeared. I guess it goes away after about an hour. I may go back and try to reshoot my digital version. It would be interesting to go on December 12th for the anniversary. Still have time to decide on this.

Next blog: Dia de los Muertos, Part1: Going to Market and Building an Altar

Museo Soumaya

2011-10-28T15:54:00.000-07:00

Some basic facts about Museo Soumaya: It's a private museum owned by the Carlos Slim Foundation and houses the numerous art, religious items, historical documents and coin collection of Carlos Slim and his late wife Soumaya, whom the museum is named after. In 2011, it opened a new location, which is the one I went to. The building was designed by Mexican architect Fernando Romero, his son in law. There is a large amount of European artwork including pieces from Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse,Vincent van Gogh, August Rodin and many others. There is also a nice collection from famous Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo and David Alfaro Siqueiros.

The art collection itself is impressive and was a pleasure viewing the work from these great artists. The building was quite interesting as well. The shape of it, the material it was made from, it really stands out. I wasn't overly thrilled with how the art was arranged on each floor. I'm sure it was difficult doing that with rounded rooms and the amount of art that was available. Inside the building is a big spiral that goes up. Each floor is leveled off and grouped into a specific genre: the coin collection, European art, Mexican art, religious relics and art, sculpture. When you reached the rooms, you didn't really know which way to start. Since the rooms were round, they had to put wall separaters everywhere to hang the work. It just felt a little choatic, especially with the amount of people that were there (admission is free.) Also, there were fire extinguishers everywhere. They really distracted from the art. I'm sure they had to follow a strict fire code because of the oddly shaped building. (No windows anywhere) A little disappointing but the art was great, the building was fun to photograph and it was free.

Looking at the front

The entrance

Close-up of Soumaya

Entering the museum

There are a couple of sculptures on this floor including Rodin's "The Thinker".

This was how the building was going to look initially. There were some changes made.

Looking down on main floor from the second floor. You can see a small crowd around the Rodin sculpture.

Looking at the second floor gallery before heading up the ramp.

Painting by Claude Monet

Manuscript for Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet"

The top floor, gallery 6, all sculpture

Salvador Dali sculptures

Another view of the sculpture floor from the back. There's a big skylight in the middle of the ceiling.

A close-up of the outside of the building. Aluminum hexagons cover it.

Different angle

In its entirety

Día de los Muertos is coming up and I'm super excited. People have already started building altars and getting prepared for the holiday. I built an altar myself. Some people celebrate Halloween here too. I'm not exactly sure how they do Halloween for the kiddos but I guess I will find out. Be looking for a blog or two about Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in the next couple of weeks. Lots of photos!

In the meantime...

Next blog: Basilica de Guadalupe

Xochimilco and the Island of the Dolls

2011-10-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

Xochimilco is located in Mexico City south east of the city center. It is known for its water canals that flow throughout this neighborhood. People can rent a gondola like boat, trajineras, and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The boats have long tables on them with chairs. A lot of people will bring food and beverages and have lunch on them.

The trajineras are decorated in bright colors and have different names.

I was with Ariana, her brother Steve, our friend Taryn and Olivia. We rented a boat to go visit the Island of the Dolls. It's more expensive then taking the typical route most people go on but between the four of us it wasn't that bad. It took quite a while to get there, about an hour and a half.

More boats

Ducks

Another boat that was being serenaded by a mariachi band.

Olivia having a blast.

A broken down trajinera.

A pretty flowering water plant.

More photos

At last, we arrive to our destination. It's a pretty creepy place. Nothing like seeing a bunch of rotting dolls strung up in trees and along fences. Some history behind Isla de las Munecas. This small island, chinampa, was inhabited by a man named Don Julian Santana. One day he discovered a young girl who had drowned by the island. He was haunted by her death so when he saw a small doll floating by shortly after discovering the girl he fished it out of the water and hung it up in a tree to please the girl. He had hoped to appease her tortured soul and protect the island from further evil. One doll wasn't enough though. Don Julian continue to fish out doll parts whenever he saw them. When he couldn't find any in the water, he would scour trash piles whenever he made a rare trip to town. Later in his life he would trade his farm raised vegetables and fruit in exchange for dolls. In 2001, Don Julian dropped dead from a heart attack where the young girl was buried. People speculate different reasons why and even how Don Julian died but the people at this place, which is ran by family members, told us he died of a heart attack. The island didn't get much attention while he was living but it has become a popular tourist attraction since then. Visitors will still bring dolls to be strung up.

The entrance of the island.

There was a small museum set up in a shed. This was where we were told about the history of the place. It was creepy sitting there listening to the story while being surrounded by decrepit dolls and cobwebs.

Inside the museum

Close up of doll head

Don Julian Santana, he's holding broccoli in case you're wondering.

Dolls in trees

Part of an overview of the place.

Another overview, you can see Olivia in the bottom right corner. She was scared of this place at first, which was understandable. She warmed up to it though.

Dolls on a fence.

This was where the girl was buried. There is a gravemarker for Don Julian too but I'm not sure if he is actually buried here.

At this point, I tried taking a Polaroid but my camera would not work. Super weird since I hadn't had any problems with it. Click, click, click...nothing. I was so disappointed.

Everyone was pretty ready to leave. I really wasn't but didn't say anything. I could have stayed there all day but it was long boat ride back. I hear this place is even scarier at night.

Your boat is that way.

Ya'll come back now, ya hear?

We get back in the boat and start floating away. I decide to test out my Polaroid camera one last time. Ka-zhoooo...yeah it started working but no film came out. Apparently I had already shot the last of the film pack. The camera said I had more shots but I forgot with this newer Polaroid film (Impossible Film) you have two less shots then the original stuff. Crapola! I did have another pack of film with me and Ariana was saying we could go back but I said no. I felt like it just wasn't meant to be, fate. Plus, this other film I had brought, PX70 Color Shade PUSH!, requires extreme amounts of light. The brighter the better. It wouldn't have turned out anyway. This place was in the shade.

How do I know it wouldn't have worked? Well, just yesterday I visited Museo Estudio Diego Rivera and had taken a Polaroid of the entrance. It was pretty dang sunny but part of the building was slightly shaded, and I mean slightly, and it came out dark and almost indistinguishable. A disappointment to say the least but I went ahead and photographed it anyway. It has kind of an abstract feel to it. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. I will blog about that experience soon.

Next blog: Museo Soumaya - art museum

Making Cajeta de Membrillo

2011-10-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Cajeta is a candy that is made from a fruit. The cajeta that was made by Ariana's Abuelito, and help from others, is membrillo, or quince. A quince is related to apples and pears. They are a golden yellow and pear shaped. The process of making this took two days. During the first part of the day, Abuelito and Ariana's Uncle Francisco "Pancho" cut the membrillos in smaller parts and deseeded them. They had two huge bagfuls to do.
Towards the evening, Abuelito set up a tub full of water to boil. He had it sitting on top of a gas flame.
He placed some of the membrillos in a basket and then once the water was boiling, placed the basket in the water.

Here's the rest of the fruit waiting to be boiled. He used a long wooden paddle to stir the membrillos and take them out of the water.

Once the fruit is soft, it's ready to be taken out.

It took a while to boil the fruit, about 4 hours I'm guessing.

The fruit has to be soften so it can be grounded up. Early the next morning, they took the boiled fruit into town, Totatiche, where there was a special blender to do this.

So now it is the consistency of thick paste. Here's Ariana, her cousin and Aunt Chaya scooping it into a bowl so they can mix sugar into it.

Then it is poured into the tub over a flame and constantly stirred.

Once it gets a certain color and thickness it is then ready to be poured into buckets.

Here's Francisco "Pancho" stirring the cajeta. They let me try stirring it and it was super hard. I couldn't really do it. You have to constantly stir it or it will get scorched.

An overview of how everything was set up.

The cajeta sitting and cooling.

You have to let it thicken before you can eat it. It will end up having a thick texture, almost gelatin like. It is pretty sweet and very good. After witnessing how this confectionery is made, I have a deep appreciation for it. It is very good with milk.

Next blog: Xochimilco and the Island of the Dolls

Life in Romita: Part 3

2011-10-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

The rooster did his job very well. I didn't get up when he first crowed but I did wake up early this particular day. I figured I would take advantage of this and shoot some photos. The light is always nice in the morning.

There was a Gardenia plant growing in the courtyard. It smelled amazing.

Grasshoppers were everywhere and I mean everywhere. Driving down the road, there would be so many you could hear them squishing under the tires. Olivia would get kind of freaked out by them.

Here is Abuelito milking the cow.

This would be me milking the cow. From Abuelito laughing in the background, it's obvious I had no clue what I was doing. There is definitely a skill to this. Poor cow, lo siento.

We had cups ready to fill with milk for Pajareta. We had put chocolate powder and a little Tequila (However much you want really. I didn't put a lot b/c seriously, it was about 8am and who drinks a ton of Tequila that early?) in the cup first. Then we squeazed milk from the cow straight into the cup. Yep, I would call that hardcore. I was a little hesitant in drinking this but I had to try it.

It was actually quite good. This would be me after my first drink.

