Mexico 2023 – Zocalo, Guadalupe, Birds

These big, beautiful tents were set up in the Zocalo and people were enjoying sitting under them in the shade.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is the most revered Catholic saint in Mexico and the Villa de Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic site in the world. There’s a myth of how the peasant, Juan Diego, saw a vision of the Virgin on this site and now millions of the devout gather here on December 12 to honour her, some making a lengthy pilgrimage, some crawling for miles on their knees.

The new basilica and the old, precariously listing, basilica.

Inside the new basilica

The old basilica

These buildings are precariously held together, their unstable bases on the ancient lake bed.

A peculiar wrinkle to the Guadalupe story is the phenomenon of the pajareros, the bird-sellers. We happened to be cycling along the Calzada de Guadalupe one car free Sunday and saw these people and later learned that over a century ago, there were thousands of bird-sellers all around the country, and one, they say, on every street corner in Mexico City. On Palm Sunday, they arrive from throughout the country, walking up the long Calzada de Guadalupe until they arrive at the Basilica. Their colorful, incredibly tall cages strapped to their backs, birdsong fills the air.

Mexico 2023 – More Guanajuato, Pyramids, this and that

I found some more photos on my phone from our time in Guanajuato and from other places and thought I’d include them here.

Here’s Kathryn mustering the courage to join in the Zumba at car free Sunday.

And then she takes the plunge

Enjoying a break and views on the rooftop terrace of the bookstore overlooking the ruins of the Aztec capitol.

My double date at the Opera Bar

In Guanajuato

We visited the Olga Costa/Jose Morado museum, an obligatory stop in Guanajuato. Olga Costa was an artist from Eastern Europe and Jose Morado was a noted Mexican muralist. Their home is now a gallery that displays their works as well as artifacts that they collected. There is an annex as well, a newer building where temporary shows are displayed. There, we were surprised to see that the exhibit was Salvador Dali sculptures. It turns out that the founder of the Soumaya museum, Carlos Slim (one of the wealthiest men in the world) visited Guanajuato for the 50th Cervantino, a major event lasting three weeks where musicians, actors, dancers, etc from all over the world put on performances. So Carlos brought along some of his Dali collection.

This is our Airbnb in Guanajuato. If you have plans to go there, let me know and I’ll send you information about this place. I highly recommend it.

The day after our return to Mexico City we went to Teotihuacán for Kathryn to see the ruins.

At the Franz Meyer

The Anthropology Museum

Back at the toy museum

Mexico 2023 – Guanajuato, Ex-hacienda, San Miguel

Kathryn joined me in Mexico City in mid-March.

After giving her a quick introduction to this monster city, we took a side trip to Guanajuato where we spent a week. Guanajuato is such a charming city with its steep winding alleyways and tunnels and brightly painted houses climbing the steep hillsides.

One of the places that I like to take first time visitors to Guanajuato is the Ex-Hacienda San Gabriel de Barrera. Build in the late 17th century by a mine owner, this place has beautiful gardens and a well preserved mansion.

Kathryn had heard a lot about San Miguel de Allende so we took a side trip there from Guanajuato. San Miguel is a pretty little town and is known as an art hub but it has an overwhelming foreign presence. You could live your life there and never need to learn Spanish.

We were happy to get back to Guanajuato.

Mexico 2023 – People, Toys, Park, etc

A major highlight of my Mexican sojourn this year was a visit from my daughter, Charlotte. With her love of art, culture and urban life I knew she’d be taken by the city and I wasn’t wrong. Ten days of uninterrupted time with her was a dream come true.

As promised, another trip to the Museo de Jugetes Antiguos Mexico, aka MUJAM, this time with Michael and Rosann, friends that I met in Guanajuato several years ago. Michael said it was the highlight of their trip to Mexico this year.

Here we are with the founder and chief collector of the museum, Roberto Shimizu. He must have had some time on his hands that day because he introduced himself to us and spoke to us at length about his family history and his interest in collecting toys. Roberto’s parents came to Mexico City from Japan in 1929 and ran a confectionery store. He studied architecture at UNAM before becoming interested in collecting antique toys. He’s been at it for over 50yrs and has over 40,000 pieces in the display that occupies 4 floors of an old apartment building.

Me, Rosann, Roberto and Michael in Roberto’s office where he showed us the two volumes that document each piece in the museum complete with a drawing or photo of the item and a description in his meticulous lettering. This attention to detail is obvious in the care taken in each display, every piece placed just so. I can’t imagine the time taken.

A project that MUJAM fosters is the creation of murals in the neighbourhood.

Human sized lego King Tut

My great nephew, Travis, was spending some time in Mexico City so we connected for lunch a couple of times. This was the most time I’ve spent with him and it was great to hang out together.

Michael and Rosann have visited me here before and we always have fun. This was our breakfast out enjoying chilaquiles (taco chips with green or red salsa and eggs, meat, etc)

A walk around some new areas of Chapultepec Park with Michael.

A maguey ready to bloom reaching the end of its life

Maguey in full bloom

A couple of murals discovered riding around

And a brightly coloured art deco building

Mexico 2023 – Tepoztlán again, more MUJAM & Villa ride

I’ve written a couple of times about Tepoztlán, a pretty little town in the mountains some 80k south of Mexico City. It’s known as the reputed birthplace of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec feathered serpent god and, in the recent past, attracted lots of alternative folks and became a draw as a spiritual centre. It’s a very pretty little town, lots of tourists and shops catering to tourists and it has a sweet location in those mountains.

The bougainvilleas seem to be especially vibrant this year.

Kim was the impetus for the trip this time. She expressed a desire to get out of the big city for a day and I thought Tepoztlán would be perfect.

Every time I go to Tepoztlán there are more murals.

On another car free Sunday I rode out to the Villa de Guadalupe (more on that place later). The street we ride on becomes the Calzada de Guadalupe and down the centre between the lanes of traffic is a wide walkway with plantings and benches. This is where the pilgrims travel on the big day, December 12, and where on most Sundays there’s some kind of Guadalupe related action.

Villa de Guadalupe