Another quiz: "Name That Ruin!"

Mexico is incredibly rich in archaeological sites.  It would probably take a lifetime to visit them all... and by that time archaeologists would have uncovered yet more.  Alejandro and I enjoy wandering among ruins and climbing pyramids.  We have visited a number of sites during my visits to Mexico.

Below is a picture that I took in April of 2013...

My first question should be fairly easy to answer...  What Pre-Hispanic deity is portrayed in this carving?

My second question is...  In which archaeological site is this carving located?

I will tell you that the site was an important city and is quite impressive.  It is fairly accessible, and has a visitors' center and museum.  However, it is not visited by very many foreign tourists.  Can you name it?

UPDATE:  That was really quick.  Joan, the winner of my last quiz, correctly identified the deity in the carving as Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent.  She also answered that the carving is located in Xochicalco.  Xochicalco is located about 50 miles from Mexico City in the state of Morelos.  It was an important trade center, and was at its height between AD 700 and 900.  I shall have to write a more detailed post about my visit there.

Congratulations, again, Joan!

La Casa de la Bola

On my final Sunday in Mexico City last month, Alejandro and I were trying to decide where to go.  On the internet I found a museum which I had never visited... La Casa de la Bola.  It is only open on Sundays, so we decided to go there.

La Casa de la Bola is located in the neighborhood of Tacubaya, to the south of Chapultepec Park.  It was once on the outskirts of the city, and many wealthy families owned country estates there.  By the 20th century it was swallowed up by the growth of the city, and it is far from the bucolic area it once was.  One reminder of Tacubaya's past is La Casa de la Bola, a mansion which was built in the 17th century.  The last owner of the house was Antonio Hagenbeck, an eccentric Mexican of German descent.  In the 1940s Hagenbeck bought the house, restored it, and furnished it with antiques.  He lived there until his death in 1984.  His will set up a foundation to preserve the mansion and its furnishings as a museum.

On Sundays visitors may take guided tours of the house and see about a dozen of the lavishly furnished rooms.  Haghenbeck lived his life surrounded by the elegance typical of an upper class 19th century home.

Unfortunately photography is not permitted within the rooms, but I found some pictures on the web.

(images from the web)

Behind the house are gardens designed in the "romantic" style.  Curving pathways lead through a "natural" setting, interspersed with marble statuary.





Haghenbeck also owned two former hacienda houses, one in the Mexico City district of Tlalnepantla, and another in the state of Puebla.  They also are preserved as museums.  I guess we have a couple excursions to make on my future visits.

"Where in Mexico?" Quiz

One of the blogs which I regularly read is "The Mexile" (you will find the link on my "bloglist" to the side).  It is written by Gary Denness, a fellow from England who lived in Mexico for a number of years.  On his latest entry, he posted a photo of a mural painting in Mexico, and asked his readers if anyone could identify it.  We quickly were able to name the artist, but, as of yet, no one has been able to identify the location of the painting.

I have enjoyed trying to figure it out, so I thought I would be a blatant copycat, and post my own little quiz. 

I went through an old photo album, and pulled out a picture that I took back in 1973 when I was a college student studying at the University of the Americas in Cholula, Mexico.  (Back in those days I was using a little "Kodak Instamatic" camera.)

So here is the photo...

 

 

I'm not going to ask you to name the artist, since.he was not internationally famous. (But kudos to you if you can... and even more kudos if you can spell his Nahuatl name correctly!)

 

 

Can any of my well-traveled readers tell me where this colorful mural painting is located?  I will tell you that it is not in Mexico City, but it is within a couple hours drive from the capital.

 

¡Buena suerte!

 

UPDATE: I had one incorrect guess on the location of the mural, so I will give you a clue...

                   It's location is to the east of Mexico City.

 

UPDATE: Another reader incorrectly guessed Puebla.  Here's another clue...

                 Unlike Puebla, which was founded by the Spanish, this city has Pre-Hispanic

                 roots.

 

UPDATE: We have a winner!  A reader by the name of Joan correctly answered Tlaxcala. 

 

The city of Tlaxcala is the capital of the state of Tlaxcala, the smallest state in Mexico.  It is located about two hours to the east of Mexico City.  In Pre-Hispanic Mexico the Tlaxcaltecas were one of the few tribes of central Mexico not to be subjugated by the Aztecs.  When the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés arrived on the scene, the Tlaxcaltecas allied themselves with the Spanish against their enemies, the Aztecs.  Without their help, Cortés might not have succeeded in conquering Mexico.

 

The photo above is of small section of a series of murals in the government palace of Tlaxcala.  They were painted by a local artist by the name of Desiderio Hernández Xochitiotzin (1922-2007).  The paintings depict the history of Tlaxcala. (The portion above shows the chieftains of the tribe.)  Xochitiotzin began the murals in 1967, and upon his death he still was not finished.  The paintings are considered the last large scale work of the Mexican muralist movement.

