My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
Author: marionvermazen
I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.
We had a very relaxing and wonderful day today. For breakfast we went to a restaurant we remembered as being excellent on our last trip to Puert Escondido, back in 2014, El Cafecito. We had to wait 30 minutes for a table but it as worth it. Our breakfast was excellent.
El CafecitoMy breakfastEnjoying my coffee
After breakfast we went up to our room’s rooftop deck. I worked on editing our next video and Duke read. It was a wonderful relaxing afternoon. The temperature was about 80 and there was a slight breeze.
Relaxing on our rooftop terrace
Later we went swimming and enjoyed before dinner drinks.
In the poolOur drinks being proposed at the hotel bar.
Our flight from Mexico City to the coastal town of Puerto Escondido is tonight at 8:30. So we had the whole day to do a bit more exploring. Check out time was noon so we spent the morning at the hotel before we checked out and stored our bags.
This morning the Mexico City fire department had a parade. We had a great view of the parade from the window of our room.
Fire fighters paradingFirefighters paradeLots of cool equipment
First we went to a Diego Rivera Museum built especially to house the Rivera mural – Dream of a Sunday afternoon at Alameda Central. The mural was originally commissioned for and housed in a luxurious Mexico City Hotel. The 8.1 earthquake in September 1985 destroyed the building but the mural was not destroyed. It was relocated to its current building. There was a good English description of the mural and a key to who all the people in the mural were.
Diego Rivera Mural
Just outside the museum there were several hundred people selling and exchanging trading cards. I saw lots of Pokémon albums.
Trading card exchange
We walked back to our hotel and walked through a few museums on the way. I think my favorite was the old post office building across from Bellas Artes.
Post office
Around 4:00 we had an early dinner at the same restaurant we had dinner at a few days ago, Cafe Tacuba. It was just as good today as it was the first time.
Dinner at Cafe Tacuba
Then we went back to the hotel, retrieved our bags, and took an Uber to the airport.
Waiting for our Uber
At the airport the woman at security decided that my circular knitting needles and small tube of lotion (123 gms) were a threat! So we had to go back out and check my bag for a $50 fee. I was not happy.
My dangerous knitting needles
We have had a wonderful time in Mexico City but I am ready for a rest! And it will be nice to have clean air again. We only had a couple of days of our time in Mexico City that didn’t have bad air quality. It will be in the 80s in Puerto Escondido which will be nice too.
We started out today by visiting the Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico. They had a photographic exhibition called Patrimonio through the lense of Santiago Arau. Santiago Arau is a Mexican photographer who works primarily with drones. His photographs and accompanying prose gave me a totally new and fascinating perspective on Mexico City. It was perhaps the best photography exhibition I have ever seen.
Did you know “the city is surrounded by — and built on top of — some seventy volcanoes”.
3 of Mexico Cities volcanoes
And did you realize that Mexico City had a population of 350,000 in 1900 and now the population is about 23 million!
Looking down at Bellas ArtesThe cupola of Bellas Artes
Our hotel room in the Zócalo Central Hotel looks out over the Zócalo and the Palacio Nacional. The Palacio Nacional was our second stop. We spent about an hour looking at their art displays and rooms highlighting other countries.
They even had an exhibit about the northern Nordic Sami people.
Across the street from the Palacio Nacional we went through the Antiguo Palacio del Arzobispado. (The palace of Mexicos first Archbishop, built in the1530s) in one of the stairwells is a mural of Mexican heroes
Mural of Mexicos Revolutionary HeroesSee Rockefeller and Morgan. I’m not entirely sure of the message.
For dinner we had a wonderful meal at the rooftop restaurant in our hotel.
Duke’s steak
Later we went to a 10:00 Jazz show at Zinco Jazz Club in a bank basement venue nearby. The show was a Billie Holiday tribute and it was great!
When the Spanish conquered Mexico they demolished the Templo Mayor, a massive temple pyramid. The enormous complex was first built around 1325 and was about 200 feet tall. The Templo Mayor site was buried under the cathedral and the Spanish city. In 1978 buildings were demolished and escavations started.
The Templo Mayor Museum displays the amazing things found at the site and what has been learned about the culture.
Duke entering the museumSome of the excavationsInside the museumMassive carving from the siteA closer view
Next we went to the Ministry of Education building. in the early twentieth century. The former secretary of public education, José Vasconcelos commissioned artists to cover the walls of the building. There are many many Diego Rivera murals covering the walls.
Diego Rivera MuralsAnother Diego Rivera Mural
For dinner we went to a highly rated Basque Seafood restaurant, El Danubio. It was excellent.
My giant prawns al diabloDuke’s mixed seafood grill
We could see the Zocalo and the Cathedral from our table at breakfast this morning
The Cathedral from breakfast
Today we visited the Museo de Franz Mayer. The museum houses the collection of Fran’s Mayer, a German born financier. It isn’t a big museum but there were three exhibits that made it special.
First was a temporary exhibit done in collaboration with the Getty museum, exploring different narratives of the conquest of Mexico. Most documents paint the conquistadors as heroic but there are other contemporaneous documents that were critical of the conquest. Examples of both were displayed.
A 1534 map of Tenochtitlan by Herman CortésA book from 1514 about the Cruelties of the Mexican conquest
I loved the Franz Mayer library.
The library
In a small adjacent room they had a special scanner and a woman who was scanning an old book.
Scanning old books
There was also an exhibit about the trade between the Philippines and Mexico between 1565 and 1815. It was something I knew nothing about. It was fascinating.
The slide says “Between 1565 and 1815, the longest and most enduring trade route in history took place: it crossed the Pacific Ocean and connected the kingdom of New Spain [today Mexico] with the Philippine Islands. Both territories belonged to the Hispanic Empire.”More of the Franz Mayer collection
Next we went to the Museo de Estanquillo. The exhibit was about clothing and style through the years in Mexico
It has been interesting to a big team of people set up a stage and chairs in the Zocalo outside our window. Apparently it is for some kind of big awards ceremony which we think will be tomorrow. We figured that there are about 20,000 chairs.
We ate dinner at a restaurant at the top of the Gran Hotel.
