Ciudad De Mexico

It turns out I quite like Mexico City, and I’d never have thought that were possible. 

The fact that Omar was driving and it was a Sunday with, I’m told, less traffic made the experience easier. 

First things first; breakfast at the Finca “the farm” a pretty nice restaurant with a theme based around 19th century field work. 

It was a busy spot but we got there before the big rush.

I know we often show roadside food and low end eateries because they are cheap and cheerful but with guides who know good food we are enjoying eating at middle class restaurants, places that according to Omar sometimes get by on good looks but serve poor food. 

I hope it doesn’t come as a surprise that Mexico has a burgeoning middle class that enjoys eating on table linens with first class service. 

We all had chilaquiles verdes which is tortilla chips in a tart tomatillo green sauce with eggs and cheese. Plenty of food you’d think but first…

The waitress came by with a basket of pastries. I had a concha (“shell”) with “natta” inside which it turns out is a delicious form of ricotta. My table mates selected crisp fresh churros, the familiar fried dough sticks. I like to try new stuff and I am now a fan of natta. 

Properly stuffed with food and delicious cinnamon coffee (“café de olla”) I sat in the passenger seat and watched the capital city unfold before me. 

We took a tour to see the highlights but Mexico City is packed with history and buildings that reflect that. They shot by one after another…though Angelica did explain to me that President Porfirio Diaz loved European architecture and as Mexico’s dictator was in a position to satisfy his desire. 

I stepped into the metropolitan cathedral after I read the usual warnings about respect for the sacred location and no flash photography and so forth. The first thing I came across weirdly enough were money changers in the temple!

Color me surprised! 

The lady chapel: 

Apparently like much of the rest of old town the cathedral is suffering from subsidence.  It’s sunk three feet in the centuries since it was built and the sinking effect continues. Call it the Aztecs’ revenge. 

Mexico is built on the filled in lakes of the capital of the Aztecs Hernan Cortez discovered and conquered in the 16th century. 

Mass was underway in the parish church next door…

But of course it’s never a bad moment for a vacation picture.

We had planned a visit with Omar’s ancestors. It was only in 1978 that archeologists realized there were the undiscovered remains of the great temple of the Aztecs still sitting under the capital city 

It’s a cast complex with three floors of artifacts dug up from the Aztec city. 

The d she model illustrates the size of the temple against other international landmarks. 

A fire god as I recall with a particular smile that caught my attention. 

Looking at the head below I was forced to wonder where the Pac-Man creators got their inspiration. 

The tree below dig up on the site was supposed to be the entrance to the underworld. I have no idea how they believed this stuff but there again even today common sense seems out the window on all sorts of subjects. 

They are spending about 300 million dollars to excavate this place and the work started in 1982. It has a ways to go. 

The huge depiction apparently shows the goddess of the moon cut into our es and bleeding which seems a common theme in Aztec myth. 

They had a van magnet to offer to the goddess. I thought I’d better cover all bases. 

The presidential palace, below. Mexican presidents get one six year term with no reelection. The current resident is a leftist not much liked by the US government but is a friend of Russia. He’s working to get the mayor of Mexico City elected after his term expires but she’s not terribly popular. Lopez Obrador’s enemies are expecting foul play as he tends to take his lead from the Trump playbook oddly where a loss is unacceptable. Makes me glad I’m just a tourist. 

Omar negotiated a ride back to the car in electric cycle taxis. 

Odd but functional. Mexico City is struggling to deal with air pollution in a city of twenty million people. 

A nice surprise when we got back to the parking garage where the personnel left the car on the street and police removed the front tag. There was no ticket on the windshield. 

$40 cash (700 pesos) got the tag back. You need a permit to drive into the city if you are an outsider. I don’t plan to get one. 

Alls well that ends well. Home to a nap after a great day. Rusty and little Tule were happy to see us back.