We decided to visit a nearby town called Temastián shortly after. It has a church made out of a pink rock called cantera. Temastián is famous for their cantera work.

The church

There was a room filled with photos, letters and paintings. It was from people who left ex-votos.
An ex-voto is where a worshipper seeks grace or gives thanks. They can take many forms.

Later during the day, Ariana showed me around her house where she grew up. It is on the ranch next to Abuelito's house.

Ariana, Olivia and I would go to San Francisco to try and visit her Aunt Lupe. San Francisco is very close by to Romita and is very small. On our second attempt, I noticed there was a church down the road.

There was a creek nearby. Ariana wanted to show it to us. There used to be a path to it but someone had built a new house and it was fenced off. We saw some people off in the distance and Ariana went to go ask them if we could see the creek. She told them who her aunt was and they gave us the go ahead. The lady who lived there came along with us. She was very nice. I have forgotten her name though.

Ariana, Olivia and the nice lady.

Down by the creek, Olivia was "fishing."

We headed back to see if Ariana's Aunt Lupe was home. She wasn't, so Ariana left this in the gate to let her know that she had been by.

The following day Ariana and her Aunt Teresita took Olivia and I to a waterfall nearby. The waterfall is called El Salto Colorado. We had to hike to it which wasn't too bad. There were a few spots where it was a bit difficult for Olivia but we managed to get her there. She was a trooper.

View of where we hiked to get to the waterfall.

A really cool tree.

Teresita and Ariana helping Olivia down to the waterfall.

Later that day, we went to visit Ariana's Aunt Toña but she was not home. Her cousin, Alvaro, was though. They chatted for a bit. He gave her some cheese and cajeta.

This was the cheese they had in their kitchen.

This was shot from their garden.

Heading back to the truck, I took this photo.

A Romita sunset, a beautiful way to end a day.

Next blog: Making Cajeta....cajeta is a candy from fruit. It is a very laborious process.

Life in Romita: Part 2

2011-10-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Early the next day, a lovely rooster woke us up before the sun rose. He would continue his crowing until about 9am, I'm guessing on that. It was pretty hard to sleep with that going on. I suppose it isn't as bad as hearing car alarms though.

The lovely rooster and a chicken.

Early that morning, Ariana's Abuelito milked the cow. I've never had fresh cow's milk before.

We made cheese called nudo de queso. While the milk was sitting to thicken, Abuelito poured a capful of Cuajo in it. This kills the bacteria. Then he got another bucket and laid cheesecloth over it. Once the milk thickened, he started to scoop it into the other bucket.

There was still liquid. You have to drain this liquid, suero, to make the cheese. Abuelito invented a way to do this without having to hold it the whole time.

Tie knots at the end of the cheesecloth.

(Ariana received a "lesson" in knot tying)

Then place it on a four prong tack harness hook hung from the ceiling with a bucket underneath.

You can drink the liquid, suero. I tried it and it was... interesting. Apparently it has many nutrients in it though.

While the cheese was draining, Ariana, Olivia and I went on a little hike on their land. It was so nice to walk around without hundreds of people around.

Olivia became obsessed picking these pinkish feathery weeds. They were everywhere and she wanted to pick ALL of them. We made a lot of stops.

The top, looking over part of Ariana's families land.

When we came back to the house, the cheese was ready for the next step, smash it up.

Once it's smashed up pretty good, you form it into a round shape.

It's ready to eat.

(I hope I have all of this right. If not, I will update it.)

Here's some random photos I shot that day.

Chuntara, overall a good dog but there were times I was somewhat skeptical of her.

This little guy was cool. I forget his name though.

Abuelito's hat.

When we came back from our hike, Abuelito was sitting by the front door shucking corn.

The aftermath of corncobs, elotes.

There were pigs. Olivia was fascinated by them. We got to watch them eat a few times. They really chowed down. I explained to Olivia that there is a phrase, "eat like a pig" people use. I think she understood but who knows?

At this point, Olivia decided to do some "cooking" with some random pots laying around.

I took more photos.

Next blog: Life in Romita: Part 3.... Early morning photos, I milk a cow, cow's milk with tequila, churches

Life in Romita Part 1

2011-10-04T15:23:00.000-07:00

Apologies for this post being so late. Everything seems to be stockpiling now. Ahhh!

Romita is where Ariana grew up as a child and some of her family still lives there. It is three hours north of Guadalajara located in the state of Jalisco. I was looking forward to a little country life after being in the city for some months.

We decided to leave at night to reach Guadalajara, which is a six hour bus ride. We left our apartment at 9:00pm and rode the metro to the Autobus Norte terminal. For some reason, I thought it wouldn't be crowded because of the time. I was completely wrong. As usual, it was crowded and we had backpacks stuffed so it was even more fun being on there. I will never assume again that the metro will not be crowded. I have learned my lesson, finally. It took about an hour to get to the bus terminal. It was also crowded and bustling like mad. We took a Primera Plus bus and it was $535 pesos for one adult, $268 pesos for Olivia. We left at 10:30pm. I was hoping to fall asleep on the bus but I had difficulty. I didn't really sleep. I fortunately had a MP3 player so I listened to that the whole time. Everyone else seemed to have fallen asleep. I felt like I was in a weird time warp trapped on a bus.

Arrived at Guadalarjara around 6am and decided to just go straight to Romita instead of resting. Bought another bus ticket for Tlaltenango. There isn't a direct bus to Romita. This was a three hour bus trip. I forgot how much the ticket was. Most of the way we were driving on this road which went up a mountain. The view was incredible but I was somewhat nervous. We were moving pretty fast on a curvy road. We made it there safely though.

We then took a taxi to Ariana's Aunt Teresita's house in Tlaltenango. We dropped our stuff off and decided to walk over to one of her grandfather's house in town. I decided to take some photos along the way.

A random house. I liked the colors.

We arrived at her Abuelo's house but he was not home. We chilled there for a little while and I took more photos.

There was a lima tree in the courtyard. The fruit is kind of a blend between an orange and a lemon. Ariana really likes them. I didn't really care for them myself. They were too tart for me.

Olivia pulling a lima off the tree.

Ariana eating her limas.

After chilling for a little while, we decided to walk to the main square.

This is the church on the square.

Ariana saw these guys selling churros, which is fried cow skin. It wasn't too bad. They served it with a delicious salsa.

At this point, we decided to get a taxi and head to Romita. It took about twenty or so minutes to get there. It is pretty remote and small. Small as in not a lot of people live there. I liked it. The exact opposite of what we have been living in. Her grandfather, Elpidro, was home. Ariana calls him Abuelito though.

This is Ariana's Abuelito's casa.

Justin, ready for some country livin'.

We decided to drive around the area. These next photos are from a graveyard in a small town called Momax.

Driving around some more, Ariana wanted to show us a place where she spent some of her childhood. The area is called Los Ranchitos. Along the way, spotted another graveyard. I took more photos. Barbie makes another appearance.

We arrive at the house in Los Ranchitos. A family was living in it though. Ariana went and asked if it was okay for us to look around and take photos. They allowed us to do so. They were very nice.

One more destination for the day. Ariana and me in the truck. Justin took this photo.

We went to the small town of Totatiche.

There was this cool old building beside the square.

View of the clock tower in Totatiche.

They had incredible bread here. So bad, but so good. We would use the internet cafe here and get basic staples.

I think I'll end this post here. My next blog will continue our time in the Romita area.

UPDATE: The fried cow skin is not called churros. It is called cueritos. Churros are fried dough covered in sugar. The ones I have seen on the street are long, straight prisms.

Mineral del Chico

2011-09-20T15:46:00.000-07:00

Mineral del Chico was absoltely lovely. Settled in the mountains of Hidalgo, the town is very picturesque. The people were nice and friendly. I ate the best quesadilla ever. The hotel we stayed at was ran by a very nice couple who had a cute 2 year old boy. Olivia and him ended up playing together for a while. They were cute. Nescafe is very popular. They just call it cafe or coffee. It was cold here, even colder at night. Sometimes, especially in the evening, the fog rolled in over the evergreens envolping the buildings. I bought a nice embroidery piece from the lady who ran the hotel. If we had more time, we would have ventured to another nearby town but had to get back to the city. This area was really nice and I would love to go back and rent a cabin.

We took a camibus from Pachuca to here. It was $24 pesos total and Olivia was free. We were dropped off by the square which had a nice church. We decided to walk around and look for a hotel and then explore more. Along the way, I found a four leaf clover! Yay, I love finding them. Always a good sign.

In search of a hotel, we got to see this magnificent view of the church in the square.

This was the hotel we stayed at: Parador del Bosque

Walking back towards the square.

Sheep

We ate and then went on a excursion. There is a river nearby so we decided to check that out.

Justin and Olivia

When we reached the river, there was this sign. Justin wanted me to take a photo of it. The area was an ejido, which is a communal property. It's an important land tenure system in Mexico.

Olivia and I

Venturing down the road.

Waterfall

Some flowers

Another small waterfall

Justin and Olivia

At the end of the road, bottom of the mountain, there was a playground and restaurant. Olivia had to play so we chilled for a while.

