Night Lights

On Saturday night Alejandro, another friend of his and I headed to Chapultepec Park.  According to a website with a calendar of the Day of the Dead events, there was going to be a special light and sound show in the park called "Celebrando la Eternidad" (Celebrating Eternity).  Saturday, October 19th was supposed to be the last evening for the show. When we arrived at the gate to the park, the guard told us that the park was closed.  I explained about what I had read.  While the guard was searching on his cell phone, two young Mexican ladies came to the gate also looking for the "Celebrando la Eternidad" event.  As it turned out, the information on the website had been incorrect.  The light and sound show will be held on the nights of October 30th through November 3rd.  (The information on that website has since been corrected.)  I was glad that those two Mexican women had shown up at the gate so that I didn't look like some clueless "gringo". 

Our trip to the park on two very crowded Metrobuses had been an exercise in futility.  I did take a couple of night photos... so the outing at least provided some material for a blog entry.

Along the Paseo de la Reforma near the entrance to Chapultepec Park is the Torre BBVB México, one of the city's tallest skyscrapers.  It is the headquarters of Mexico's largest bank, Bancomer, which is now a subsidiary of the Spanish financial institution, BBVB.  I have passed by it many times during the day, but never at night.

     
On the left side of the building you can make out that the lights form the image of a pink ribbon in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Between the skyscraper and the park entrance is a monument known as the "Estela de Luz" (the Stele of Light).  The monument is 341 feet high, about half the height of the BBVB Tower.  (It only looks taller in this photo because of where I was standing.)  I have previously written about this monument on the blog.  It was constructed to commemorate Mexico's bicentennial, but was severely criticized because of graft, cost overruns, and the government's failure to complete it in time for the bicentennial.  It is jokingly referred to as the "Suavicrema" because of its resemblance to a popular brand of ice cream wafer.

I had never seen the Estela de Luz at night either.  It is covered in illuminated panels of quartz.  Frankly, I was not that impressed.