Coyoacan

I spent the first Sunday in May playing tourist in a district called Coyoacan. This area is towards the south of D.F., but it feels like a different city entirely. Coyoacan is the true "old" Mexico City. Old historic buildings, large colonial homes, and cobblestone streets give this area a very unique and cozy feeling. It's only about 40 minutes from my house, via metro. I get off the metro at the station called Viveros. Next to the station, there is a lovely, large park with loads of trees where a lot of people go running.

I was the only one wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and a drawstring backpack that screams "I'm a tourist!"

I walked around this park for about an hour, since I didn't know where anything was in Coyoacan and I would certainly have gotten lost. After awhile, I found my favorite smoothie place (which is actually a chain coffee shop, but has really good smoothies), and stopped in for awhile for the free internet, to orient myself using Google Maps. Then, I mapped out a route for the day. First stop was the Jardin Centenario: a pretty garden-park with a big statue of coyotes in the middle.

The Coyoacan coyotes in the Jardin Centenario

From where I was standing when taking that picture, directly behind me was the Parroquia de San Juan Bautista. (Saint John the Baptist Parish). That is one of the oldest parish churches in Mexico City. From the outside, it looks like this:

Parroquia de San Juan Bautista

The outside of the church is old and pretty, but the inside is really the amazing part. I walked in during a church service, but got some nice pictures from the back of the church.

The inside of Parroquia de San Juan Bautista. It was so beautiful!

In the same plaza, to the left of the churchfront, there is also Hernan Cortes' old house. Quick history lesson: Cortes wasn't a really nice guy. He stole the Aztec's gold and silver, destroyed their empire and their temples, kidnapped Montezuma and stole his house, killed a bunch of people, forced all the natives into Catholicism, and put everybody under Spanish rule. So, that guy used to live here:

Cortes' old house. Now it's some sort of government building. One story, but a very big house nonetheless.

From where I was standing in that picture, turning to the left and and walking two minutes will lead you into the Artisan's Market--a really nice place where people sell their handmade crafts. Here, you can find everything from clothes and blankets to pottery and glassware, home decorations to children's toys, and beautiful jewelry to random trinkets. I'm definitely going back there when I get a good paycheck! (And probably spending way too much money...)

The Artisan's Market. Small entrance, but the market stretches back quite far.

After that, I decided to walk to a small church called La Conchita. Little did I know, just last week archaeologists discovered a hidden tomb below the church! So, I was not able to enter, as it is temporarily closed off. However, the outside was pretty on its own.

The Conchita gardens, with the church just in the background. See the lovely black tarp and white sheet-metal walls blocking off the church? Still, a beautiful church and gardens.



La Conchita, what you can see above the wall.

Next, I stopped in the Frida Kahlo gardens, which were a nice and peaceful place to sit and rest for a bit.

Hey, Frida!

I also stopped by the Frida Kahlo house/museum, Casa Azul, but the line was wrapped all the way around the block. Sunday afternoon is not the time to go. So, I just got a picture of the outside. I was there!


Casa Azul

On my way back to the subway, I took a slightly different route, and happened along the best coffee shop I've ever been to. El Jarocho has the most amazing coffee, hands down. I had something called a Capuchimoka fria, kind of like a cold mochachino. OMG. This could definitely be a Sunday tradition.
Walking with my delicious iced coffee, I continued along a street where I passed many colorful buildings, and some old colonial homes.



A colorful set of restaurants.



Colonial house-gate. They like to hide the houses behind big walls, so nosy tourists like me don't post pictures of strangers' houses on gringa blog sites...

Just as I was approaching the big avenue to take me out of Coyoacan and back to the subway, I passed two small but pretty churches.

Iglesia Santa Catarina--Saint Catherine Church



Capilla de San Antonio--Saint Anthony Chappel

Aaaand that's all I saw on Sunday. At some point in there I had a corn and mushroom quesadilla, and the first churro I've ever eaten, which was filled with something called cajeta, which is similar to caramel but not quite the same. It was a really good day! (Minus the taxi incident, which is mentioned in the previous post).