Olivia played with a new amigo.

There was a mine nearby.

For a few pesos, we got a guided tour. Olivia had a blast.

It was starting to get dark so we headed back to our hotel. We had to walk back up the mounatin road. That was fun, let me tell ya. We survived though.

This is the emroidered piece I bought.

The next day we had to leave. We walked back to the square to grab a camibus back to Pachuca.

Another horsey photo

The main square

Overall, a very lovely and peaceful place. I don't know if we'll able to go back. If we do, we are definitely getting a cabin and checking out the surrounding area.

Next Blog: Trip to Romita Pt.1

Pachuca, Pachuca, Pachuca

2011-09-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

Pachuca, the capitol of the state of Hidalgo. It is north of Mexico City about an hour and a half away. We took a bus and it cost $185 pesos for Justin, Olivia and I. Once we arrived at the bus station, we took a taxi towards the centro to get a hotel. The taxi was $30 pesos. We ended up staying at the Hotel De Los Baños which was right on the square. It was $450 pesos and it was alright. The room was clean and the people were nice enough but the water had a horrible sulfer smell. I liked that we could see the clock tower, Reloj Monumental, outside of our room.

We came here because of the Museo de Fotografia and the Fototeca Nacional (National Photographic Archive). It was somewhat dissappointing to be honest. The Museo de Fotografia had some really nice photographs on display but it was really small and photography was not allowed. I had to put my camera up in a locker. It was free though. The Fototeca Nacional was for people researching and you had to get permission to enter it. In the end, Justin did end up getting into it but what he could have gotten there he could have gotten in Mexico City so, yeah. Pretty much why we went there was pointless, I guess. We still had a good time and it was peaceful and it was nice to get out of the city.

We stayed another night here because we decided to venture somewhere outside of Pachuca. We stayed at a cheaper hotel called Hotel America. It was about $250 pesos and it was small but clean and it didn't smell like sulfer. There wasn't a nice view though.

View from Hotel De Los Baños of the clock tower, Reloj Monumental

Fun times in a park.

There were two boys creating this interesting art piece and then photographing it. I think it was for some kind of art project for school. They let me take a photo of it.

This was nearby. There was some nice graffiti work.

This was cool too.

From walking around

The Reloj Monumental again. It is 130 ft and was made by the people who created Big Ben in London.

Back at the hotel. Took photos for fun and to avoid boredom.

The first Barbie photo. Justin's idea. People seem to like it.

The Reloj Monumental at night.

Justin with our "fancy" bottle of champagne we bought. It had 24 karat gold specks in it. Whoa!

We then realized that we didn't have any cups to drink this with. Hmmm...Justin came up with the idea of cutting a water bottle in half. With what you ask? A p38, army can opener. Yep, that thing has come in handy many times. They're super cheap and can go on a key ring. I recommend one.

Cheers! Salud!

Quality family time. Notice Barbie's "hat".

Olivia in front of a cool tiled wall.

The adjoining church of the Ex-Convento de San Francisco.

The Museo de Fotografia and the Fototeca Nacional is located in the Ex-Convento de San Francisco. I managed to take this photo inside the Fototeca, part of the courtyard.

Good times at a nearby park.

A cool window.

We decided that we wanted to explore more of this area so we went to the Reloj Monumental where you can get tourist information. We decided to go to Mineral del Chico which was about 20 minutes north of Pachuca. Really lovely town in the mountains.

Next blog: Mineral del Chico

Tepotzotlán

2011-09-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

So, I said that the next blog would be about Pachuca but I lied. I completely forgot about my trip with Ariana to Tepotzotlán and how could I? There is an amazing museum here and church. I am really starting to get behind on my blogging. Bad, bad, bad...I will try to play catch up this week. So much has been going on and it isn't about to stop. I love it when I have things to do and planned and venturing out. This, in itself, causes me to lag behind on this blog. I will try not to get so behind from now on.

Tepotzotlán, a lovely town north west of D.F. The Museo Nacional del Virreinato is located here which houses the most complete collection of colonial art and artifacts. The museum is housed in what was once a Jesuit college built in the 17th and 18th centuries. There is also a Baroque church, Iglesia de San Francisco Javier, in the same complex that has absolutely amazing gold altars. It was $49 pesos and definitely worth every cent.

Ariana and I arrived in Tepotzotlán via bus from the Terminal del Norte. It was only $32 pesos, each. Once we got there, we took a camión for about $11 pesos to get to the museum. We went on a Saturday and the square was bustling with people and vendors. There is a church, Iglesia de San Pedro which is located beside the museum still used by the people. There happen to be a wedding going on that day.

Iglesia de San Pedro with the bride and groom.

Inside of Iglesia de San Pedro.

We headed to the museum part next door. There were many rooms with art and artifacts. I tend to not take many photos of these things.

This is the room right before entering the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier.

This was, by far, the best part of the entire place. It was built in the late 1600s.

The exuberant main gold altar in the background.

One of the altars to the side.

Needless to say, I took lots of photos. Only posting a few though. There was no flash allowed, of course. They were very strict about this and eyeing people like hawks. I personally don't like flash anyway.

Here's a close up of the main altar.

There is a wing off to the side with an ornately decorated chamber called Camarín de la Virgen.

Going back to the rest of the museum, more rooms with artifacts, statues and art. Here's a couple of statues I shot.

There was this lovely chapel called the Capilla Domestica. It was used to inspire religious awe for students during services.

We headed upstairs. There were many paintings of nuns dressed elaborately. We walked out to a patio area and there was a nice view of part of the museum.

Back downstairs, there was the kitchen area and courtyards. One photo of part of the large kitchen.

This place was pretty large. We didn't go through all of the rooms. We were starting to get hungry so we decided to check out some of the garden area and then leave. There was a nice little chapel but no flowers.

Back out to the square, we sat and ate some of our lunch we brought. I took this photo of the Iglesia de San Francisco Javier.

We walked around checking out the different booths.

This was a candy stand. They had many wonderful looking treats to buy.

This man was making Gorditas. Sadly, when I think of gordita's I think of the Taco Bell version. I didn't realize they were a sweet bread. They're very good.

More photos of Iglesia de San Francisco Javier. The façade is an excellant example of the Churrigueresque style.

Walked around the square more and we ended up buying elote.

Ariana loves her corn. I like it too. It's pretty dang good.

We decided it was time to go. On our way of finding a camión, I saw this little girl selling stuff.

Overall, this was a nice day trip and pretty inexpensive. We ended up taking the train back. It's kind of like the metro but way cleaner and nicer. A little more expensive but not too bad.

Next blog: Pachuca...for real this time

A Trip to Metepec

2011-09-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

The trip to Metepec was supposed to be super fun and it was my first night away from the apartment and Justin and Olivia. I was with Ariana, of course. Our friend, David, came by and picked us up in his car. No metro, no bus...yay! But, the whole day I was feeling funky. I got up, worked out, made these plans to go and ate breakfast. Then my stomach started to feel yucky. Yeah, that kind of funky. I just thought it was because I was excited about leaving and nerves so I took some Alka Setzer and disregarded. Umm, things were still in an unsatisfying state so, more Alka Setzer. David showed up around 4pm and I was still feeling bad, but like my stubborn self, I was determined to leave because the thought of staying in the apartment again made me feel even more ill. So, we left.

David's friend had a coffee shop that was opening up and so we were going there for the grand opening. We stopped by one of his friends house to follow them to the coffee place. By the time we got to his friends house, I was feeling absolutely horrible. I was officially sick and was trying to figure out how the hell I was going to survive the rest of the day. We drove to the center of the town and found a place to park. I really tried to continue on but at this point there was just no way. I couldn't even leave the car. I started crying because I felt like crap and I was embarrassed. Ariana knew I was in bad shape. We decided to just find a hotel I could chill in. We found one nearby and it was expensive but at this point I was dying. Ariana was awesome for getting that squared away and David was awesome for driving and being sympathetic. So, for the remainder of the evening and night I was shacked up in the hotel. Ariana and David went to the coffee opening and had a great time. At this point, I was thankful for a bed and a toilet.

The next day, I felt a lot better. I was a little dehydrated and weak feeling but was able to walk around and finally enjoy my surroundings. I'm not really sure what caused all of that but in reality, perhaps it was bound to happen eventually. I just hope and pray that I don't get that way again.

Some of the few shots I took while in this lovely little town. It's a nice town, close to Toluca, very peaceful feeling.

One of the churhes located in the downtown square.

It was situated on a hill. So, we climbed the stairs.

I figured there would be a cool view. I was right. A shot of overlooking the town.

Another photo of the church.

Back down the stairs. There is another church nearby.

David met up with us. We were all hungry, though I was frankly terrified to eat anything. Still, we walked around looking for a place to eat. We passed a bakery with some deliscious smelling breads. I got some bread and pan dulce. Can't go wrong with that. I snagged a shot of the baker. It was super hot in there.

They ended up finding a restaurant. I just ate some of my bread and water. Afterwards, we walked around some more and they got some ice cream. I tasted some of it and it was really good. Here's a photo I sneaked of David and Ariana eating their ice cream and in deep discussion.

