Now that I’ve had a short break from this, here I am again, with Part II details of our week in Ciudad de México.
In my last post, I detailed our day in the Centro Histórico of the city. That was Sunday — exhausting but beautiful.
On Monday, our friends Paola and Alberto drove from Querétaro to meet us. The last time we saw Paola was when she came to Merida a year or so ago to join me for a long weekend in Cancun. We really appreciated the effort she and Alberto made to see us this time. The drive from Querétaro to CDMX is about 2.5 hours when there is no traffic. And, as you probably guessed from my earlier post, there is ALWAYS traffic! A true sign of friendship!
Our day together included visiting two areas of the city — Tlalpan and Coyoacan.
Tlalpan & Coyoacan
Tlalpan and Coyoacan are two districts in CDMX that have retained their historic small-town feel. The central areas feature lovely plazas surrounded by house museums, local shops, churches and restaurants. If all of CDMX were like these two areas, it would be a joy to spend time there. The fact is, however, that they are the exceptions to what is otherwise a chaotic and crowded metropolis.
That said, in Tlalpan, we visited the Casa Frissac, where they were in the process of preparing for the Day of the Dead celebrations. The site was closed, but Paola convinced the guard to let us in as the website said the site would be open. We were only able to stroll the gardens during the day, but on 2 November, we returned for the nighttime activities.
Casa Frissac by Day
Tlalpan by Day
As you can see, the plaza had an enormous altar. Behind it, there was a mural depicting the history of the region from its pre-Hispanic roots to the present. Not sure I got a pic of it, but it was very impressive. Spanned the entire facade of the building.
In addition to the plaza and Casa Frissac, we visited the local market and a bakery, where we bought some Pan de Muerte — a sweet pastry with a slight lemon flavor and dusted with sugar. This bread is only sold around the holiday.
There were also some vendors set up near the parking lot. I bought a hand printed tote back and stopped to take some pics of the bottles of Mezcal, complete with scorpions!
We also visited the local church, both during the day and later at night. Turns out the church was the same one where Paola’s brother had gotten married years before!
Coyoacán
From Tlalpan, we drove a short way to Coyoacán where we were meeting Azucena and Rob for lunch at a lovely Hacienda. Once there, we walked through a park dedicated to Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo before lunch. The setting of the Hacienda was gorgeous! I wish I could say the same of the food, but, alas, it was just “meh.”
After lunch, we toured a house turned museum — Casa del Indio Fernandez — that had been owned by a famous Mexican movie actor-producer-director. Every room was decorated with ofrendas to someone special from the film industry. Quite impressive! In the outside area surrounding the house were a number vendors as well as a special ofrenda dedicated to our animal friends — las mascotas.
Paola and Alberto left us after the house tour, but Azul, Rob, Lyn and I continued our look around.
Not far from the house was the Italian Cultural Institute, a part of the Italian Embassy, or at least part of it. While the Italians don’t celebrate Day of the Dead, the Embassy got into the spirit with a full-on display that included a cemetery along with its other offerings. Our very last stop was a local bar that celebrates Day of the Dead every day.
So, another very busy day in CDMX. Let’s wrap this up in Part III.
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