Hello from Mexico City: Exploring Paseo de la Reforma and Bosque de Chapultepec

This morning another wonderful Mexican breakfast was in store: Vanessa had made “tlacoyos con nopales” (fried dough topped with nopal fruits and melted cheese on top) which I thoroughly enjoyed. Around 9:30 we set off and Vanessa’s sister dropped us off, right in front of the Angel of Independence, a monument erected in 1910 to commemorate independence from Spain, on Paseo de la Reforma. Paseo de la Reforma is a tree-lined boulevard almost 4 km long, which connects the city center with the Chapultepec Forest. Several monuments adorn its roundabouts or roundabouts, and one of the monuments, the Little Horse, we had already seen yesterday. Right next to the Angel of Independence, a tourist police officer stopped us and asked where we were going and if he could help us. He was a very charming young man and he took a laminated map out of his security jacket and pointed out the main places of interest in Mexico City. We had seen quite a lot, but inevitably we were also going to miss a lot, as there was so much to see and not enough time. After a photo session with the tourist police, we continue and continue exploring the Paseo de la Reforma. From the Angel of Independence we continue to the statue of Diana the Huntress, which caused quite a stir when it was originally unveiled, as it is a statue of a nude woman.

The city authorities decided to cover up the statue for a while, but sanity prevailed and the embarrassing covers were removed after a while. We continue our mid-morning walk to the Bosque de Chapultepec, an ancient sacred place for pre-Columbian cultures and now the largest park in Mexico City. Walking towards the castle, you first come across a large monument called the Monument to the Children Heroes, which commemorates the army cadets (the “child heroes”) who died defending the castle from an American attack in 1847. From there we explore the Castle de Chapultepec, which was originally built in the 1760s, but is best known for having been the residence of the ill-fated Austrian-born Emperor Maximilian and his wife, Princess Carlota, who only ruled Mexico for a few years until 1866 when met an unfortunate end by firing squad. We slowly climbed the castle hill, paid the entrance fee and started exploring the castle. In true Habsburg tradition, it is decorated with ornate baroque-style furniture, and the first thing you see are the royal “carrozas” (carriages) when you enter the first room of the exhibition. From then on, you’ll see a variety of rooms as used by the Habsburg monarchs: dining rooms, living rooms, a bedroom, and a meeting room, illustrating the extreme opulence enjoyed by these royals. No wonder the populace, simply eking out a living, resented the rule and privilege of aristocrats. We then walk to the upper level garden which is surrounded by glass windows. Right next to one of these glass walls on the ground, we noticed a small “colibri” (hummingbird) that had flown into the glass enclosure and passed out. Vanessa rescued him by taking him gently in her hand, then we went downstairs and Vanessa set the little bird free on the grass. By the time she opened her hand, the bird had come to its senses enough to fly back to freedom. We then explore the Museo del Caracol (the “Museo del Caracol”, due to its shape), which also houses a museum on the history of Mexico (Galería de Historia), featuring a series of dioramas depicting scenes from the struggle for independence until the Mexican Revolution. The view of the city from the castle hill is amazing and you literally enjoy a 360 degree panorama. Then we go down the hill, passing a whole series of street vendors selling everything from Mexican snacks, hats and sun visors, to disposable cameras, many of which advertise the variety of merchandise to the visiting parade.

Lake Chapultepec is a popular weekend destination for Mexican families and features rowboats, swans, stages for theater and ballet performances, and many beautiful places to relax. We explore the Casa del Lago, an art center run by Mexico’s largest university, UNAM. Right in front of the Casa del Lago people of all ages painted, drew, read newspapers, and this place offers many free artistic and cultural activities to the local population. Right after our visit, we continued walking down the walkway with all the street vendors and saw a local artist who was producing miniature paintings, using his fingers, fingertips and the occasional brush stroke. He produced a variety of landscapes, including one featuring the well-known Mexican volcano Popocatépetl. I was able to take a video of his artistic endeavors and ended up purchasing 3 very colorful miniature paintings depicting typical Mexican scenes. While he was painting, he would tell stories about the subjects he was painting, and he would tell the occasional joke, which made the entire crowd of spectators laugh. We then head back down Paseo de la Reforma to the Auditorio, Mexico City’s famous open-air concert hall. On the sidewalk alongside the busy 6 lane highway was a public art project – a whole series of life size cows that had been painted and decorated in very unique ways and provided excellent photo opportunities for enthusiastic visitors. This public art campaign reminded me of the Toronto moose displays of a few years ago. I think Chicago also had a similar campaign with the cows. Once we got to the Auditorium we bought a refreshing “nieve” (crushed ice, in this case lime flavored) and walked back along Paseo de la Reforma towards the famous Museum of Anthropology. We explored the exterior and the lobby, unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to explore the interior. The Museum of Anthropology is one of the most famous and extensive museums in Mexico City. It was inaugurated in 1964 and has several collections of artifacts from the various pre-Columbian cultures of Mexico. Just outside the museum is a huge stone statue of the rain god Tlaloc. We then took a bus (a “pesera”) to the other part of the Bosque de Chapultepec, near Lago Mayor, where we exited near the Children’s Museum and began to explore this part of this huge park. We were looking for the restaurant with a view of Lake Maggiore and it took us a while to find it first, as there is a Restaurante del Lago and a Café del Lago.

Finally, after Vanessa asked several passers-by, we realized we had to go to Café del Lago and sure enough, we found our destination for lunch. The Café is an attractive looking structure overlooking the lake, and offers a daily buffet lunch. Fortunately, we negotiated our way to order a soup as we had already had “chicharrones” (usually fried and puffed pork rinds, but these were made from wheat flour) and there was no way we could handle a full meal. I just had a delicious chile poblano, a green soup made from chiles that was very rich and creamy. Then we went back to the road where we got on another “pesera” that would take us to the Los Constituyentes metro station, where we went down about 3 or 4 big stairs (we must have been about 40 or 50 meters below). surface) and took three subway trains back to Vanessa’s neighborhood.

After a quick and cheap (5 pesos, 70 cents) stay at an internet café, Vanessa’s parents and her sister picked us up to take us to San Ángel, another beautiful Mexico City neighborhood with colonial buildings and cobblestone streets. We begin by exploring the Iglesia de San Jacinto, which features an interior courtyard with a rain chute to capture rainwater and a beautiful private enclosed garden at the rear of the church. Inside, a big party was taking place: a “quinceñera”, a ritual that celebrates the entry into adulthood of a 15-year-old girl. We then explored Plaza San Jacinto which had hundreds of street vendors, selling different types of art. San Ángel is known as a district of the city that is home to many artists. It has numerous permanent galleries, as well as the weekend “tianguis” or “ambulant market” with vendors who set up shop only on weekends. For dinner we chose one of the restaurants overlooking the plaza and ate some traditional Mexican dishes. I had a “sopa de la fonda” (chicken soup with pico de gallo and avocado) followed by an “ensalada de berros” (watercress salad with diced tomato, onion and bacon). Vanessa’s family had a variety of seafood dishes and “chile relleno” (chiles stuffed with minced meat, topped with a sauce made from cream, walnuts, and cinnamon). At approximately 8 pm we had finished our dinner and as we had had quite an exhausting day, we returned to catch up on some sleep and rest for our day of departure.