An Historic Store

Mexico City's "Centro Histórico" is chock full of history.  And although the downtown streets are lined with modern, international retailers, such as Levi's, Adidas, H&M and Zara (the Spanish clothing chain), there are numerous stores that have been here for a century or more and which are rich in history.  One such place is "La Palestina" on Cinco de Mayo Avenue.

The store was founded in 1884 and began as a "talabartería"... a saddlery which catered to the needs of "charros", gentleman horseback riders.

I have passed this store numerous times, and always thought it was a very cool business that was obviously quite old.  However, it was not until Alejandro and I passed by here that I really paid attention to just how historic this place is.

The store still sells saddles and everything that a horseman would need.

However, they expanded their merchandise to include a wide range of leather goods and luggage.  Alejandro told me that when he was a kid, his parents took him here and bought him a book bag for school.  (However, I'm sure they didn't buy him one of these leather satchels that cost over 3000 pesos.)

I am amazed that I never noticed this beautiful brass rail decorated with horses' heads and hooves.  It runs the entire length of the outside of the store.

The rail was used for hitching the horses of customers who came in to buy saddles and other horse-riding equipment.  

There is a magazine article in the shop window which discusses the store's history.  This hitching post is the only one remaining in the city.  During the Mexican Revolution, Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata shopped in this store when their armies marched into Mexico City in 1914, and they hitched their horses here.

 

Return to a Favorite

I have written many times that one of our favorite places to eat in Mexico City is a chain of restaurants called "El Cardenal".  There were three branches downtown, including one on the Plaza Tolsá next to the National Museum of Art.  We frequently ate there because the line of customers waiting for a table was usually not as long as at the original location near the Cathedral.  Prior to the pandemic, that location closed.  A different restaurant moved in, but it received bad reviews and did not survive the pandemic.  Earlier this year I noticed that "El Cardenal" was returning to the elegant, old building on Plaza Tolsá.  On my last weekend in Mexico City, we saw that it was open once again, so we went there for dinner.

The restaurant was crowded, but we only had to wait about ten minutes for a table.

While waiting we checked out the menu at the entrance, but there really no question as to what we were going to order.  This time of year they offer a special menu featuring "chiles en nogada".  

The three-course dinner begins with an "enchilada de huitlacoche".  "Huitlacoche" is what we in the U.S. call "corn smut", a fungus which grows on ears of corn and is considered a blight by farmers in most countries.  In Mexico, however, it is considered a delicacy comparable to truffles in France.  The enchilada was very good.

(You can't see the "huitlcoches", which are black, in this photo, since they are the filling of the enchilada.)

Then came the main course, the "chile in nogada", a poblano pepper stuffed with meat and fruits, covered with a cream walnut sauce and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

The "chile en nogada" at "El Cardenal", is perhaps not quite as good as at our favorite restaurant, "Angelopolitano".  (Unfortunately, we never made it there on this trip.)  However, it was still scrumptious!

For dessert they served "tuna" ice cream.  No, I am not talking about the fish.  "Tuna" in Spanish is the fruit of the prickly pear cactus.  The ice cream was topped with mezcal.  I am not a fan of mezcal, so I asked the waiter if I could have a different flavor.  I ordered instead "mamey" ice cream.  "Mamey" is a tropical fruit virtually unknown in the U.S.

Throughout our dinner, we could hear the beating of drums outside.  Every weekend on the plaza "conchero" dancers gather.  The "concheros" honor their pre-Hispanic roots, dancing for hours on end to the hypnotic beat of the drums.

It was great to have an excellent dinner at the location where we had eaten so many times before.

Getting Festive

On my last weekend in Mexico City Alejandro and I went downtown.  I have never been in Mexico on Independence Day (September 16th); however, I am usually still here in early September.  I don't recall seeing so much patriotic excitement or so many decorations a couple weeks before the national holiday.  (Or maybe on previous trips I simply had not gone downtown toward the end of my stay.)

When Alejandro and I reached Juárez Avenue, even he was surprised to see so many vendors selling flags and other patriotic paraphernalia along the sidewalk of the street.

 

Throughout the "Centro Histórico" there were more vendors set up on many street corners.

This organ grinder had his instrument decorated for the upcoming holiday.

Someone amidst the crowds on Madero Street was waving a Mexican flag.

A building in the "Centro Histórico" decked out in Mexican flags.

We briefly stepped into the lobby of the Hotel Majestic which was decorated in the national colors.

Of course, the "Zócalo", the city's main plaza, was already adorned for the upcoming celebrations.  The National Palace had a stripe of green, white and red bunting running along its entire length.