Another nice looking church.

Ariana and I were going to go to the ruins in Malinalco, which is a small town about two hours south of here. But after being sick the day before, I didn't feel like I had the energy to go but I wasn't ready to go home yet either. So, David offer to drive us around. Yay!

This was part of someone's house.

Ended up going to a small town called Zinacantepec. There was a nice church and monastery there. I took some photos but I feel like they weren't very good so I'm not posting them.

Back to Metepec area, we walked around a square with another church. It was late afternoon by this point and I was ready to go back home. So, Ariana and I got on a bus and headed back to the city. Despite getting sick, I'm glad I went. One of these days Ariana and I will eventually go to Malinalco.

One last church.

Next blog: Our trip to Pachuca

Museo del Telégrafo y Torre Latinoamericana

2011-08-26T16:08:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, Justin, Olivia and I went to the Zocalo to find the Museo del Telégrafo. As many of you know, Justin is here working on his dissertation. He is writing about the impact of wireless communications on Mexican politics, economics and foreign relations, 1900 - 1940. Hence, this is why we went to this particular museum. I have to say, though, I was pleasantly surprised by this place (once we finally found it.) For one, it is located in a very cool building which houses the Museo Nacional de Arte. The architecture alone is worth going. It was interesting to see all the old devices that they used for communication and it was nice to see Justin very happy and in his element. Olivia behaved very well too which is always a bonus. I was feeling a bit under the weather. Hung over to be exact. The night before, Ariana and I went out and drank some tequila, ummm yeah. I was feeling depressed so what better way to cure that then to go drink. (There is no logic to that, of course. But what the hell, right?) Somehow I managed to still venture out.

This would be the entrance to the Museo del Telégrafo.

The entire building.

The statue that sits in front of the building. Known as El Caballito (The Little Horse), it's considered one of the cities favorite monuments.

I had to go pay for a fee to take photos, $5 pesos, super cheap. The entrance to the Museo del Telégrafo is free. I don't remember the entrance fee to the art museum but I know it isn't a lot plus one day out of the week, not sure which one, it's free. A snagged a shot of part of the cool stairs of the art museum. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to, since we didn't pay for that, but I was like, I'm going to anyway. (Yes, I am finally coming out of my huge shell. It's ridiculous, I know)

Walking back to the telegraph museum.

Inside Museo del Telégrafo near the entrance.

One of the first antenna used for radio telegraphy in Mexico.

This is another radio telegraphy device. It was used to send messages in Morse code.

The statue of Guglielmo Marconi. He was the first person to successfully send a transatlantic radio message and to patent and commercially apply radio telegraphy.

Apparently, radio telegraphy was an important tool for empire and nation building and the creation of the modern world market. It is also a predecessor to radio broadcasting, television, and the internet.

(...so Justin says)

Olivia, Justin, and Marconi

Olivia and Justin standing in front of the radio device used at Chapultepec Castle. It was imported from Germany in 1918.

A view of the museum in it's entirety.

Some close-ups of some of the paintings that were on the ceilings. They were very impressive. Check out the intricate wood cravings surrounding the paintings too.

Afterwards, we started heading over to the Torre Latinoamericana. On the way, we saw this guy in front of the Museo Nacinal de Arte. Some nice chalk work.

Across the street, a view of the Torre Latinoamericana.

There is an allyway known for selling lots of books along the way. We found some cool t-shirts here too.

I took my own photo of the Casa de los Azulejos (The House of Tiles) finally. My post about that http://acastrophotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/la-casa-de-los-azulejos-y-palacio.html

There were these street performers standing outside the tile house. The one in black was holding a box. Justin gave some pesos and the person opened the box which was filled with lots of little pieces of rolled up paper. He took one and it said something about ... that he had to put everything into his project in order for it to succeed.

The other guy was standing very still and covered in mud. At first I thought he was supposed to be a living statue but then he knelt down and started talking to Olivia, in English.

We gave him some pesos too. He made a flower out of a napkin and gave it to Olivia. Then he told her that it was very important for her to learn seven different languages. I believe he said English, Spanish, Mandarin, Hebrew, German, French and Arabic. Not a hundred percent on that but most of those make sense. I'm not exactly sure why he was covered in mud either. Perhaps to appear like a poor beggar on the street but who was full of knowledge, as in the whole "looks can be deceiving" thing.

Okay, finally we make it to the Torre Latinoamericana. It was $90 pesos for all of us. It would have been $120 but I had a coupon. It's kind of pricey but I knew that there was a cool view waiting for us. We get in an elevator where a lady is sitting. We go up 37 floors and the whole time I was thinking about how this lady does this all day. I mean, wouldn't that kind of suck? Operating an elevator all day and never leaving doesn't sound fun.

Views from the 37th floor on a pretty smog free day.

You can see the Palacio Nacional and the Catedral Metropolitana in this one. I drew arrows to help point them out.

Justin and Olivia ... she's enthralled.

You can see the hotel we stayed at in this one. Again, I drew an arrow pointing it out.

View of the Palacio de Bellas Artes.

You can see the traffic congestion in this photo. It never seems to go away.

This would be me.

I've been wanting to get a Polaroid of the Palacio de Bellas Artes building so what better time to do it. The Polaroid was shot with TZ Artistic film with my SX-70 camera.

Next blog: A Trip to Metepec ... I became very ill and it was bad.

A Jaunt to an Archive

2011-08-22T13:22:00.000-07:00

The other day, last week or so, Olivia and I went with Justin to an archive--Centro de Estudios de Historia de Mexico. It's walking distance from our apartment. There are cobblestone streets and a neat little church by it. Always nice to get out and see new things. This was a nice photo making day. Lots of unexpected surprises, which is always the best.

Justin in front of the archive building.

There are some really nice houses around here. Here's a window of one of them.

Outside of another house, there was this nice altar for the Virgin of Guadalupe, also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The church.

Behind the church, there is a small garden and more houses. I saw this nice looking old Chevy parked on the side of the street. (Does anyone know the model and year?) Time for black and white mode.

Cactus growing along fence.

Close up of a door.

There are some cool flowering trees growing here, Angel's Trumpet.

Olivia likes to build "fires" with sticks. When we leave, she "puts them out" by kicking them over.

Walking back home...

A neat sculpture. Chimalistac is the name of the torres we live in.

Side of a building.

There is a cool book sculpture outside of a bookstore called Gandhi.

Next blog: Museo del Telégrafo y Torre Latinoamericana

Desierto de los Leones

2011-08-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

Oh my, this place was heavenly. Seriously, a get away actually in the city limits. Have I mentioned that Mexico City is huge? It is enormous and filled with millions of people. So, when I stumbled upon this place on the web I was stoked. Justin had mentioned the day before that he wanted to go hiking in the mountains. I was like, yeah, I do too. Voila!

Let's start with a few facts. It is located in the Sierra de las Cruces mountain range west of the center of the city. The area was used as a retreat for a religious group hence the name Desierto (Desert) meaning not populated. The "Leones" part doesn't refer to the animal, lions, but to the original landlord's last name. It is a national park. It is covered with many pines, firs and oaks, as well as, brooks, ravines and waterfalls. The weather stays cool and damp. There is a Carmelite monastery situated in the center. You can walk through the monastery for a mere $10 pesos. The gardens are breathtaking.

How did we get there? We always start with the metro, typically. We took the M.A.Quevado train to Baldaras, hopped off there and then took the brown line to Tacubaya. We exited the station and went looking for a collectivo (small bus) headed towards the park. After asking, we got on a collectivo heading towards La Marquesa (you can take one going towards Acopilco too.) It was $6 pesos/person. It took longer then I thought it would. The traffic here is horrendous and I'm so glad that I don't have to drive here. The thought of driving is terrifying. I believe it took over an hour to get to our destination. The driver dropped us off at a pedestrian bridge. We were definately in the mountain area and it was cold and damp. At first, we were like, is this right? He told us to walk across the bridge and that it was right there. Yep, he was right. Thank goodness. A short walk and we were in a small town. Apparently, there is a small area to wait for a taxi to ride up the 2.5 mile road that leads to the park entrance. There wasn't a taxi and it was starting to rain. Like idiots, we just started walking. We didn't get far when the rain really started to pour. (And seriously, how far was Olivia going to get before we had to carry her?) Fortunately, Ariana brought her rain poncho and we were able to flag a taxi down. It was $30 pesos. The driver drove like a speed demon. The road was curvy and wet. I was a bit nervous and a little perturbed. We made it safely though. It was still raining and cold. Olivia didn't have a jacket. Justin noticed one of the stalls selling these really cute sweater hoodies. We ended up getting one for her. She really likes it. The rain finally lets up to a minor sprinkling and we found where the monastery was so decided to go check that out.

Such a beautiful and peaceful place. I understood why people retreated here. Here's the entrance to the monastery.

Some photos inside the monastery. I've been shooting in B&W mode lately too. Which has made me miss shooting with B&W film.

Justin and Olivia, with her new sweater.

A hallway, in color and B&W with silhouettes of Justin and Olivia.

