Out of Europe and On To Mexico! (One Week In Mexico City -- September 1st Through 8th)

Some famous personage gallantly riding through one of the many city's parks!


Best time to be in this massive city--CDMX--6th largest in the world!


After a grueling 20 hour journey (2 layovers in European airports!) I was VERY happy to arrive in Mexico City. Because it is the rainy season, the air was lovely and clean... it is truly the best time to be in Mexico, anywhere! Hence... great photos from the air as we descended... 






SO very happy to have access to so much good fruit again! (Nowhere in Europe could compare, though Italy--specifically, Rome-- came close!) My favorite first course for breakfast consists of papaya, pineapple, and anything else tropical that I can throw in there!) 




The cute cat at my Airbnb... cute, but also annoying...always trying to come in my room and get into stuff! She is sitting next to my air mattress...treacherous! I still have a tiny leak from the last nasty little cat that got its claw into it, way back in 2020! (At my first Mexican Airbnb!) 



The best part of being back in Mexico City: re-connecting with my good friend, Arturo.. on Sunday the 3rd, we spent a lovely day together...first going to a forest to hike and visit a very old monastery there. It was beautiful but chilly! We then shared a wonderful meal of regional fare: A wild mushroom soup and cheesy tortillas... and of course the most yummy avocadoes--missed them, too! 













After the forest adventure, we returned to a park in the city, where we happily stumbled upon a chocolate expo! Did I die and go to heaven?! You bet! I sampled and feasted on chocolate... and actually, eventually, reached a saturation point! But you can bet that I left the expo hall with pockets stuffed full of chocolate bars from different vendors!!!









Also in that same park were dinosaurs (to entertain the children, of course!)  and alebrijes--another of my favorite aspects of Mexico! Such beautiful and colorful art!
(Alebrijes are brightly colored Mexican folk art sculptures of fantastical/mythical creatures)










This photo was of an ex-president in his old residence...now a museum in the park. I zipped through it quickly-- all explanations were in Spanish so it was pretty much lost on me, but I loved this classic photo!


On September 6th, I did a neighborhood (Santa Maria) walking tour.. was interesting.. not the typical touristic (historical)  center. Descriptions are attached to the photos below! 

This is Abigail-- the other gringa from the U.S. on the tour. We went to a famous local taco restaurant to eat after the tour. I got mixed veggies to take home since I wasn't hungry at the time... my pal here had a nice assortment of tacos for a modest price... unfortunately not my fare-- all had meat in them. 



The above was a lovely--and very old--gazebo in the center of a park we visited on the walk. 


The interior: most unusual and elaborate! quite beautiful... 


This skeleton is of a grey whale, artistically painted, and hung as a center piece to show the scale inside of this very modern, and in my mind, dystopic-looking, hideous library that was all metallic... looking something like a scene out of Wall-y! (Or some other depressing, futuristic movie, which I believe it was in fact modeled after but I can no longer remember!)



This was a pretty street in a nice neighborhood we passed through... 


Lovely church nearby... 



Lake in another part of the park I went to the next day on my own. 


Next day... a visit to Palacio de Belles Artes... gorgeous old structure.. ditto, for the adjacent park: 












On the 8th, I packed up and took my leave of Mexico City, taking a VERY long bus ride to Oaxaca (close to 10 hours!) It was trying, but I listened to audio books and DID enjoy the truly spectacular scenery of the countryside out of my window. I at least had two seats to myself, so was able to make myself as comfortable as is feasible on such a long bus ride! 



















 

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