I have been wanting to see the murals of Diego Rivera's in the National Palace

in Mexico City like forever

they did not disappoint

in fact they were more wonderful and amazing than I had imagined!!

the building, the Palacio Nacional, in itself was amazing

most of the mural is on this giant stairway

the scope is huge, hard to get a photo of the shear size of it

so I included this photo from the internet that gives you some idea

the mural wrapped around both sides of the stairway

Diego painted these murals between 1929 and 1935

the panels on the stairway reveal his vision of Mexican history

chronologically right to left

on the walls of the second story corridor
he painted 8 more panels between 1941 and 1952
he died in 1957

showing imagined life in pre-Hispanic Mexico

amazing detail

beautiful colors

  

this is where Frida Kahlo met Diego

the story goes that he was up on a scaffolding and she yelled up to him

and caught his attention

this very stairway!!

she would be shocked at how Frida mania has taken over Mexico

if her image or one of the ones she created

can be put on something - it is

bags, shirts, jewelry, magnets, cards, notebooks, pottery

reproductions of her work are everywhere

it just goes to show you, in her time, he was the great and famous artist

people said, all she paints is herself, she answered - that is what I know

Diego himself is reported to have said

that he thought she was the better artist
she died in 1954

I was so happy to finally be on that stairway

a funny thing happened on the way out....

first, on the way in, you go through security, this is the national palace

and the home of the president, thought he usually lives in Los Pinos in the Bosque de Chapuletepec

there were armed guards all over the place

when Betsy went through security, they made her throw her cigarettes and lighter away

when we came out she wanted to go back through and get her smokes

I am like, are you crazy, they are never going to let you go through the garbage

well, they did!

the smokes were not there though, imagine that...

another interesting fact is that the National Palace was once the house of Hernan Cortes

he left it to his son, Martin Cortes

who sold it to the Spanish Crown in 1562

early real estate

 the Zocalo, the heart of Mexico City

the Palacio Nacional is the long building on the right

the Cathedral on the left

 on our last day in the city, la ultima dia, I did get to see some paintings of Mr. Rivera's

but did not get to see any of Frida's

the museum that had Diego's and said that they had Frida's actually did not have any..

there were some interesting statues there though

this is for you Eduardo

 and this one is for you Willie

Next stop - Cuyutlan!

Teotihuacan

just north of Mexico City is one of Mexico's most famous ruins

no one knows who the people who lived there were

or what language they spoke

the city was abandoned hundreds of years before the Aztec came

I was awed by the scale, it was huge

that's the Pyramid of the Moon

located at the end of the Avenue of the Dead

that's obviously not what the people who built it and lived there called it....

it was steep!

going up was way easier than going down

we got up to the top - yeah!!

going to the edge to come back down was like going over a cliff

had a great view down the Avenue from the top

well half way up the top was as far as you could go

to the left is the other large pyramid, the Pyramid of the Sun

it is even bigger than the Pyramid of the Moon

and just as tricky going down

had to go side step

great photo Jacquie, with the sun, cool, thanks!

when we first got there, there was almost no one else there

it was wonderful to experience the energy of the place by ourselves

at one point, Betsy and I left the main avenue

found some shade trees off to the right there to have a smoke

we started looking around and found several potsheds, some with dull red paint

and some with curved lips like in bowls

we thought we had found diamonds, well they were to us

by the time we left the place was packed, vendors and hawkers, crowds

up and down the streets and the pyramids

it was Sunday, and on Sunday it was free for Mexicans

and it was also Father's Day

I would be so proud to be of Mexican heritage

when my grandchildren are older - I am bringing them here

to Teotihuacan

Betsy was there

I was there

who ever the builders were, they were very interesting and creative

this one makes me smile

next - 2nd main reason to come to Mexico City - Diego Rivera's murals

Templo Mayor
ancient Aztec holy site found under the corner of the main Zocalo in Mexico City in 1978

I was in Mexico City for my first time in 1978 and saw the beginning of the excavation
it was a very exciting find and an exciting time to be there

now the excavations are more extensive
4 city blocks

ancient ruins right in the heart of the city

if you took down the buildings surrounding the square
I bet there are many more

the Spanish first saw the Templo Mayor in 1519
as soon as they could they tore down it down and built their temple on top
the great cathedral
you can see it in the background of the above photo

this describes how the Aztecs re-built this temple at least 7 times

they had the remodel bug bad too

the site was pretty amazing
especially since it jumped out of the past
into a modern world

they had some death fetish for sure, rows of carved skulls...

little men holding little bowls to hold the hearts of sacrificed victims,

too much information?

right around the corner on our way back

Eduardo causally says, that is where I went to high school

we thought he was kidding

no, he really went to school there, literally over ancient Aztec ruins!

we were so beat after all that walking in the sun

(Mexico City is over 7,000 feet above sea level)

we took one of the electric/petal cabs back to the hotel

nice and open air

manana - Teotihuacan

an ancient city  that was  abandoned even before the Aztecs got there

ps manana does not really mean tomorrow, it just means, not today.......

it was wonderful for me to be able to visit Mexico City again

I had lived there for a short time, almost 30 years ago

one hears all kinds of things about the dangers of Mexico

we got off the plane and entered a very quiet and non crowded airport

went to a taxi booth and bought a ticket to our hotel

our friends surprised us by meeting us in the airport

it was so fun to see them and we talked, talked all the way to the hotel

never felt safer

we stayed downtown in the Centro Historico

at the Hotel Isabela de Catolica

an awesome hotel, over a 100 years old

3 levels around a center courtyard

Jacquie and Eduardo outside their room

our room had a balcony - una balcon

we loved it, it was so fun watching the street below

cars with cool paint jobs

old trucks

at this point Betsy commandeered the camera - she said I was not taking enough pictures

I was too busy looking up at the amazing buildings

every other building was a historic relic

amazing architecture, amazing rock work

amazing that people lived in these mansions of stone

this was once a single family house...

now known as the House of Tiles

the story goes that the father said to the son,

you will not amount to a hill of tiles

so when the son inherits the house he covered it with tiles

a sort of f-you at his father I guess,

 some things never change

except now it houses a fancy restaurant

I have come across this in Latin American literature,

"they met at the House of Tile".....

first thing after leaving our things at the hotel, Eduardo walks us down the street to a restaurant

the Casino de Espanol

this building has a great history, it was built by the Spanish as a place to meet and eat Spanish food,

over 100 years ago

it is an amazingly ornate building

this is not our photo, as soon as Betsy started to take a photo a man came running over

no photos

she tried to get a photo of the doors, she was into doors,

when we left but the told her again, no photos

after the Spanish Club moved on they rented it to the American Club in the late 30ths and 40's

I could almost feel the wealth and sophistication of those Americans

in De Efe at that time

the lunch was fantastic, lasting all afternoon

with Eduardo telling stories of his father working there all those years ago, running the switchboard

and he a young boy, running the elevator

mi 3 amigos at the Palacio de Belas Artes

wow

some amazing buildings in the city

next - the Aztec ruins under the Zocalo

being a tourist in Vallarta in June was great!

off season prices, no crowds,

no kidding - Vallarta almost empty.

Betsy arrived on time

the view from our room was great

and we found these cute dresses on sale

right around the corner from the hotel

on our way to get beer

we tried not to wear the dresses at the same time

another gorgeous tropical sunset

next morning we are pretty happy

in the Vallarta airport, flying to Mexico City

DF as the locals say

nice murals in the PV airport

flying out of Vallarta

I came there 25 years ago

it has changed, but I still love that bay

next stop - Mexico City, DF,

De Efe