The Patroness of Mexico

Mexico City has over 150 museums and the number is constantly growing.  Add to that  special exhibits that are on display, and it seems as if every week I am visiting a museum.  Thursdays have almost become my 'museum day".

Last Thursday at went to see two exhibits at the Museum of Popular Cultures, and I also visited a new museum that has only been open for a few months, the Casa Kahlo Museum.  Both of them are located in the southern district of Coyoacán.

One of the exhibits at the Museum of Popular Cultures dealt with representations of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the revered patron saint of Mexico.  The image of the Virgin is to be seen everywhere on Mexico, and here are examples in a variety of medium.

An image of the Virgin made of bakelite

Another made from cut paper

Hand-painted clay tiles

Carved from wood

Etched on a gourd

Modeled in clay

Two portraits done in feathers pasted onto wax

The image in cut tissue paper

A photograph of two dancers at the Basilica with the image of the Virgin on their cloaks

Pilgrims to the Basilica often want their picture taken as a souvenir.  Photographers set their cameras up outside the church.  That is depicted in this piece of folk art.

A photograph of pilgrims being photographed

Next... another exhibit at the Museum of Popular Cultures

It's April

It's time to turn the page on my calendar, which features photos that I took on my trips to Germany.  April's picture is of the "Altstadt", or Old Town of Frankfurt.

The Old Town once had one of the largest number of medieval, half-timbered houses, around 1250 of them.  Then, during the Allied bombings during World War II, most of the "Altstadt" was obliterated.  After the war some of the buildings, such as these, which face the old main square, were reconstructed.

Birthday Dinner

In my last post, I wrote about the restaurant "Testal", where we ate the weekend before last.  This past Sunday we were going to celebrate the birthday of Alejandro's sister Sandra.  We thought that "Testal" would be a good place to go.  However, there was an event going on downtown that would have made getting to the restaurant very difficult.  (Strangely enough, even though we are in the middle of Lent, they were going to hold a giant "Carnaval" parade.)  Fortunately, the restaurant has a branch in the Roma neighborhood, so I made reservations to go there.

Sandra ordered octopus in "adobo" sauce... not something that I would order, but she said that it was delicious.

    

I managed to privately tell the waiter that it was her birthday, so when we were done with our dinner, he brought out a small cake with a candle.

I think that Sandra enjoyed her birthday celebration!

Dinner Downtown

The weekend before last, when we were downtown, we decided to have dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, "Testal".  (By the way, I did not know what "testal" meant until I looked it up.  It refers to the measure of corn dough that is used to make a tortilla.)

There was a special menu of pre-Hispanic appetizers sitting on the table.

The items were "gusanos blancos de maguey" (the white larvae of a butterfly that lays its eggs in the "maguey" plant)... "escamoles" in butter (ant larvae)... and "chinicuiles" (another variety of caterpillars that infest the "maguey" plant).   No thank you!!!

We ordered somewhat less exotic items.  We had an appetizer of miniature tostadas with tuna and shrimp.  (I don't care for shrimp, so I ate the tuna tostadas.)  For soup I had cream of corn and "huitlacoche" (a mushroom that grows on corn).  Alejandro had lima bean soup.   

For my main course, I ordered "chamorro", pork shank.  The waiter removed the meat from the bone.  It was served with tortillas, guacamole and salsa for making tacos.

Alejandro had a stuffed "manzano" pepper.  You can see how the pepper got it's name.  "Manzano" means "apple tree".

Another excellent meal at one of our favorite restaurants.

Who Is the Best?

 

"Which country is going to have the best World Cup?"

Silly question.

World Cup Fever

Late in the afternoon, last Sunday, Alejandro and I were walking down Juárez Avenida in the center of the city when there was suddenly a small parade celebrating Mexico's participation in this summer's World Cup.

There were numerous vehicles decorated with soccer and Mexican motifs.

Behind the vehicles there was a crowd of people, waving flags and wearing the Mexican team jersey.

I'm sure that there will be more festivities in the weeks to come as Mexico looks forward to its role as one of the hosts for the 2026 World Cup.

A Disappointing Festival

Last weekend Alejandro read that a "Festival of Spring Flowers and Ornamentals" was being sponsored by the city government.  So, on Sunday we went downtown to check it out.  I thought that perhaps I might buy another houseplant or perhaps another orchid since I am now having better luck with the one I have.

 

The festival was held in the plaza in front of the Monument to the Revolution.

Yes, it seems that the Easter bunny has entered into Mexican culture.

There were two long tents with plant and flower vendors set up on each side with a narrow passage in the middle for the customers.

With the crowds it was almost impossible to look carefully at what was for sale.

There were quite a few vendors selling cacti and succulents, but, as far as I could see in the crowd, there were very few other houseplants.  And I only saw one vendor selling orchids.  We ended up leaving empty handed and very disappointed with the event.