Touribus and Mexico City Traffic

We wanted to take the Touribus again to explore a different area of Mexico City. The day started out fine, a little hazy and hard on your eyes due to the pollution which wasn’t as bad as might have been expected.  We did notice very few people smoke. With the altitude and the pollution it would be really hard on your lungs if you were a smoker, additionally it’s quite expensive.

We got on the bus, mostly Mexican tourists, we didn’t notice any other nationalities except for one couple from Quebec carrying a French guidebook.  The bus goes down one of the greatest avenues in Mexico City, la Reforma. It’s where all the big hotels are, lots of businesses have their headquarters there as well. There’s also a trendy mall with the usual assortment of brand names. Last time we were in the city there was a big demonstration heading for the government buildings in the zocalo and they sort of grouped around there. We just followed along with them. This time no demonstration and we didn’t get off the bus.

We wanted to link up with another tourbus which would take us past the Frida Kahlo museum and onto the barrio of El Angel which was described as quaint with cobblestone streets and where Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo shared tow different houses linked by a small bridge. Handy for those days when you jus can’t stand each other.

We got off in the district of Roma and if you have seen the film you might know that the houses don’t look like much from the outside but they reveal a huge expanse with an interior courtyard and often a garage of sorts. It was interesting to note how incredibly difficult making the film must have been. It’s not exactly filled with vintage cars, there’s lots of traffic, newer buildings,cafes, it’s thoroughly modern looking in fact. I remember reading that Alfonso Charon, the. Director, would have to try many many shots in order to get the one perfect shot right.

The Touribus to El Angel arrived, little did we know that we would be stuck on there for a while, much longer than anticipated. The barrio itself turned out to be quaint but there was only the one street, the  Frida Kahlo barrio was bigger and much prettier but we couldn’t get off there because the next bus would have been too long coming. Most people got off at the Blue House.  The rest of the trip was a bit of a blur except for the relentless traffic.  If you think anyone of the big cities in Canada is bad never ever come to Mexico City. Cars are allowed on alternate days according to license plates via the net which informs you. We were told this by a reliable source who also told us that the average household (read middle class and up) has 3 cars in order to accommodate this law. Not sure how effective it is but apparently fines are very very high. Every day there are new cars being added to the mix. It’s frightening.  We were stuck on that bus for what felt like forever, the Touribus that never ends. The company has also given up on providing different languages so it’s all in Spanish over the loudspeaker. At some point nobody gives a crap because they’re either sleeping, texting, playing with their phones or cursing the day they ever got on that bus.

Problem is even if you do get off you’re still stuck in traffic and it doesn’t go any faster by car plus we had already paid for the day.  It’s difficult to describe just how seriously bad the traffic is. We are talking bumper to bumper for kilometres and remember this is a gigantic city, lots of streets to cover. On the positive side the city is pretty clean, not much garbage lying around. People seem to be more predisposed to pick up their refuse and put it in the right bins, more recycling going on too. A lot of people use the bikes like they have in Montreal, they also have trotinettes which are electric and appear in the city here and there.  Not unusual to see someone wearing a suit on one of those and who cam blame him for leaving the car at home....

We finally got off in the Roma barrio and had an excellent burger with a cold refreshing Dos Equis beer. We were limited in terms of food option but that burger tasted very very good indeed.  Tomorrow will be Puebla time. We were happy to get back to our hotel and a pleasantly hot shower. Onward and upward.

