Chapultepec Park on the Day of the Dead

This morning my friend Alejandro and I went out for breakfast at a nearby VIPS.  VIPS is a chain of restaurants found throughout Mexico... sort of like a Denny's but with better food.  Some people badmouth VIPS.  Yeah, it's definitely not a gourmet place, and the decor is as bland as a Denny's.  But there are times when you aren't looking for a fine dining experience, or an adventure in some little hole in the wall that may or may not serve good food.  You just want a reliable place where you know you can get a decent meal.  And at every VIPS that I have visited, the service has been excellent.  Now in case any of you are shaking your heads thinking that I am going to spend my vacation eating at chain restaurants, I'll tell you that I have already spotted three restaurants near my apartment that I want to try.  One is called La Casa de las Enchiladas.  A friend of Alejandro's says that it's very good.  Next door to that is a restaurant specializing in the cuisine of the Yucatán Peninsula, which is quite distinct from the cooking of central Mexico.  And about a block further away is a place that serves my very favorite Mexican dish, "chiles en nogada", a poblano pepper stuffed with a mixture of meat and fruit, and topped with a cream nut sauce and pomegranate seeds.

OK, enough about food.

Today is a gray, dreary day... not the best for sightseeing or photography.  However I suggested to Alejandro that we go to Chapultepec Park because I had read that this weekend they are having a contest for the best "ofrenda."  (If you read my post from a few days ago, you know that an "ofrenda" is a display set up on the Day of the Dead to honor the departed.)  The park is a short bus ride from the apartment.  In Spanish it is called "el bosque de Chapultepec" (Chapultepec Forest)  It is Mexico City's largest park, and has been a vast woodland since the days of the Aztecs when it was the emperor's hunting ground.  Most tourists only know a small portion of the park where some of the city's best museums are located.  Beyond the museums are many paved paths wandering through the forest.  One of them, "la Calzada de los Poetas" (the Walkway of the Poets) is lined with statues of famous Mexican poets.  This is where the contest is being held... and the "ofrendas" are in memory of the individual poets.  It was an interesting visit and it's always nice to stroll around Chaputepec Park.  But I have to say that we saw two "ofrendas" right here in the neighborhood that were much better than those in the contest.

Getting back to food.... on the way back to the apartment, we stopped at a bakery and bought a couple small loaves of "Pan de Muerto", and we made rather short work of those.

                                                 Alejandro in Chapultepec Park.
    The Ohio State sweatshirt he's wearing was not purchased when he came up to Ohio for a visit.
                                            He found it in a market in Mexico City!

                                                            Balloon vendor in the park

                                         Many of the children visiting the park were in costume.

 

"Ofrenda" in front of the monument to the poet Antonio Plaza.  Unfortunately I was unable to capture a picture of the squirrel who was nibbling the food.  Or perhaps the spirit of Antonio Plaza came back in the form of a squirrel to enjoy his "ofrenda". 

Some old gringo visiting the "ofrendas"

"Ofrenda" to the 17th century poet and playwright Juan Ruiz de Alarcón

 "Ofrenda" to the poet and archaeologist Carlos Pellicer

An elaborate street corner "ofrenda" a couple blocks from my apartment

The display in the atrium of the parish church down the street from my apartment

The Bread of the Dead before its sudden disappearance