 

Congratulations to Joan for answering correctly!!

 

 

 

 



Another Dining Recommendation

After our Saturday morning boat ride along the canals of Xochimilco, Alejandro and I drove back to my apartment.  The traffic was horrendous.  Not only was it a holiday weekend (Revolution Day was not until Thursday, but most people had Monday off), but it was also "el Buen Fin", the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.  It seemed as if everyone were on the road, and the drive took forever.

Back at my apartment, we were trying to decide what to do that afternoon.  I didn't want Alejandro to have to put up with any more weekend traffic, so I suggested that we take the subway downtown to the "Centro Histórico".  The subway was packed like sardines, and Madero Street, the pedestrianized main street of the "centro" was thronged with people too.  We went to the art exhibit at the Palacio de Iturbide which I had seen earlier in the week.  It was such an excellent exhibit that I did not mind visiting it again.  Alejandro was thoroughly impressed with the display of Mexican paintings which spanned the centuries from colonial times to the present day.  For me it was more fun the second time around since I had someone with me to comment on the art. 

It was then time to eat, and I suggested a well-known restaurant in the "centro"... El Cardenal.  I mentioned El Cardenal some months ago in an earlier post.  The restaurant receives high praise in the reviews on TripAdvisor.  I first visited the place three years ago for a late breakfast after attending a Sunday morning performance of the "Ballet Folklórico".  I was not that impressed.  However, on a later trip, I gave it another try, and I had an excellent dinner there. 

El Cardenal is a very elegant, old-style restaurant that serves traditional Mexican recipes.  One can imagine, in decades past, well-dressed society matrons and businessmen in suits and ties lunching here.  Today, the dress code is not so formal, but the atmosphere is still quite grand.  We were ushered into an elevator to take us to the upper story dining room.

Alejandro had chicken covered in a salsa prepared in a "molcajete".  A "molcajete" is the Pre-Hispanic version of a mortar and pestle.  It is made of volcanic stone, and, before the advent of the electric blender, it was used for grinding the ingredients for salsa.  Alejandro said his meal was delicious.

 

 

I had pork with "mole negro".  "Mole"  (pronounced - MOH- lay) is a complex sauce made with a huge variety of ingredients.  There are many different kinds of "moles".  "Mole Negro" is from the state of Oaxaca, and is considered "the King of Moles".  One of its many ingredients is chocolate, which gives it its dark color.  It was excellent!  Alejandro, who is a very good judge of "mole", had a taste, and he concurred.  The meal was served with wonderful, hot, home-made tortillas.  Alejandro says, "You can't have 'mole' without tortillas!"

 

(photo taken by Alejandro)

 

For dessert we both had "flan".  "Flan" is a custard that is typical in both Spain and Mexico.  I think it was perhaps the best "flan" that I have ever had in a restaurant!

 

 

 

 



The prices at El Cardenal are not cheap, but you definitely get good quality for your money.  I would have to place it up there with our favorite restaurant, Angelopolitano,. as a recommended place for superb Mexican dining.

The Other Side of Xochimilco

In Pre-Hispanic times, much of the Valley of Mexico, where Mexico City is today located, was covered with a series of shallow, connected lakes.  More than 1000 years ago, the residents of the valley began building rafts made of tree branches..  They would pile mud from the lake bottom upon the rafts, and use them as agricultural plots.  Over the course of time these "floating gardens" became rooted to the lake bottom, creating little islands, known as "chinampas", with a network of canals between them. 

After the arrival of the Spanish, most of the lakes were gradually drained away to protect Mexico City from disastrous floods which would periodically occur.  Today a remnant of this ancient agricultural system survives on the south side of the city at Xochimilco.  Here there are still more than 110 miles of canals crisscrossing the "chinampas".  Xochimilco was once a separate town, but now is a part of the urban sprawl of Mexico City.  The "floating gardens" of Xochimilco are a favorite place for Mexico City families to take a weekend outing as well as a popular destination for foreign tourists.  They rent small, flat-bottomed boats called "trajineras", similar to gondolas, and boatmen take them on a ride along the canals.  The "trajineras" have arches supporting a roof to protect the visitors from the sun.  The arches were traditionally decorated with colorful flowers, but today most of them are simply brightly painted.

Most visitors to the "floating gardens" go to the docks, or "embarcaderos" located in the center of Xochimilco.  On weekends the canals here are crowded with "trajineras" and other boats with vendors selling food, flowers and souvenirs to the visitors. Other boats carry bands of musicians who, for a fee, will row alongside a party of tourists, and serenade them.  A few years ago, Alejandro took me to Xochimilco, along with a couple of visiting cousins of his, and we enjoyed the party atmosphere along the busy canals.

