DF's Historic Center (Part 2)

Happy December 1st! Even though I've been in Mexico for the past 13 months, it still amazes me that I can walk around in a t-shirt and jeans, and still feel warm in December! Today I went walking in DF's historic center yet again, even though Sunday is the worst day to go, crowd-wise. Unfortunately, three of the places I wanted to visit were closed! Two were churches (churches closed on Sunday...wait, what?), and another was a government building that is filled with Diego Rivera murals. Sigh. Maybe another day. But, today was not a loss! Here's what I did get to see today.

I started off by walking past the Hemiciclo a Juarez, a monument to one of Mexico's favorite presidents.

More of Hemiciclo a Juarez

I worked up the courage to get near the giant spider/nope/nope
combination statue. WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME, DF?

Christmas decorations up in the Zocalo!

Another picture of the Metropolitan Cathedral... 

The giant Christmas tree is up in the Zocalo!

On the plus side of visiting the historic center on a weekend, you can always find a performance.

The Santa Catarina church. Old, crumbling, and has stuff growing out of it...and not open to visitors today.

Last stop: the Capilla de la Conchita 10. Why 10? Not a clue. I'm aware of two Conchitas located here in DF.

Aaaaand, that was all that I saw today! I'm hoping to make it back to the historic center next week to see the Diego Rivera murals, and maybe a few of the many museums there. So, maybe in the near future, there will be a "DF's Historic Center, Part 3"...maybe. I've got a few more places on my list that I'm hoping to get to before I visit Iowa for Christmas, so there could be another post or two up sometime in the next 10 days!

DF's Historic Center

...Guess who has a camera again? (Thanks, papa!)

With the rainy season ending, and a more open schedule, I'm able to spend much more time outdoors these days. Earlier this week, I walked to the Historic Center of DF to take some pictures of the famous buildings and visit some of the 16th, 17th, and 18th century churches.

Parroquia de San Fernando, a nearly 300-year-old church nestled at the end of a quiet side-street.

Iglesia de San Juan de Dios. This church's construction began over 400 years ago.

Built in the early 1700's, the Parroquia de la Santa Veracruz is in a state of disrepair, and
the building itself is actually crooked due to the church being built on soft ground and years
of earthquakes shifting  the land. The inside of the church is simple in comparison to some
of the other churches, but still has the archways and ceilings adorned in golden decorations.

El Palacio de Correos de Mexico, or the Postal "Palace." It was built not too long
ago, in the early 1900's, and is a fully-functioning (and incredibly fancy) post office.

In the Postal Palace. I've never wanted to work in a post office so bad before. (Yep, those are marble floors).

El Templo y Ex-Convento de Santo Domingo, a church built in 1773 (still older than the USA).

Inside the Santo Domingo church. It's so eerily quiet here, I felt like each footstep would echo throughout the church.

Iglesia de la Profesa--yet another 300-year-old church, off of the pedestrian street Francisco I Madero.

Inside the Iglesia de la Profesa. There are no half-assed churches in DF, not even the smaller ones.

The first Franciscan Temple in Mexico City, the Iglesia de San Francisco, is nearly 500-years-old.

The inside of the Iglesia de San Francisco, complete with the golden apse and huge religious paintings on the walls.

Bellas Artes on a beautiful November day. On the bottom right of the building, see that thing
that looks like a giant spider/nope/nope combination? That's not usually there. Thank God. 

Easily the most iconic Cathedral in Mexico City, the Metropolitan Cathedral is huge! (Probably because
they started building it in 1573 and then spent the next 240 years adding sections on to it). Fun fact: stones
from the ruins of the Templo Mayor, which is directly beside/behind the cathedral, were used to make the
original cathedral way back in 1573. Cortes even made the Aztecs build his cathedral with the ruins of their city.

A section of the inside of the Metropolitan Cathedral. I got in trouble for taking a picture with worshiping people in it...

Another section inside the Metropolitan Cathedral. Wowza!

This walk around the Historic Center ate up several hours of my morning, and then I had to run off to work, but there is much more to this area. I'm sure I'll be heading back there soon enough, as it's one of my favorite areas to go for a walk!

Dia de los Muertos -- Day of the Dead

Happy Halloween and Dia de los Muertos to you! The Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico is a huge cultural holiday, and while it is sometimes reduced to the Mexican version of Halloween, it is really really different. Shortly speaking, it's a two-day celebration to remember loved ones who have passed on. November 1st is to celebrate the children who have passed, and November 2nd is for the older people who have passed. Unexpectedly, it's a really happy day: people aren't mourning their losses, but celebrating lives lived. During these days, it's common to see a lot of "ofrendas" or offerings, "catrinas" or skeleton ladies, sugar/candy skulls, "papel picado" or paper cutout scenes, "cempasúchil" or Mexican marigolds, candles, holiday breads, and drinks. During the nights, people take to the cemeteries, and make offerings to their deceased loved ones using their old favorite foods, flowers, candies, drinks, toys (if it was a child), et cetera. While I am for the moment still camera-less, my awesome roommate let me use the camera on her phone (thanks Anabel!) when we went to see the ofrendas competition at the biggest university in Latin America: UNAM. Here's some of what we saw.

