Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Western Mexico City

What didn´t I do today? I beelined to the National Palace on the Zocalo, which is a must-see of Mexico City (and it´s free!). You walkin in (after 9-11 level security checks), and immediately see a huge plaza surrounded by the palace buildings, and up the stairs are the biggest and busiest Diego Rivera murals you´ve ever seen, including his most famous, which basially pictorilly recounts Mexico´s entire history, from Precolombian roots to the brutal Spanish conquest to Independence and the Revolution, to Industrialization and Communism and of course his unibrowed lover, Frida Kahlo. His murals wrap all around the second floor, which is a museum of everything Mexico in history, which was really well done, much like our Smithsonian Institution. After the museum, you walk through a room which would be the equivalent of our Congress room (which has a pyramid with an eye on the ceiling... WTF is with that, anyways?) Then you go into the very lavish state rooms for the leaders, with chandeliers, portraits of each president, and old furniture. After the palace, I got lost in the Centro Historico, which was awesome because it was like a street market, but on every sidewaolk, with literally everything you´d want. The police stopped me when I tried to go north into this one area that I guess I "really shouldn´t be in". Basically the black market. I can handle the illegal Canal Street street market in NYC with burned DVDs and fake Gucci purses, but the black market in Mexico City, now that takes thug life to a whole different level. I stopped to eat at the busiest street food places, for some good tacos guisados. Then I found my way through the vast jewelry district to the financial district, which was like any US downtown except 75% men. I ascended up the tallest building south of the border, the Torre Latinoamerica. The views up top of the city were amazing. As if it hadn´t hit you before, you really got a feeling for how enormous this place really is, since the mountaints surrounding the city were hardly even visible they were so far away. It was urbanization on a massive scale. I walked in the nearby park before heading over to Plaza Merced, a huge indoor market, which had about 100 of each type of food vendor; chilies, tomatoes, onions, meats, garnishes, cheese, nuts, mole, fruits, you get the picture. I took a bunch of photo and video and then sat down at some places, but got impatient because when I asked what was good, what their specialty was, or just give me something good, they wouldn´t give me an answer and wouldn´t serve me, so I just went to this mediocre huarache place instead. Mexicans for some reason love huaraches, I don´t really understand the attraction. I took the (busy, even at midday) Metro to Parque Chapultepec, the Central Park, National Mall, Griffith Park, Millenium Park of Mexico City. It had a bunch of vendors along the main walking paths. There was a nice lake with paddleboats. I went to the Anthropological museum, expecting to only pend an hour or so, and ended up spending three and closing down the place! Honestly one of the best museums I´ve even been to. There were priceless Mesoamerican artifacts from all over the country, great information, recreations of typical cultural displays for each Mexican region, and outdoor parks. I took tons of pictures. the highlights were huge temple re-creations, a ball game court outside, the famous Aztec stone circle thing that´s all over tshirts, wallets, blankets, etc, colossal Olmec stone head, Cakmul statues, and Mayan wall paintings and carvings. It was kind of funny; the entrance was explaining that the inhabitants of the Americas came over via the land bridge from Asia and that hominids evolved in Africa. Weird, for a country that is 95% hardcore Catholic. After the museum closed, I had dinner at a bus stop which catered to businessmen about to take their buses home, so there was a crasily busy taco shop with had the best tacos with fries in them... Mmmm. I took a walk through Polanco, the leafiest area in Mexico City (the Beverly Hills of Mexico), with BMW´s driving around, new yogurt places, trendy terrace cafes, and designer boutiques. The Ferragamo store was having some international fashion event outside, so I went up to the promoters and asked if I could have my picture taken and they said "Of course!" while I was expecting more of a "Hell no" or equivalent. So I posed in my North Face fleece and Rainbow sandals on the red carpet, and not only did they take pictures with my camera, but the official photographer also took my photo. This really happened? I had my second dinner and had a beer in one of the bars. I took the Metro to the Eastern Bus Station before hopping on the overnight bus to Oaxaca city. After walking miles on end today, I slept like a baby. Mexico City = Amazing = Success = I will return.