The hallway led to this awesome garden and the back view of the monastery.

There was another part to the garden area. Walking down a tree lined path, we reached a building called the Chapel of Secrets.

We decided to eat some lunch here. Ariana was sitting and studying the tuna (prickly pear) she was eating.

Heading back towards the monastery. I saw these Hens and Chickens. I've always liked those plants.

Another garden on the side of the building.

There was a tunnel that ran underneath one of the buildings. It was the basement area. It was built to allow water from nearby springs to flow underneath and was used for watering the gardens and cleaning.

Justin and Olivia in front of the tunnel entrance.

Walking through the tunnel.

It was dark and hard to see but it wasn't a long walk. We reached a small open room. Here's a view of the tunnel from the room.

Photo of one of the rooms the monks would stay in. They were very small.

After the monastery, we decided to hike around for a bit. There was a playground here and once Olivia saw it she didn't want to go hiking. Meltdown time! Again! She had one in the monastery too. There was a woman selling snacks and candy and she wanted something. Justin had to carry her out of the building screaming. Ariana was nice enough to watch Olivia at the playground while we hiked for a little bit. Thanks again Ariana!

The trail we went on had some buildings along it. They are called hermitages and there are ten of them located throughout the park. I was getting out of breath and was like, what the hell? I shouldn't be out of breath we haven't even gone that far. Mexico City is already 7350 ft. above sea level. Then I realized we were in the mountains and apparently this place is around 10,000 feet above sea level. It takes some getting used to, at least it did for me.

Some photos of our short hiking trip.

Justin took these.

We didn't want to be gone too long so we decided to head back. On the way, I spotted these cool mushrooms.

A neat lean-to with Justin posing under it.

Dew drops and pine leaves.

Walking back towards the playground.

Olivia wasn't done playing so we chilled for a little while.

We took a taxi back down to the small town. He drove like a speed demon as well. I guess that is just how they all drive. I don't get it though. This place was so nice. It was a much needed break from the city. The air actually smelled fresh. It reminded us of northern California and it made us want to go back there. I hope we can soon. We will definitely be going back to this place.

Next blog: A Jaunt to an Archive

Teotihuacan

2011-08-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 30th, Justin, Olivia and I set out for our adventure to Teotihuacan. There were two young ladies, Amanda and Courtney, from University of Texas - Dallas visting Mexico City doing research that Justin knew who came too. We met up with them early in the morning at the Metro Baldaras station. We rode the train all the way to the end of Indios Verdes. There was suppose to be a bus terminal there but we didn't find it. We ended up taking one of the collectivios for $35 pesos. It was uncomfortable, bumpy and the seat I was sitting in had very little leg room but we made it there safely. It took over an hour because it made stops for people to get off/on. You can take a direct route which is much faster from the bus terminal for the same price.
The entrance fee was $51pesos. Olivia was free. She was also free for the bus too. Gotta love free. We walked down a pathway and noticed some Voladores about to perform. I have never seen them before but have read about them.
Voladores consist of five men who climb to the top of a pole often reaching 100ft. While one volador plays a drum and a reed-pipe on a tiny platform at the top, the other four "fly" to the ground suspended on ropes circling the pole 13 times before reaching the ground.

The Voladores getting ready to perform. A man will walk around for tips before they start their performance.

Descending

Okay, onward to see the ruins. As usual with these places and just about anywhere in touristy spots, there are tons of people trying to sell you stuff. A simple, "No, gracias" usually suffices. You end up saying it a lot. Even Olivia started saying it which was kind of funny. Though honestly, this place wasn't near as bad as Chichen Itza (I went there in the summer of 2009). The day we went was cloudy and quite cool. We lucked out really because usually it's hella hot with the sun blaring down on you (so I've heard). It didn't rain much either, again we got lucky because it is the rainy season right now. We entered in Gate 1. There are three different entrances. After walking by some shops, the ruins appeared.

The Temple of Quetzalcoatl to the far right. We didn't actually get close to this one. I wish we had though because there are some cool masks that decorate the temple and a nice view of the Pyramid of the Sun.

Walking down the path towards the Avenue of the Dead.

Olivia and I in front of Avenue of the Dead.

Teotihuacan, meaning "the place where men become gods," dominated life in the region for 500 years before being destroyed and abandoned, around AD 650.The Avenue of the Dead was named by the Aztecs who mistakenly thought the buildings lining it were tombs. The Aztecs held this site sacred believing that giants had built it.

One of the ruins lining the Avenue of the Dead.

Justin with Avenue of the Dead behind him.

The Pyramid of the Sun.

The Pyramid of the Sun ranks among the biggest in the world. It stands at 213ft. and consists of about 2.5 million tons of stone and earth.

The family in front of Pyramid of the Sun before our climb. Thanks to Courtney for taking this photo.

The starting point. Olivia was all about climbing those steps. She doesn't like to walk but she'll climb steps, go figure!

View after walking up the first tier of steps.

Olivia, Justin and Amanda climbing the first tier. There were a total of four sets of stairs.

View after second set of steps.

The Pyramid of the Moon off to the distance.

Finally reached the top. It didn't take too terribly long. It sprinkled off and on. Olivia was a real trooper.

After that, Olivia was ready for her peanut butter bread.

Walking down the steps. Courtney is holding Olivia's hand.

We noticed there was a trail that veered off from the main pathway so we decided to go that way. I wanted to get a side shot of the Pyramid of the Sun with one of my Polaroids that I brought. Yeah, I was lugging two Polaroid cameras, my digital, our lunch and 2 liters of water the entire time. Justin offered to carry it but I was like, keep an eye on Olivia and we're all good.

Shot of a cactus with tunas (prickly pears.)

What looked like a cactus fence.

The path we hiked along.

We ended up back on the main pathway. Here are some nuns who were there. I saw them walking down the Pyramid of the Sun while we were walking up. Nuns, they are hardcore.

Along the way to the Pyramid of the Moon, there is the Jaguar Mural.

The Pyramid of the Moon.

The Pyramid of the Moon is smaller than the Pyramid of the Sun but it rises just as high due to a difference in ground level. You get the best view of the site from here. It was a bit more difficult to climb due to the steps being so steep. The very top of it was closed off.

Before the climb.

Even after climbing the other pyramid, Olivia was still all about climbing stairs.

"Uh oh daddy, I don't know if I can make it." She did, of course, but like I said earlier the stairs were steeper so a harder climb. Notice the look on her face, pure determination.

The incredible view from the top. I was digging those clouds.

The other part of the pyramid that was closed off. Bummer really.

Time to bust out the Polaroid I shot earlier. This was the last of the 600 film I had that was manufactured by Polaroid. You can still get Polaroid film through http://the-impossible-project.com/ but it isn't the same. It is way more sensitive to the light. (Though they are working on this.) My film was getting super old anyway. It was about three years expired and producing faded out images. Glad to have shot the last photo at such a cool place.

I took a shot with my SX-70 that has TZ Artistic film. I'm happy with the actual Polaroid, it looks really old, but not so much with this shot. Still, thought I would show it anyway.

Olivia striking a pose.

We chilled up here for a while.

The climb back down.

Walking back towards the entrance we noticed these fire ants that were all over the site. They were intriguing.

It was a tiring adventure but well worth it. I was glad to finally go and it was fun hanging out with Courtney and Amanda. Olivia had a blast. She fell asleep on the way back. :) Sorry for the massive long post but I didn't want to write two separate blogs.

Next blog: Desierto de los Leones - pine tree forest in the mountains

Secretaría de Educación Pública

2011-08-05T20:16:00.000-07:00

Located in the Historic Center near the Zócalo, the Secretaría de Educación Pública was once a former convent building dating from 1639. It is known for the large series of murals painted by Diego Rivera between 1923 and 1928. Diego and his assistants painted 235 fresco panels on an area of 15,000 square feet. There is also an amazing mural painted by David Alfaro Siqueiros located on the staircase near the República de Brasil entrance. It is free and open 9am - 6pm Mon - Fri. I went there with Ariana, our friend Bruno and Olivia.

The main patio area when you enter. Olivia was twirling around.

All three floors are Rivera's work. The ground floor of this patio is dedicated to the glorification of labor.

Tortilla makers

The other side of the patio area. The ground floor of this area features panels depicting popular fiestas.

The Day of the Dead panel.

The first floor walls have monochrome grisailles depicting artistic, scientific and intellectual labor. Grisaille is a French term for paintings done entirely in monochrome, usually shades of gray. Here is one of the panels on that floor.

While on this floor, Olivia noticed this really cool moth. Nice find Olivia!

There was a staircase that had more murals but it was blocked off with barred doors. I was still able to photograph some of it. It is a series of landscapes depicting different regions of Mexico.

The top floor is devoted to workers' heroes, such as Zapata.

The other side is influenced by revolutionary songs. There was a panel titled "The Arsenal" where the artist Frida Kahlo is handing out guns to revolutionaries.

Close up of Rivera's signature. Notice the hammer and sickle symbol which is associated with Communism. He joined the Communist Party in the early 1920s.

In another wing, there was this large mural by R. Anguiano.