I don't know what these guys were supposed to be, but they were interesting to say the least!

The absolutely gorgeous library at UNAM, where we attended the student offerings competition.

Panoramic picture (rearranged some faces) of the crowd at UNAM.

The corn husks on the ground make me think of tamales, another traditional food...Mmmmmmmmm

A Catrina

That's it for Dia de los Muertos pictures this year! I was super-thankful that I at least got to take some pictures of the celebration. Perhaps next year I'll make the trip to Michoacan, where they're famous for their Day of the Dead festivities.




P.S.

Remember when I first arrived here last year and:

Myself with a catrina (that's actually a man under there) by the Bellas Artes Palace.

Some dick stole my camera.

So, I probably won't be posting much until I can get a new one. Unless I feel like making some long-winded and picture-less story or rant about daily happenings, culture, and my life here in general.

In related news, I moved into a new apartment! (My camera disappeared during its time in the back of the moving truck). I'm only 3 kilometers from where I used to be, but my new place is cheaper, has awesome roommates, and is really well-connected to the rest of the city via public transport. But, I don't have a camera anymore to show off my new place. Yeah, I'm bitter.

Chapultepec Park, Section One: Castle, Zoo, some Monuments

In Mexico City, there is no park more famous or loved than Chapultepec Park. This park is always bustling with every type of person: parents with small children on their way to the zoo, school tours of all age groups wanting to see the castle and monuments, joggers looking to get in a nice run, couples out for a romantic stroll, and of course, tourists hoping to see all the famous historical sites and museums that this park has to offer. Chapultepec offers something for everyone. The more popular paths are lined with vendors and their stands, selling food, souvenirs, miniature paintings, and even plants. The less popular paths, however, are very quiet and well-suited for those who seek a bit of peace within the metropolis.

One sunny September morning, I visited a portion of Section One of the park. Chapultepec Park has three sections, and visiting them all could take well up to a week. I had 5-6 hours to visit the castle, zoo, and some monuments in Section One.

Upon entering the park at the Gate of the Lions, the first monument is called Altar a la
Patria, or Monumento a los Niños  Heroes. It is dedicated to the six young military cadets
 who died defending the Chapultepec Castle in 1947. The center sculpture is actually a
mausoleum where the remains of the six cadets and Colonel Santiago Xicotencatl are buried. 

A view of the castle atop the hill

Many of the interior castle walls are covered in murals depicting the history of Mexico.

In one wing of the castle, all of the original furniture and decorations are still in place.

Originally built as a watchtower for the Mexican Military, this structure later served as an observatory.

If you are interested in the castle's history...here is a very choppy, rough-draft, short version of the story:

Construction began in 1785, as ordered in 1784 by Viceroy Matias de Galvez. Following the Viceroy's death soon after, his son, Count Bernardo de Galvez, ordered construction to continue. However, when he died two years later, the Spanish court/crown ordered architects to stop the project because they were uneasy about the pro-independence movement in Mexico. The construction was abandoned and the castle remained unoccupied until 1841, years after the Mexican Revolution and Independence, when it was used to train army officers. In 1847, the U.S. invaded Mexico, and the castle was defended (and lost) by the soldiers and cadets who were studying at the academy during that time. After the conclusion of the war where Mexico lost half of its northern territory to the U.S., the castle was returned to the Military Academy. Starting in 1859, the castle was used to house military generals. During the French Intervention in 1864, the castle was used to house Archduke Maximilian, who was named emperor of Mexico shortly following his arrival. Maximilian had the castle's construction fully completed. Eventually, however, due to his inability to please either political party, the Archduke/Emperor was executed by Benito Juarez in 1867. From 1876 to 1883, the castle served as the grounds for an astronomical, meteorological, and magnetic observatory. In 1881, Porfirio Diaz had another wing added to the castle for the Military Academy. A few years later in 1877, Porfirio Diaz was made President of Mexico, and he adopted the castle as a summer residence. The castle served as the military academy training / presidential manor until 1917; and as solely a presidential manor until 1939, when President Lazaro Cardenas proclaimed the castle as the headquarters for the National History Museum.

After leaving the castle and all its history behind, I made my way to the zoo. Passing one of the lakes on my way, I made a mental note to try out the paddle-boating there sometime.

At the zoo: I'm sure you've all seen about 300 million zoo pictures, so I'll only add two--black bears getting ready to play-fight and lions being lazy. But, the Chapultepec Zoo is really large, and has tons of different species!

Exiting the zoo and taking the long way back to the exit, I walked along a quiet path and passed many fountains and a couple monuments.

Idyllic Chapultepec

Though I did cover a lot of ground in the park, I missed out on 6 museums in Section One, as well as botanical gardens, the Korean Gazebo, Gandhi Park, the lakes, other monuments...well, there's a lot more for me to see. Until another day, Chapultepec Park!