Museo del Telégrafo y Torre Latinoamericana

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.