Going through a doorway, we entered an auditorium. There was this really nice work on one of the walls. I don't know who did it.

This was the other side of this area.

There was a large mural painted by R. Montenegro Pinto.

Ariana and Bruno thought that was it but I knew there was a Siqueiros mural here somewhere. I wasn't about to leave until we saw it. We eventually found it. It was in another wing of the whole building.

It is titled, "Patriots and Parricides" and it was absolutely breathtaking. I took several shots.

Me completely ecstatic. Thanks Ariana for taking this photo.

Olivia on the other side.

One more view with Bruno in the foreground.

On our way leaving, we saw a man working on restoring one of the Diego murals. He works for Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH.) An organization that restores historic buildings, among other things.

Next blog: Teotihuacan

Museo del Carmen

2011-08-05T12:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of sundays ago, Ariana and I went out venturing again. We went back to the San Angel area to go to the Museo del Carmen. It is free on Sundays otherwise it is $41 pesos. My guidebook said that photography wasn't allowed and there was even a sign saying no photography allowed but apparently that wasn't true. They allowed photography with no flash. Yea! This place was huge, seriously. We didn't even see all of it and we were there for almost two hours. It used to be a Carmelite monastery school in the early 17th century. There are three amazing tiled domes on top of the building. I can actually see these domes from my bedroom window off in the distance.

Two of the beautiful tiled domes. It was cloudy that day.

Walking inside the entrance, there is a fairly big mural painted on the walls. Here is a photo of part of it.

Another room with a painting and a mural on the wall that is fading and has not been restored.

A room lined with portraits of religious figures, furniture and some nice sculptures.

One of the courtyards outside.

Refrigeration system

Aqueduct and courtyard area

A well

They had several paintings on display here. I saw this Rufino Tamayo painting, "Calvario de Oaxaca"

Some more rooms

A ceiling of a room.

Another nice courtyard

A room where they stored letters with another elaborate ceiling.

Place where they would wash their hands.

The crypt. They had wooden planks you had to walk on to help preserve the floor.

Mummies, they were all unidentified bodies.

Small mural located in a stairwell.

View of the other dome.

The gold-painted main altarpiece with oil paintings.

Outside, the façade of the church.

I was really impressed with this place. There were so many rooms and artwork displayed it was almost overwhelming. A definite must see while visiting Mexico City. It is located on Avenida Revolución and is opened from 10am - 5pm Tue - Sun.

Next blog: Secretaría de Educación Pública - tons of murals

Museo Frida Kahlo

2011-08-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

About 2 weeks ago, Justin and I went to the Museo Frida Kahlo. It is fairly close to the Jardín Centenario which is located in Coyoacán. We walked down Avenida Francisco Sosa again to get there. This area is so nice and peaceful. I really like it there. We lingered around the garden area and I noticed that a famous cantina, La Guadalupana, was nearby. It was mentioned in my guidebook so, since it was just Justin and myself we decided to check it out. Ariana was nice enough to watch Olivia for us...thank you!

La Guadalupana Cantina

A view of the street and the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista

We had two beers there and the women's soccer match, USA v. Japan, was playing. Everybody was for Japan except us. When we left, USA scored the first goal. Apparently they didn't win though. They definitely love their "football" here. I put football in quotation marks b/c to me, football is with a pigskin and American football is way better and more entertaining.

Onward to the museum. Didn't take too long to reach it. When we did, there was a pretty long line of people waiting to get in. We waited b/c I wasn't about to leave w/o seeing it. Plus, Ariana and her friend gave us their ticket stubs from this other museum they went to, Museo del Anahuacalli (which was created by Diego Rivera), which let us get into the Frida museum free. Thanks again Ariana! And to Bruno.

Entrance to museum

We waited maybe 15 minutes or so, not too long really. It was super crowded though which kind of sucked but people love Frida, as do I. In my guidebook, it said photography wasn't allowed but it was...if you paid $60 pesos. Since I didn't have to pay to get in and probably not going to come back, I paid the fee. It was worth it of course. Flash wasn't allowed which is typical at most museums.

People entering to get inside.

A lovely courtyard area when you first enter.

This is on the side of one of the walls.

The first room we entered which had several paintings.

A couple of paintings in this room.

Next room, the first Frida self-portrait I saw.
"I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone, because I am the person I know best." - Kahlo
Now that I think about it, that was the only self-portrait I remember seeing. There is a museum in Xochimilco, the Museo Dolores Olmedo Patiño, I plan on going to that has some of her self-portraits, including the "Self-Portrait with a Monkey."

A quote from Frida the museum put on the wall.

A neat little stage with handmade puppets.

Some photographs displayed.

A famous photograph of the lovely Frida Kahlo.

Dining room area with lots of dishes and collectibles.

Next, we went upstairs to the studio area. They had it arranged very neat and orderly. There were lots of windows looking out to a garden. It was pretty amazing.

Gas mask Rivera would use.

Frida's wheelchair she used when recovering from her accident as a teenager and probably later in her life as well.

Paints

A cool poster of reproduction.

One of the many casts she wore from recovering from her accident.

A cool globe. I shot this thinking of Justin.

Frida was bedridden quite a bit to heal from her injuries. Here's one of the beds she would lay in. She had a mirror installed above so she could draw herself.

A leg brace she used after she had to have right leg amputated from the knee due to gangrene later in her life.

Another bed. This one had a case of beautiful butterflies above it.

A dresser, you can see Justin in the mirror.

One of many papier-mâché sculptures hanging throughout the house.

Going out to the garden.

Cheesy tourist photo.

Justin by a big papier-mâché sculpture.

A naked lady, also known as Amaryllis.

View of the house from the courtyard.

There was another building with lots of religious paintings and a few smaller paintings by Frida.

Some of Frida's paintings.

"Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly." - Kahlo

She had three miscarriages in her life and was never able to have children of her own.

Some of the religious paintings displayed. There were tons.

One of the guys is holding a gun to the head of the other man.

Frida Kahlo was 47 when she passed away. The official cause of death was a pulmonary embolism though some people suspected she died of an overdose which might have been on purpose. While she was alive, The Louvre bought one of her paintings in 1939 but that was really the only major recognition she had received for her work while living. Her work didn't become popular with the masses until many decades after her death.

On the way back home, we took a diffrent route to get back to the Jardín Centenario. I'm glad we did because I discovered more street art and a fantastic pink wall. I leave you with this image, my favorite so far, of the layers I see in Mexico when I am venturing about.

Next blog: Museo del Carmen - there were mummies

Tacos de Lengua

2011-07-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

**Part of the reason why it has taken so long to post this is because Justin has been on our computer like mad working on his dissertation and an article to get published. Sorry for the delays.**

Last Saturday, Ariana and I went to the market, Mercado San Angel, to pick up the cow tongue she ordered on Wednesday. It was pretty huge and surreal seeing it in person. The cow was butchered that morning. That was also surreal. We picked up some more fruit and vegetables from the same lady that we have been going to. She gives us free fruit now, which is cool. Her, as well as, her helpers are very friendly and helpful and we always go to her now. We also discovered these two guys who sale grains and such and they sell an awesome granola mixture that I am now addicted to. It has oats, pumkin seeds, raisins, pecans, peanuts, coconut, almonds and this other type of grain that looks like birdseed. I think they toast the oats in honey. It is bomb. I've been eating it with Lala Natural Yoghurt and a piece of fruit for breakfast. Sometimes as a afternoon snack too.

Back home, Ariana gets the tongue prepared. It takes quite a while to cook, around 6 hours, and it was around 3pm when we finally got back. So no wasting time, but first I had to get some photos of it beforehand. I mean, how often does one bring a cow tongue home to eat? Exactly.

Ariana with the tongue.

Me with the tongue.

Olivia didn't know what to think and she would not touch it. Needless to say, she didn't eat any of it either.

More photos of the lengua before it goes in the pot.

The lengua in the pot of water with some salt and two cloves of garlic ready to boil, covered, for the next six hours. If you don't use a lot of water, don't put a lot of salt. Lots of water = lots of salt.

So, what to do while that is cooking? You make some salsa verde, oh yeah.

You will need: onion, tomatillos, jalapeños, serranos and cilantro.

Ariana did cut up three onions but most of it went towards condiment for the tacos.

She used 25 tomatillos, 5 jalapeños and 7 serranos with some salt. Place these in a pot of water and boil on low heat for about an hour.

While that is boiling, cut the onions. Three ended up being too much. Two would have been plenty but Justin encouraged for three. He loves onion. The next day it was gone so it didn't go to waste.

Next, chop up the cilantro. I love cilantro! It is beyond awesome.

Alright, those peppers and tomatillos are ready.

Put them in a blender and blend unti smooth.

Then get a bowl and put some of the cut onion and cilantro in it. Next, pour the blended mixture into the bowl and stir. I accidently saved this photo super small. Sorry :(

Voila! Salsa verde. Simple and fairly quick to make and super delicious.

Okay, so 6pm rolls around and we're getting hungry and the tongue still isn't done. What to do? Cut up some papaya and make a fruit tray! We added some cantaloupe and mini bananas as well.

