Mexico, Uno

Back from Mexico DF! I can barely walk, for reasons which will become evident in Mexico Tre. Dulles was the predictable nightmare. I hate how you have to stand around in those stupid shuttles for twenty minutes. What's the point of charging off the plane to beat the lines at Immigration if you all just get herded onto a stupid shuttle? Then all the computers were done at Immigration so we stood around for a while. Luckily my guy was nice, once he saw my visa of course.

So I flew to Mexico City on Monday night. Untied was relatively pleasant. I upgraded myself to Economy Plus, which was a good idea, and I was able to see Breach which I had wanted to see at the cinemas. Landed in Mexico around 10pm, Immigration was painless then I pressed the Customs button and got GREEN so I was GOOD TO GO.

Arrived at the Hotel Geneve, which was great. In the middle of the Zona Rosa, close to Paseo de la Reforma and the Insurgentes Metro stop.

Tuesday

Hello Angel of Independence, on the Paseo de la Reforma!


The Paseo de la Reforma is Mexico City's Champs Elysees (I believe it was directly modeled after it). They have all these roundabouts with various statues and things. Mexican traffic is totally insane. Traffic lights are seen as a mere suggestion, a guideline.

I walked up the Paseo to the Bosque Chapultepec, the big park ('chapultepec' means 'place of the crickets'). There was a monument of some sort:


That's the castle in the background built for Emperor Maxmilian, who was installed by the French around the 1860s. He was subsequent executed by the Mexican people, but his heir currently lives in Melbourne. I was headed for the Anthropology Museum, one of the best museums in the world for bits of Azteca. They also have an astounding courtyard, with a vast concrete canopy supported by a single column.


It was pretty cool. There were jungle ruins:



And an inside temple:


And look what is inside the temple!


I swanned around to the Museo Tamayo for some modern art, but it was pretty sucky so I decided to instead find some lunch and have a kip.

Now whilst Mexican food does indeed taste better in Mexico, they don't really go for presentation in a big way. I had several delicious meals, but all were covered in thick sauces of brown and green which bring to mind all sorts of things I'd rather not think about when eating.

After my lunch, I was heading to Condesa to buy some NaCo t-shirts when I stumbled upon a nude protest.


This was as close I dared get, lest I see more saggy breasts and wrinkled penii than I bargained for. Apparently nude protests are quite common in Mexico. At first, I blush to admit, I thought the lithe Mexican boys in speedos handing out flyers were some sort of gay club promotion until I rounded the corner and saw this (the photo is but a portion, there were also naked drummers, and dancers).

I eventually made my way to Condesa on the marvellous Metro system. It costs like 2c to ride but what I love is that each station also has a fascinating pictogram due to the large number of illiterates in Mexico. My local, Insurgentes, was a bell.

Condesa is all a bit hip and happening. But I stumbled upon a market.


And some rather festively coloured houses:


Once I got back to the Zona Rosa, I hit the beer. Hard. I was successfully mellow enough to brave a gay bar on my lonesome, which is not something I tend to do. Anyway, I was wildly popular perhaps due to my blonde hair. Shennagins were afoot for the rest of the evening, and I dare not commit them to so public a forum.