Downtown

On Saturday, Alejandro and I had an errand to run in the "Centro Histórico", so we took the Metrobus downtown.  The Secretariat of Health recently lifted the requirement that face masks be worn on public transport and inside public buildings.  However, we wore our masks on the crowded bus, and the majority of the other passengers were wearing masks also.

Here are some random photos I took while we were downtown.

This sign near the Palace of Fine Arts is announcing the first big event of the Day of the Dead season... the Alebrije Parade which will be held next Saturday.  

The parade is sponsored by the Museum of Popular Arts, and features enormous "alebrijes", colorful figures of fantastical creatures.  The parade had not been held for a couple of years due to the pandemic, but it has returned this year.  Alejandro and I have attended several of the parades in previous years, and it is one of my favorite events of the Day of the Dead season.  We plan to be in attendance next weekend.

Passing the "Dulcería de Celaya", Mexico City's oldest candy store, we saw that the shop window was already decorated for Day of the Dead.  There was a miniature model of the storefront and a throng of skeletons outside.

Day of the Dead banners of "papel picado" (cut paper) were hanging from the balcony of one of the buildings in the Historic Center.

Reaching the main plaza, the Zócalo, we saw that most of the Cathedral was covered in scaffolding, probably for repairs or restoration.

There is always something going on downtown, and that weekend the Zócalo was the site of the 22nd International Book Fair.  

In the numerous tents that were set up, publishers and bookstores had stalls.  There were other tents that were being used as auditoriums where authors were giving talks.

As much as I love books, we did not take the time to really look at or buy any of the merchandise for sale.  I do not even know if there were any books in English at this supposedly "international" event. 

Alejandro was getting thirsty, so we popped into a branch of "La Parroquia de Veracruz", which bills itself as the most famous café in Mexico.  The original is, as the name implies, in the port city of Veracruz, but the business has expanded to include locations in other cities, including several branches in Mexico City.  

We both had the café's signature drink, "café lechero", which is similar to the French "café au lait".  Steamed milk is poured into a glass which has very strong coffee in the bottom.  Alejandro also had a piece of cake, and I had flan.

 Rested and fortified, we then walked back to a Metrobus station to return to the apartment.