The table spread thus far. There are some limes thrown in there too. You gotta have limes.

Still waiting for the tongue so we played a couple rounds of Uno.

Alas, the tongue is finally soft enough to cut.

You have to peel the tough outer skin off to get to the soft meat inside.

Remnants

It's a process of peeling and cutting. Ariana hard at work.

Houston, we have lift off! We are ready with the meat.

The final product with some tasty beans.

Enjoy with a nice bottle of red wine and some good friends.

I have a new appreciation for tacos de lengua. There is a lot of work involved in making these and they really are delicious. If you get a chance to try them, you should. Venture out of the box and live a little. I have a new appreciation for Ariana too. She is an awesome cook and it has been a pleasure living with her. I've been learning a lot from her and will learn even more. You rock Ariana!

Next blog: Museo de Frida Kahlo

Museo Nacional de la Acuarela y Fonoteca Nacional

2011-07-19T14:56:00.000-07:00

Took a stroll down Avenida Sosa again about two weeks ago. I was with Olivia and Ariana. It was nice and sunny. Didn't get caught in the rain. Off of Avenida Sosa is a museum with a lot of watercolor paintings. It is free so we checked it out. Photography was not allowed inside but I have some shots of the outside.

The museum is a somewhat small, two story house set in a lovely garden

There were some cool sculptures in the garden

A close up of one of the sculptures. There is abalone shell embedded into it. There were quite a few of the sculptures with abalone shell.

Ariana and Olivia admiring one of the sculptures.

Olivia, she has been into posing for the camera lately. Sometimes she'll ask me to take her picture. She did at this particular moment.

Olivia started throwing a fit because I wouldn't pick her up. She couldn't walk. Boo. I eventually picked her up just to shut her up. If you know Olivia, she can scream pretty loud. I just wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

Very close by is the Fonoteca Nacional, which is located in the Casa Alvarado (mentioned in a previous post-Avenida Francisco Sosa) Fortunately, Olivia calmed down so we were able to check it out. It is free to enter as well. They have an archive here that Ariana wanted to check out. Not really sure what all is available here but there were some cool displays of musical instruments and a very nice, large garden to stroll around. There's also a cafe.

One of the instruments

Some nice tile work

Shots of the garden

Olivia standing in the courtyard

Next blog: Tacos de lengua - yes, that would be tongue and Ariana made them and they were delicious

Trip to Toluca Part II

2011-07-15T13:19:00.000-07:00

In my last post, I left you with an image of Iglesia del Carmen. Here are a few more.

A shot of some of the homes up in the hills.

Catedral de San José de Toluca

While walking around in this plaza, there was a group of people starting to gather around the flagpole. They started chanting, "Mexico es amor, regala abrazos" Some sort of protest that we never quite got why or who they were.

They started giving hugs to people. They were saying, "Mexico is love, give hugs"

Here's Ariana getting one of many hugs.

I received my fair share too. Here's some guys running towards me to give me hugs.

I saw these guards/police people walking towards the group of huggers and thought, uh oh, are they going to break this up? I didn't see why since it was so peaceful and loving.

Nope! They're getting hugs too! But what are they doing?

We'll find out in a minute. More huggers came our way.

Oh, they were taking the flag down. That's pretty cool to capture.

Okay, I've had my fill of hugging people I don't know. We ventured over to the cathedral. We were there on a sunday, they were having mass. One of the sessions had just ended and a ton people were leaving. It was kind of difficult to go inside so we wandered around outside. We saw these older ladies folding up banners. Ariana went and talked with them. In my last post, I said they were about to embark on a pilgrimage but I got that wrong. They were on a pilgrimage to the church, which makes more sense, from their home of San Cristóbal Huichochitlan. I asked if I could take their picture and they were more then delighted to oblige.

Here's a colorful church. The Templo de la Santa Veracruz.

Ariana got some corn.

There was a man feeding the birds. Ariana went over and talked to him for a little while. He feeds the birds because they are malnourished. Some people do not like him feeding them because of the buildings ( ya know, all the bird poop)

The kids like to chase after the birds to get them to fly around.

Downtown Toluca

Overall, I really enjoyed our daytrip to Toluca. There were some nice unexpected surprises. I will end with this photo of some wonderful texture. There is so much of what I call "texture" and "street art" all over Mexico. By the end of my stay I could make a book out of just that alone.

Next blog: Museo Nacional de la Acuarela and Fonoteca Nacional

Trip to Toluca Part I: Cosmovitral Jardín Botánico

2011-07-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I went to Toluca, the capital of Mexico state, with Ariana. We rode the bus there and it was quite pleasant. Got to drive through the mountains and see luscious, green pine trees. It was nice to get out of the city for a little while. It didn't take too long to get there, around 45 minutes or so. When we arrived, we had a coffee and some sweet bread (pan dulce-so good and so bad) then we got on another bus to get to el centro. The first place we went to was Cosmovitral Jardín Botánico. This place is completely awesome. It has a stained glass mural surrounding the building, as well as, the ceiling. At the time, there was a special exhibition of bonsai trees. It was only $10 pesos to enter.

This is the entrance outside of the building

Inside, I took muchas fotos.

One of the bonsai trees

View of "Hombre Sol" and the ceiling with a bonsai tree in foreground

Another bonsai tree

Close up of part of the ceiling

Opposite end of the Sun Man

Close up of one of the side panels

Some overviews

More of "Hombre Sol"

One last photo

After Cosmovitral, we ventured over to this church, Iglesia del Carmen.

My next blog will continue on this daytrip. More photos of Iglesia del Carmen, a group of people giving out free hugs, some guards taking the mexican flag down, some lovely older ladies embarking on their pilgramage and other cool stuff.

Panteón Civil de Delores

2011-07-11T18:14:00.000-07:00

Oh cemeteries, there is just something about them that I'm drawn to. Especially really old ones and especially the ones in Mexico. Some of the tombs are so elaborate and colorful. I always wonder about the people who are buried there and then I think about their families. It can be sad, I know, losing someone you love. I always try to remind myself that they are in a better place and really, cemeteries are more for the living than the dead.

Sometimes I feel weird taking photos in cemeteries when other people are there visiting a grave. I think to myself, is this disrespectful? I definitely don't want to insult anyone. I then think, would I be offended if someone was photographing my grave or one of my loved ones? My answer is no, I would most likely be flattered. I had this conversation with Ariana who came along with me on this particular journey.

Starting out, we went to a jewish cemetery called Panteón Israelita which was right across from the Panteón Civil de Delores. It is much, much smaller. I took these photos and was then approached by an older woman saying photography wasn't allowed there without a permit. Okay, we left and headed to Delores.

The entrance

Only shot I got inside

Entrance to Panteón Civil de Delores

A little info about Panteón Civil de Delores... it is the largest cemetery in Mexico. It's located between the second and third sections of Chapultepec Park. There's about 700,000 tombs, many with multiple occupants. It also contains the "Rotonda de las Personas Ilustres" (Rotunda of Illustrious Persons).
Many famous and important mexicans are buried in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons including Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros, as well as, some former presidents, writers, scientists, composers.

The Rotunda de las Personas Ilustres

Another view of it

Diego Rivera's Tomb

David Alfaro Siqueiros tomb

Other cool looking tombs

José Clemente Orozco tomb

Some other cool stuff that caught my eye

Trash and dead flowers

A worker's cleaning supplies

A coffin

Close-up

Next blog: Trip to Toluca Part I: Cosmovitral Jardín Botánical

Ariana's Salsa

2011-07-06T15:44:00.000-07:00

Mmmm...mmmm....mmmmm

Are you ready for some homemade salsa? It is pure deliciousness and good for you too. Ariana's salsa consists of peppers and tomatoes. That is all. How awesome is that? Doesn't get any better.

Okay, so we started out with 11 peppers, jalapeños and serranos (though you can make it with just one kind) and 6 tomatoes. (smaller ones roast better)

Place the peppers on a comal "griddle" (the comal is a necessity. if you love tortillas you should get one. i've come to realize that this should be the only way to warm a tortilla up) with foil. Heating the peppers this way really captures that savory taste.

Here's a photo I found on the web of the comal "griddle" similar to the one we used. There are many variations though.

You want to heat the peppers until you can peel the skin off of them. This will take a while, say 60 minutes or so. While the peppers are roasting (you'll want to keep turning them over so they won't get too black on one side) start preparing the tomatoes. Core each one. If your comal is big enough, go ahead and place them on there with foil. Heat the tomatoes up until the skin is ready to peel off, about 20 minutes.

These peppers are starting to look ready.

Some of them will get done before others. Place the ones that are ready to be peeled in a plastic bag, like a ziploc. This will help keep them moist for peeling.

Peel the peppers and place in a bowl. Ariana recommends wearing thin gloves doing this. Otherwise prepare to have some "hot hands." If you happen to have a Molcajete, this would be optimal. It's pretty much a mortar and pestle and looks like this.
(I didn't take this photo. Found it on internet.)

We didn't so we used what we had, a glass bowl and a glass.

Keep an eye on those tomatoes, turning them as well. These are starting to look ready. The skin will start to peel apart and wrinkle and juices will start to ooze.