This will be the focus of attention on the eve of Independence Day when the President steps out onto the balcony and rings the historic independence bell.  You can make out in the photo the green, white and red rope hanging from the bell to the balcony is already in place for the big night.

The buildings around the "Zócalo" are already decorated.  The motif this year is the iconic, snow-covered volcanoes which rise to the east of the city.

There are also portraits of the heroes of independence created from thousands of white light bulbs.

This coming Thursday, the plaza will be jammed with thousands waiting for the President to ring the independence bell.  It's comparable to Times Square on New Year's Eve, except the "Zócalo" holds an even bigger crowd.  Even when I have moved to Mexico permanently, I do not plan to join that crush of people on the eve of Independence Day.

Shine On, Harvest Moon

 Last night was a beautiful September night in Ohio, brightly illuminated by the harvest moon.

(I have a very busy day today, so I will not have time until tomorrow to continue with the last few posts about my trip to Mexico.)

Back Home

Yesterday I flew home from Mexico City.

My flight from Mexico City to Chicago pulled out from the gate exactly on time at 8:10 A.M.

As is usually the case at this busy airport, we waited for about twenty minutes on the runway for our turn to take off.  The day was overcast, and there was no chance of seeing the volcanoes to the east.

After take-off we could look down on Mexico City before ascending above the clouds.

About four hours later we were over the farmlands of Illinois as we began our descent to Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

We actually passed within sight of O'Hare, flew out over Lake Michigan, and circled back to approach the airport from the east.

After landing, passing through immigration and customs was quick and painless, and even going through security was not too bad.  My layover in Chicago was supposed to be about two and a half hours, but my flight to Cleveland was delayed due to mechanical problems.  We waited for another plane to arrive and take us to Cleveland.  In spite of everything that you read about all the airport chaos, this was the only glitch in my flight schedule, both flying to Mexico and returning home.  My flight ended up leaving the gate one hour behind schedule.

It is just a quick one-hour flight from Chicago to Cleveland.  Once again, we flew out over Lake Michigan.

After crossing the lake, we could see the coast of Michigan.  In this photo you can make out one of the sand dunes which are found along the state's western coast.

We crossed over Michigan and came to the western end of Lake Erie just to the south of Detroit.  The town in the lower left is probably Monroe, Michigan.  Toward the upper right, at the corner of the lake, just over the state line, is the urban area of Toledo, Ohio.  

Below us are the Lake Erie islands.  You can just barely make out the white pillar which is the monument commemorating Commodore Perry's victory in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812.  The 352-foot-high monument is the largest Doric column in the world.  It is located at Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island.

The largest of the Lake Erie islands is Pelee Island which is just across the border in Canadian waters.

We crossed over the shore of Ohio at the city of Lorain.

We circled around and approached Cleveland Hopkins Airport from the southwest...

And passed over my hometown of Olmsted Falls before landing.

I am now at home for five weeks until I return to Mexico in October.  In the meantime, I have several more posts to write about the trip that I just concluded.

Time to Go Home

 

My month here has flown by, and tomorrow I return to Ohio.  Today I have to pack my suitcases.  As you may remember, I came down here with two checked suitcases because I am starting to bring things down here for my eventual permanent move to Mexico.  I bought quite a few things to take home as gifts for friends, but not enough to fill two suitcases.  Today I am going to see if I can fit everything in the smaller suitcase and then put the small suitcase inside the larger one.

I will only be back in Ohio for a little over a month... just enough time to clear out my garden and do early voting in October.  Then I will return (with more stuff packed in my suitcases) in October / November for a five and a half week stay.

I still have quite a few posts to write about this trip, so don't go away.

Disruption

Protest marches are a regular occurrence here in Mexico City.  Last week, after visiting the handicrafts fair, I was going to take the Metrobus that travels the length of Insurgentes Avenue back to my neighborhood.  When I entered the Metrobus station, they were announcing that service was disrupted due to a protest.  I would only be able to take the bus part of the way.  The bus was jammed like the proverbial can of sardines.  It only went as far as the Reforma station, and we all had to get off there.

I had imagined a large march going on along Insurgentes or Reforma.  Instead, I found a relatively small group of protesters who were blocking that major intersection in all directions.  Although they were few in number, they had picked a spot for maximum effect on traffic.

From what I was able to gather, they were workers from a Cruz Azul Cement factory in the nearby state of Hidalgo, and they were protesting that the Federal Electricity Commission had cut off power to the factory.  

An empty Paseo de la Reforma

I had to walk down Insurgentes for about a mile until I came to a bus stop where the Metrobus was still running.