Oaxaca

The town of Oaxaca (Wahaca) is a lovely place and probably deserves more time than we had to enjoy it.

 The Cathedral is also OTT as explained in the Puebla post.

This one is being restored with the plaster base being applied before the gold leaf is applied.

Oaxaca - Mexico's culinary capital

Two starters and a dessert from Casa Oaxaca.

 We visited a choclateria and watched chocolate being made from pod to bar.  This is the finished powder which is then made to a bar etc.

 A butcher's stall with a variety of meats.  to calm the squeamish those are sausages in the middle.

The variety of chillis is amazing hot, mild, fresh, dried and smoked.

Monte Alban

Monte Alban outside Oaxaca (pronounced Wahaca, like the restaurant) is an Aztec or, more correctly, Mexica site first settled around 2000BC.  The ceremonial area in the first photo is close to a typical layout seen at most sites - Aztec, Toltec, Mayan etc.
The second is our group wandering in what we thought was heat, we didn't know what was to come.

Excessive Gold - not for the people.

The church in Puebla has an amazing ceiling which is in the chapel in the first picture, unfortunately it was closed so we didn't get to see it.  These two pictures show the excesses of the church through much of Latin America, using their own riches to cow the people.  However, every seems to assimilate local traditions into the system, whether knowingly or not.

Dilapidated shelter in Black and White

Blowing its Top

A minor eruption of Popocatapetl from a distance.  All we got was a minor smell of sulphur, thankfully.

Hills and Rocks

There were a number of rock formations on the road from Mexico City mainly caused by erosion.

Pope John Paul II

John Paul ll made a number of visits to Mexico and is immortalised in a statue next to the Cathedral.  The statue is manufactured of metal keys contributed by the people, which is recognised by the key in the base.

Mexico is Famous for its Street Food

Xochimilco

As I mentioned in the post on the Cathedral Mexico City is built on a lake.  Xochimilco is the only area where the original nature of the city can be seen.  However that is relevantly boring compared to the carnival of life around the canals and we were there on quiet day.  Apparently the boats can't move on Sunday, they are jammed together.  This is mostly a family day out.

Lastly, unconsciously posing, our guide from Journey Latin America, Carrie.

Rooftops and Mountains

Our hotel was in the main square or Zocalo and this was taken from the rooftop restaurant.

Trotsky's House

 Trotsky's Study

 and his Bedroom.

Leon Trotsky's stay with Rivera and Kahlo was cut short when Diego Rivera suspected him of having an affair with Kahlo, although he almost certainly was involved with Trotsky's wife.  They moved to a house owned by his supporters in the local communist party. Trotsky was pursued relentlessly by Stalin's assassins who shot at him outside the house and he was eventually killed with a climber's ice pick.

Mexico City Cathedral

The cathedral in Mexico City has the usual lavishness of Latin American cathedrals, perhaps given the poverty in many countries perhaps more could have been spent on the people than the buildings.
The cathedral shows an important feature of Mexico City.  It was built in Pre-Hispanic times on artificial islands on a lake and is sinking.  The floor is sloping in different directions, they underpinned it in one direction so it started to sink on an axis lateral to the original problem.  The floor as can be seen in the picture slopes in multiple directions.

Frida Kahlo House

We stood in the queue for the museum in Coyocan, a suburb once known for its bohemian lifestyle.
Kahlo has become better known outside Mexico in recent years, more so than her husband Diego Rivera, the muralist.  She had polio when she was young and was bed-ridden.  Drawing herself using a mirror above her bed was the genesis of her talent.  A later accident with a tram left her paralysed for a while followed by a lengthy recovery.  This turned her work into an introspective examination of her body and her psyche.  The household for some while also included Leon Trotsky who later moved out and then assassinated in a house nearby.
https://www.museofridakahlo.org.mx/en/the-blue-house/

Museo Belles Artes, Mexico City

On our first day we walked up to the Museo Belles Artes and the surrounding park.
We felt jet-lagged and turned back to the hotel, which was a mistake.  We discovered later that it has a stained glass ceiling considered to be one the top ten in the world.

Sleeping in the Park

As I signed off in Argentina last year with a sleeping man in the park it's only appropriate that I start the same way in Mexico.