Day in DF

I wrote this reflection on Saturday, October 17 before flying to the States for a two week orientation in Akron, PA.

Right on time, the bus pulled into the Tasqueña bus terminal at 4am. After a rather sleepless night on the bus, I managed to find my luggage and a taxi to take me to the MCC Mexico office / guesthouse where I might finally sleep in a bed. I was surprised to find all the lights on at the office and Marcos, an Argentine in the YAMEN program, just saying goodbye to friends. As it was near 5, I said good morning and was off to bed.

Wanting to take advantage of my one day in Mexico City, DF, after a few hours of sleep, I was awake and making a plan for the day. By 11am I was walking the few blocks to the metro enjoying the cool air of the higher elevations. The first item on the agenda was to find some coffee, and plenty of it.

Navigating the subterranean annals of the metro system I was quickly reminded that Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world. With a population that is expected to top 20 million by 2010, I was swept away in the wave of humanity climbing the stairs to the Zócalo. I smiled when I spotted the Steelers logo in the sea of people – Steelers Nation crosses borders.

The last time I was in the Zócalo in 2006, I wondered through tents of people who were camping out for weeks in protest of the presidential election with a margin of less than 1 percentage point. Thousands of Obrador supporters of the PRD party were calling the election of the current President Calderón of the PAN party a fraud and demanding a recount. It wasn’t until September, two months later, that Calderón was declared the official victor. This time, the Zócalo was still covered in tents, but the tents housed thousands of books for the International Book Festival. I browsed and paged through a variety of books from children’s to the classics to recipe books.

By the time I walked to Café Popular it was time for lunch. The line of people waiting to be seated was a good sign that the coffee and food would be worth the wait. As a party of one, the hostess quickly ushered me to my seat at the bar of the diner. With noticeable sleep in my eyes and speech, I ordered a café con leche. The waitress poured strong concentrated coffee into a tall glass and topped it steaming hot milk. It was a sweet reward after the travel. With the menu advertising “Abierto 365 días al año, 24 horas al dia” (Open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day) and the bustle of activity of the efficient wait staff, I felt like I was in the Mexican version of Tom’s Diner. I so enjoyed the atmosphere and coffee that I indulged in another strong glass of café con leche.

Caffeine coursing through my veins, I window shopped on my way to Parque Alameda that is sandwiched between El Palacio de las Bellas Artes housing the murals of Orosco and Tamayo and the museum housing Diego Rivera’s mural of La Catrina. Since I had seen many of the murals during my previous time in Mexico, I skipped the museums and opted for the thriving market selling artisan crafts and food stands crowded with people eating tacos dorados (meat filling rolled in tortillas, fried) and tlacoyas (oblong filled tortillas, fried).

Leaving the Historical Center, I traveled south to the Coyacan neighborhood, one of my favorite areas of the city. Coyacan is the neighborhood of La Casa Azul (the Blue House), the house where Frida Khalo and Diego Rivera lived for many fitful years. It has now become a museum housing several of Khalo’s works. It is also a neighborhood of cafes, parks and artist markets.

I wondered through the large weekend artesian market appreciating the unique jewelry, glassware and hippie clothing. The parks were full of people drinking coffee and eating ice cream. The daily market was filled with fruits and vegetables, a bustling tosada stand and stalls selling the US influenced Halloween costumes and the more traditional Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) decorations and necessities for the ofrendas. I was tempted to buy the calaveras (sugar skulls), but settled on a sampling of the colorful papel picado.

Taking a break from the markets, I toured the Casa de Cortes located in the main plaza. Cortes established the first municipal seat in Mexico during the siege of Tenochtitlán. In the small capilla (chapel) that is now used for weddings, there are murals by Rosales, a student of Diego Rivera, that depict the torture of Cuauhtemoc to make him divulge the location of Aztec treasure.

As day turned into night, I sipped horchata and watched the Saturday afternoon activity in the plaza. I particularly appreciated the group of university students holding signs Abrazos Gratis (Free Hugs) and the reactions that they elicited from people.