Mexico Day 3

(side note -- i've created a new word. when playing catch-up in one's blog, one is dealing with an ackblog)

Saturday we played tourist all day long. First we went down to the Coyoacan section of town to the Frida Kahlo Museum. The house was interesting, the paintings on display were noteworthy, and the hour-long film on her made it all worthwhile. Of course, at ~$3.50 admission, it's hard to find fault with any Mexican museum (that was the cost for the Anthopologica as well). I found it interesting that she and her spouse, the muralist Diego Rivera, lived in such a large and beautiful home, all the while being Communists. You'd think they'd have seen a bit of hypocrisy in their being so well off as compared with their comrades.


Frida Kahlo's Marxism will Give Health to the Sick

After hitting that museum, we wandered around the center of the Coyoacan district:


Hanging out in Coyoacan

After grabbing lunch, we drove across town and parked below the Belles Artes building, which is truly lovely:



From there we walked to the Zocalo, which basically is the city center. Things were going non-stop there, with protests in the middle of a giant traffic circle:



A bazaar was taking place outside the Metropolitan Cathedral, which is the biggest church in the country, and one of the largest in the world:



After briefly touring the church, we walked a few hundred feet to the ruins of the Temple Mayor. The Temple Mayor was discovered in 1978, and contained all sorts of amazing archaelogical finds:


Statue amid the Ruins

In addition to seeing the ruins, some of the materials found amid the ruins have been collected in the Temple Mayor Museum, which we also visited. Unfortunately the museum was very dim, which made it difficult to take pictures (no flash allowed). The skull mask picture is one of the few that came out well:



After all that sightseeing, we went back to Peter's to relax for a little bit before heading to the Villa Maria, where we stuffed ourselves on authentic Mexican cuisine.

What a great day!