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Museums

Had a great day today but first a little note I want to bring to the attention of future travelers here. Mexico City is so huge that distances going from point A to point B can be really difficult to navigate by bus and metro especially when you don’t know the names of the streets and it’s never very clearly indicated on the buses.  We have had to rely mostly on taxis to get around. This is where the bulk of our expense has gone, excluding, of course, the hotel.  There is no way around that.  Last time we were here we did take the metro but they separate women from the men thus we were riding in different compartments and not too sure where we were to get off. Luckily we managed.  The buses come in different shapes, sizes and states, some not too great looking. Again way too complicated in a city this size.
Today we spent 45.00 in cab fare but that’s 3 cabs in total with an average time each ride of around 45 minutes.  Apparently a 45 minute cab ride is short in Mexico City.
We arrived at the Frida Kahlo Blue House where she spent a big part of her life. That was the first place where there was a crowd and some foreigners.  We had a little bit of a waiting time but it was well worth it.
The house itself is composed of many buildings, painted blue on the outside, with a beautiful spacious interior courtyard.
The Museum has many original Frida Kahlo paintings, including lithographs, photographs, her studio, with her iconic wheelchair, her bedroom and a number of the dresses called Tejuana dresses which she especially favoured.
Due to an accident which left her partially crippled she wore a lot of corsets which she decorated with many motifs some of them political. She remained a committed activist and Communist for most of her life.  I did take some photos with the IPad and will be attempting to post some later. Frida and Diego Rivera entertained a number of famous people in the Blue house.  One of the most famous guests was Trotsky with whom Frida had a brief affair. Trotsky was always concerned with the threat of assassination with good reason since he did end up with an icepick in his skull so Diego tried to accommodate him by buying the house next  to Frida which was very generous of him. There are many interesting photos of their time together.
The ticket booth was very weird with a mirror on one side and a little opening to talk so you couldn’t see who you were dealing with. I asked for the tickets in Spanish, guess my accent was pretty damn good because she asked how old we were. I responded with the truth which I won’t mention here but suffice it to say that we got in as Mexican citizens for the grand total of $2.64.  This ticket allowed us to visit the Diego Rivera museum in another part of town requiring anothert taxi.
The museum was designed by Rivera and is absolutely impressive. It’s built entirely of black volcanic rock recuperated from volcanic eruptions close to that area. It’s a massive building in the style of an Aztec pyramid with ceramic tile ceilings and alcoves filled with archeological treasures. There is a beautiful courtyard unadorned with plants or flowers except for three gorgeously huge  Aloe Vera plants.  There is also a sketch for a monumental mural consisting of 3 panels. It apparently represents one of the largest murals ever conceived.
A great day and with our previous cab waiting we headed back to El Centro. Traffic wasn’t bad at all. Tomorrow another adventure awaits.

Mexico City Redux o

This is our second time in Mexico City and it’s been very enjoyable so far. The trip from the airport was smooth. The airport was not overly busy for a city of 20 million plus.  Most travelers were taking connecting flights to other parts of the country or buses for cities nearby.  We haven’t seen too many tourists even in the zocalo which is one of the busiest places in the center of the city.
We were lucky to find this hotel, Hotel Marlowe, the first time around and it’s proven as ideal the second time.  There are a lot of food options nearby, it’s an area teeming with people, it feels very safe but of course one can never be too careful.
There are still a lot of security guards and police as well as army patrolling the streets.  The site of army trucks loaded with soldiers carrying heavy artillerie is sort of freaky at first but we remember similar sights especially in Guatemala.
Today we had a leisurely breakfast with all the fixings, coffee was even pretty good, not Nescafé, and it cost about $8.00 for the two of us.  We then headed for the tallest building in Latin America, one of the 50 tallest in the world and had a great visit admiring the huge city from the 43rd. Floor.  The city is absolutely phenomenal in size.  Not a great location, in a deep valley, ringed by mountains, two of them volcanoes.
Of course initially the city was surrounded by water which made it an ideal defensive location. The Spaniards changed all that when they won the war and defeated the Aztecs. They proceeded to drain the water and pave it over.  The only evidence of Aztecs having been in Mexico City is the Templo Major which was rediscovered in the mid seventies by an electrical company doing some excavating. The Catholic Church did everything in its power to erase all traces of the infidels in the city and they more or less succeeded except for these lingering ruins of the original city.
This evening we walked quite a few blocks in search of Garibaldi Plaza. We ended up in an iffy area of town, didn’t find the plaza and decided to turn back.
We found a new pasteleria store. There is a bewildering choice of all types of pastries, the biggest pastry stores we have seen and the pastries, as per usual, looked good. We had very good coffee and an  apple pie which turned out to be excellent.  I think pastries have improved tremendously since we last visited Mexico. They’re obviously using better flour, there are more whole wheat choices, healthier choices which is great to see.
Like elsewhere Mexicans appear to be extremely fond of their cellphones. They are on them constantly. Prices appear to be quite low thus affordable. One thing I noticed the Chinese company Huwei is very big here. Lots of ads. For their phones. Apparently Mexicans are not afraid of a little espionage by the Chinese or that their technology will eventually subsume theirs.
Tomorrow we have a big day planned. Going to visit the Frida Kalho Blue House and the Diego Rivera museum plus a whole lot of other interesting things to do and see.  The weather has been great. It’s even too hot but ok won’t complain about that one.