        

Separate from the main area of the Xochimilco docks, there is another "embarcadero" called Cuemanco.  It is located near the site where the rowing competitions were held for the 1968 Summer Olympics.  Although Cuemanco receives a fair number of local visitors, it is virtually unknown to foreign tourisits.

On my last visit to Mexico City, Alejandro took me to Cuemanco, and we hired a young boatman to take us on an hour and a half trip along the canals.

 

The "embarcadero" at Cuenmanco

 

 

(photo taken by Alejandro)



With our boatman Carlos

 

 

Alejandro on our "trajinera"

 

 

We set off along the canals of Cuemanco.

 

 

Although it was a holiday weekend, it was still morning, and there were very few other visitors.  The morning was mostly cloudy and misty.  As we traveled the silent canals, it was almost surreal to imagine that we were in the middle of a metropolis of 20 million people.  It seemed that we were a thousand miles away from the hustle and bustle of one of the world's largest cities.

 

.

 

As the morning progressed, we began to see a few other boats with local families enjoying a peaceful holiday outing.

 

 

 

There were even a couple of boats of "norteño" musicians hoping to be hired by visitors to play.

 

 

 

The area is an important waterfowl sanctuary.

 

 

 

The "chinampas" are still used for agriculture.  Vegetables and flowers are grown here.  Our boatman told us that marigolds, the traditional flower for the Day of the Dead, are cultivated on these islands.  We didn't see any flowers, however.  I suspect that they had all been harvested a couple weeks before for the Day of the Dead.  We did see a lot of dairy farming.  The farmers use the milk to make cheese which they sell in the markets.

 

 

After about an hour and a half, we returned to the "embarcadero".

 

Our excursion was a tranquil break from the busy capital.

 

 

 



Swanky Polanco

The neighborhood of Condesa where I usually stay when I am in Mexico City, is an affluent, upper-middle class district.  However, it is not where the very rich live.  There are other neighborhoods, such as Lomas de Chapultepec, El Pedregal, and Polanco that are much more exclusive. 

Some Americans have an image of Mexico City as one vast slum.  Indeed, probably one half of the city lives in poverty, but there are also many millionaires.  Metropolitan Mexico City has a population of over twenty million people.  The top two percent would constitute more than 400,000 people... that's more than the population of my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.

The most accessible of the posh neighborhoods is Polanco.  Although it is close to the attractions of Chapultepec Park, and has many upscale hotels and restaurants, it is not a district that I frequently visit.  There is very little of touristic interest here... unless one's idea of a vacation is to shop in ritzy designer shops.  However, on my latest visit to Mexico City I decided to spend some time wandering around the neighborhood and taking some pictures for my blog.

Polanco was first developed in the late 1930s, and became the new "in" place for the city's elite.  The original homes there were luxurious mansions built in neo-colonial style.  Some of those older houses still exist.

 

 

However, as the neighborhood continued to develop, many of the old mansions were torn down, or converted into embassies or commercial offices and businesses.  Modern homes and high-rise apartment buildings filled the district.  An apartment in Polanco can cost millions of dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The main street in Polanco is Avenida Presidente Masaryk (named after the first President of Czechoslovakia).  When the more central "Zona Rosa" neighborhood became less fashionable, most of the upscale stores moved here.  Today Avenida Presidente Masaryk is often compared to Rodeo Drive.

 

 

 

 

At the time that I was there, construction work was being done on the avenue and the sidewalks, so it seemed a bit less glamorous than usual.

 

Some of the shops along the avenue had signs advertising sales for "el Buen Fin".  "El Buen Fin" is a weekend in November that is comparable to our "Black Friday".  It is the official beginning of the holiday shopping season, and stores are offering discounts.

 

 

 

However, the majority of the stores along the avenue were not offering "Buen Fin" specials.  After all, one does not shop at Gucci or Tiffany's expecting bargains!

 

 

 

This is one Mexico City neighborhood where I, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, felt like a plebian.  I did not go into any of the shops.  The intimidating doormen / security guards, dressed in suits and ties, would have probably looked down their noses at me if I had entered these domains of the very rich.

 



Snow

When I returned home from Mexico on Tuesday, I was greeted with bitter cold and snow.  But here in the western suburbs of Cleveland we only had enough snow to barely cover the ground... nothing compared to the 60 inches which hit western New York state, or even the heavier snowfall in the "snow belt" of Cleveland's eastern suburbs.

Last night it snowed again, and this is what I woke up to...

 

 

 

Again, it's nothing compared to what some parts of the country are suffering, but it is still a shock to jump straight into winter after eighteen days of 70 degrees and sunshine in Mexico City!

 

I really should go out and start up the snow blower, but I don't have to go anywhere today, and tomorrow the temperature is going to approach 50 degrees.  So, I think I will just be lazy and stay inside!