Place the peppers in the bowl and start smashing them. Ariana used a glass that had a decent flat bottom. Smash them a few at a time. It is easier.

Once Ariana had all the peppers smashed she spooned some of the tomato juices in it so it wouldn't go to waste and to give it a little more flavor. You don't have to if you don't want to.

Now it's time to peel those tomatoes.

Place one tomato at a time in the bowl with the peppers and smash them.

You want them to be smashed very well.

Justin and Olivia during the salsa making process.

And voila! A nice big bowl of some kick ass salsa.

Let it completely cool before storing in the fridge.

It definitely has some kick to it. If you let it sit overnight, some of the heat will subside. This salsa is particularly great for a condiment.

Ariana plans on making a salsa verde at some point. I'm sure it will be just as delicious. I'll post about that whenever we make it.

Next blog: Panteón Civil de Delores

Avenida Francisco Sosa and Jardin Centenario

2011-07-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

Avenida Francisco Sosa is a lovely street to walk along. It is one of the oldest colonial streets in Latin America. It runs under a mile between Avenida Universidad and leads up to the Jardin Centenario in Coyoacan. It is lined with some beautiful houses and quaint shops and cafes.

At the beginning of it stands the 17th century Capilla de San Antonio Panzacola. It has a nice pinkish red facade. There is a stream that runs by it but it is very dirty and stinky. Not very pleasant in any manner.

Close up

I thought this looked nice.

There was a small part of the street where there were dilapidated houses. They may be tearing them down and building other things or just leaving them, who knows? I thought it looked cool though.

This is Casa Alvarado where Nobel prize winner for literature Octavio Paz once resided.

Justin and Olivia

Street sign

Street view

Halfway along the street is the Plaza Santa Catarina. The main building is this church, Iglesia de Santa Catarina, with a nice yellow facade.

Some flowers on the side of the church.

An altar on the side of a house.

Here's the entrance to the Jardin Centenario.

A fountain with two coyotes in the middle of the square. Coyoacan means "Place of the Coyotes"

A woman selling bookmarks. Justin's new obsession.

A girl offered to paint something cool on Olivia for a few pesos. She got to pick out the design herself.

Final result

Next to the garden is the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista.

Balloon seller

Right next door is the Plaza Hidalgo. There is a cool tree sculpture in it.

Most of the tourist spots have these guys called Organilleros playing these big organ boxes. There is usually another man holding a hat out for tips. I took a Polaroid of the organillo and then walked around to a spot to photograph it. I ended up getting a shot with the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista in the background, as well as, balloon vendors.

The Polaroid ended up getting a bit blown out on top but it is what it is. I may be able to edit it some when I get back home. Overall, this was a nice day trip and very inexpensive. It was close enough to our apartment where we could walk there and back. We had to carry Olivia every once in a while but she was pretty good about walking most of the way.

On the way home, there is a book store and Justin wanted his photo taken by this painting outside of it.

The painting is of Salvador Novo, a famous mexican literary figure in the 20th century.

Next blog: Ariana's Salsa

Plaza de San Jacinto and Market Shopping

2011-06-29T14:44:00.000-07:00

Ariana and I have been going to this market in the San Angel area on Saturdays to shop for fruit and vegetables. It's close enough to walk to. The first time I went I was overwhelmed by how different it was. They sell everything: flowers, fruit and vegetables, meat, household products, spices, pinatas, clothing, candles...just so much stuff. Plus you can order food and eat there too. The last time we went I took my camera and snagged a few shots. Since you are wheeling and dealing, so to speak, I didn't keep it out long because I didn't want us to get overcharged for things.

This is the outside of the market

It is covered in a mosaic. I plan on going back to this place a few times so I will get a better shot of the front. I'm starting to overcome my paranoia about my camera and will take more photos. I mean, that is my main goal while I'm here so I better start doing it. I'm silly, I know. Sometimes I wish I had a smaller camera though. It can be a pain lugging around my SLR and at least one Polaroid camera.

Fruit stand

Close up of some fruit

Some tomatillos

We will be making a salsa verde in the near future. Ariana is an awesome cook and we have been lucky to experience her wonderful cooking. She has made two salsas already. I will write a blog about her salsa making and will have step by step photos and instructions, oh yeah!

This was a man, Antonio, who asked if I wanted to take a photo of him.

Umm...sure, why not

This would be our bounty, combined, that we purchased

Jalapenos (three different kinds), Tomatoes, Cantaloupe, baby Bananas, Green Onions, Tunas (Prickly Pears), Mangos, Avocados, Apples, Napoles (Cactus) and Jicama

Very close by this market is the Plaza de San Jacinto which is San Angel's main square.

On Saturdays, this place is a great spot to shop for crafts either outdoors or in the Bazar del Sabado. I plan on returning here to buy some gifts when I have more money to spend.

Crafts for sale on the side of the street

Just off the square is the Iglesia de San Jacinto

Inside the church

There was a couple renewing their wedding vows

Back out on the street, there was a man playing the accordian with his daughter asking for tips

We roamed the streets for a little while admiring the beautiful houses and the neighborhood in general. There are so many colors and textures eveywhere you look. It is very inspiring to be here. I have already started collecting photos of windows, doors, close ups of faded paint or bricks, street art, anything that just catches my eye. When I have a good amount gathered I'll post some blogs of what I have captured. For now, I'll end this post with this image I shot of a doorway. I'll be uploading photos occasionally on Facebook too.

Next blog: Avenida Francisco Sosa and Jardin Centenario

Bosque de Chapultepec: Part I

2011-06-27T17:13:00.000-07:00

Hola amigos! The adventures continue...

So I have to write about Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forest) in parts because it is a huge park and we didn't go to all the areas you can visit. It will probably take at least two more trips to see everything. It is the largest city park in Latin America measuring about 270 in total acres. There are three lakes, a zoo, several fountains, many museums including the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, a couple of monuments and a castle. The name Chapultepec means "at the grasshopper hill."

On our first trip we saw the Monumento a los Ninos Heroes and the Castillo de Chapultepec. We also visited the Museo de Arte Moderno but didn't see much of it because by that point Miss Olivia had reached her limit. I tried to squeeze too much in one day and quickly learned my lesson in doing so.

The Monumento a los Ninos Heroes

This monument honors the six army cadets "boy heros" who died defending the castle in 1847 against U.S. troops.

Justin and Olivia

Polaroid of Monumento a los Ninos Heroes

We went on a Sunday and it was crazy busy. I think Sunday is the most popular day to go to the park.
We weaved our way towards the castle. On Sundays it is free. My guidebook failed to mention that it's free for national residents only so I had to pay $51 pesos boo. Students and children were free too. The castle is located on top of a hill. Olivia tuckered out pretty quickly, really even before then. Justin and I took turns carrying her, fun.

First entering the castle grounds

Here's a fancy chandelier entering the castle

A mural by Juan O'Gorman (I think)

Another mural on the ceiling by Angel Flores, "Boy Fallen"

A really neat clock

Crucifix

Nice marble work

Close up

Casta paintings that show racial mixing

The Independence alterpiece by Juan O'Gorman

Mural by Juan O'Gorman

Mural by Juan O' Gorman on the other side of the same room

Close up

One of the gardens outside

View of the park and Lake Chapultepec

More of the garden with castle in background

Famous view from the castle of Monumento a los Ninos Heroes and Reforma

Polaroid

Justin with reflection of checkered floor in glasses

Nice little fountain

Like I said earlier, we did make it to the Museo de Arte Moderno but didn't stay long and didn't see hardly any of it. I can always go back. Here's a photo of me and Olivia. It's free on Sunday to everyone.

Next blog: Going to the market and Plaza San Jacinto

UNAM

2011-06-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

As I said in an earlier post, we live in the area of the city called Coyoacan. There are lots of trees and parks. It's definitely more green then where the hotel was located and quieter! The Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) is very close by where we live. You can walk there. This makes Justin and Ariana, especially Ariana, very happy. They do research here. Olivia and I went with them one day to see what the campus was like. It is huge. We only went to the Biblioteca where they have that really cool mosaic on it. Didn't take a whole lot of photos. I had to entertain Olivia for about an hour while Justin went inside the library to look some stuff up. We made a "fire" with some sticks in one area. Then we walked over to another woody area and made a pirate and a ship and houses and then we destoyed them all. It was fun playing in the dirt.

Justin walking towards us in blue shirt

Olivia wearing her cool Dora hat that our friend Elizabeth gave her

Polaroid of UNAM

This was shot with the TZ Artistic film which has a more faded look to it. I use my SX-70 camera with this certain film.

Close up of one of the sides of the biblioteca

On another note, Olivia was being sneaky one evening and ended up taking a photo with one of my Polaroids. It was the SX-70. I had it sitting with my other cameras already opened. When it's closed, it lays flat. It now remains stored flat which isn't as cool looking but it also isn't a temptation. I was mad b/c she wasted one of my Polaroids and she got into trouble but, it's also something to talk about and it is interesting.

Olivia's Polaroid

Next Blog: Bosque de Chapultepec Part I