Traveling in Mexico City. I went sight seeing for the last three days, and there is a lot to see in Mexico City. On Monday and Tuesday I sat on the top of the Turibus, which is a red double decker bus. The advantage of this bus is that, with a map, you can acclimate yourself to the city and see the lay of the land. There are several different routes. I took the central one, which contains the Zocalo, the main plaza, and many government buildings, with an unfortunate emphasis on shopping. The Sur (south) tour includes the Frida Kahlo house. The negatives on these tours is that the recorded information is for the Spanish-speaking tourist, who are greatly in the majority. The English recording was not in sync with the Spanish and started first. I would jam my earplugs in but always missed what they were pointing out. Because of the terrible traffic, we would drive away before I identified the building or site that they were discussing. The traffic also was a major obstacle to hearing the information. The main city streets are, advantageously, built very, very wide, as in some major European cities. You could get off the bus at a stop, investigate and get back on the next bus, which came in, theoretically, 20 minutes. I only did this at the Frida Kahlo House, which contains many of her works and those of her husband, Diego Rivera. She was an amazing artist and woman, who delighted us with her art despite debilitating pain from a horrendous bus accident. After this emergence into the city, I started take the regular city buses, which are plentiful, frequent and filled to the doors with Mexicans taking advantage of the great public transportation. I only wish that we had good public transportation in the States, but its Profits before People, to our disadvantage. I found that, despite my poor Spanish, a big smile got me all the help that I needed to find my stop. Luckily I can joke around in Spanish, which everyone enjoys. I visited the sites that interested me most. Yesterday I spent the morning at the fascinating Anthropological Museum, which is not to be missed (I was told this by many people because it is true). Across the street is the huge park, where I visited the zoo (could have skipped it) and looked for the botanical garden. It must have been very small because I was disappointed to never find it. I did find several rose bushes with pink, sweet smelling roses about half the size of my head. Those of you who have been to my rose garden parties in WI know how much I enjoyed that! I eat my breakfast here at the Quaker House, for 30 pesos a meal (slightly more than $2.00), which is very welcome because Im on a strict budget. I love the family style meeting. Eating alone gets lonely. I walked around last evening with the 7 year old daughter of one of the American volunteers who live at the Quaker House, while her father was in a meeting. Shes a darling, born in Mexico, speaks fluent Spanish and English. We were looking for a grocery store with healthy food. Ha ha. I finally bought her some nuts and a juice flavored water, but I didnt have my glasses and, fortunately, couldnt read the ingredients. She said that her mommy and daddy allow her to eat these particular items. I was looking for dates; no dates, only junk food. The poor in Mexican eat almost all carbs and sugar, which accounts for the escalating and terrifying diabetes rate in this country. I decided that I could afford one Linner out (lunch/dinner eaten in mid-afternoon). There are no good restaurants in my working class hood.When walking through the city in another neighborhood (called Colonias; there are 16 in Mexico City), Colonia Roma Norte, I found a good sushi restaurant and had a satisfying and reasonably priced meal. It was also entertaining because I made friends with Melissa, the manager. She is Mexican, from Guadalajara, but speaks excellent English. Her mother is a teacher in TX. She talked to me through most of my meal, unless duty called. Melissa told me about a good restaurant in another Colonia, which I will visit tomorrow. Today I will stay at the Casa, helping in the garden and going to Spanish class. I only will leave to walk to Belles Artes to see the stunning Tiffany glass curtain on the stage of the Theatre inside the Museum. They have a guided tour weekdays from 1-1:30, which is free. I dont want to spend money on any performances in the Theatre, although I would LOVE to see the Ballet Folklorico. Tickets are around $25. Tomorrow I go to Colonia Condesa, which I saw from the Turibus and need to explore.
Posted on: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 13:37:52 +0000
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