¡Viva Mexico!

So, I´m staying at a hostel in the Centro Historico, called Hostel Catedral (presumably because it´s located across the street from the Catedral Metropolitano... but who knows?). It´s a really nice place with several levels of dormitory style rooms. I´m staying in a room with 6 single beds and a full bathroom. It´s been a while since I´ve lived communally, and I´d forgotten a few things.... like how rancid a room of sleeping men can become. Seriously, I mean there are only four of us in there, and I woke up in the middle of the night and the smell was the like the inside of a package of dry-roasted peanuts (thanks to Dave Lister for the analogy). I mean bad. Other than that, the place is great. It has the golden trifecta of traveler´s accomodations: cheap, good location and free breakfast (I took an extra banana this morning, but only because I was offended by the powdered Nescafe they tried to pass as "coffee").

Like the good geek I am, I signed up for the free walking tour that the hostel offers. Well, it's only free to the -esteemed- guests of the hostel; ordinary rabble have to pay full price (whatever that is). Four of us joined our guide, Isaac, for a trip to the Chapultepec forest which is one of the largest urban parks in the world. We took the Metro to the other side of the city where the park is located. While standing on the completely packed subway car, I looked around and realized I was the tallest person on the train. (Mexicans are short in general) Geez, that's never happened to me before. ¡Viva Mexico!

Complete with 800 year old trees and a castle, Bosque de Chapultepec was originally the personal garden of some Aztec (or maybe Toltec, not sure) empire. The Castle was built in 1785 as the residence of the viceroys of New Spain, and later served as the personal residence of Emperor Maximilian (until his timely departure) and the national military school. Lazaro Cardenas converted the castle into a history museum in 1944. During the Mexican-American war the Mexican general Santana called all his troops north, leaving the castle undefended, except for the cadets that remained because they were too young to join the battle. Anyway, at the base of the castle there is this monument to memorialize the 500 or so cadets that defended the castle against thousands of better armed U.S. forces who had received intelligence that the castle was unguarded. If I understood the story right, all the cadets died to a man (or boy). And so they built this memorial, the Monumento a los Niños Heroes.

There are several museums in the Chapultepec park, but the only one we visited was the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, which chronicles Mexico's pre-hispanic, mesoamerican cultures. It's one of the most impressive museums I've seen. It's not too large, but still manages to cover thousands of years in detail. There are many original artifacts from archeological sites all over Mexico, but the majority of the exhibits are reproductions of stone stellae, sculptures, murals and architecture found in mesoamerican Mexican archeological sites. At first I was disappointed to learn they were reproductions, but then I realized that because they weren't real, I could get much closer to them, and besides, it didn't really matter since they were so realistic that it would take an expert to tell the difference. I included photos of some of them in the gallery, but be warned that they banned flashes, so they may not be as crisp as would be desired.

After the tour, I walked around the Centro Historico in the afternoon and was in search of a cheap meal because I was starving (I had already scarfed my illicit banana). I passed this complete hole in the wall joint... literally, it was almost a hole in the wall. But I was intrigued by the blue corn tortillas the old woman was cooking up on the makeshift griddle. So I ordered two large tacos de carne (beef), and they were fantastic. The best part? Less than two bucks total. ¡Viva Mexico!

On my way back to the hostel, I passed a bakery called Panaderia Ideal, and normally I wouldn´t be moved to write about a bakery, but this is an exception. I walked in and it was a very ritzy looking building with dozens of large tables scattered throughout, each piled high with every sort of donut, pastel, brioche, cookie, torta, pan dulce, danish and sweet rolls that you can imagine. It was like walking into a pastry lover´s wet dream. The way it works is you walk around with a cafeteria style plastic tray and a pair of metal tongs and you just pick what you want and pay at the register. I was so giddy perusing all the goodies, that I swear I was giggling at one point. After 20 minutes, my tray was filled with a wide variety of sweets carefully chosen from the mind boggling towers of baked goods. I knew I could never eat it all, but I wanted to at least try all ones I had bought. Looks like donuts and danishes for dinner. ¡Viva Mexico! Luckily there was a Cafe nearby and I had a coffee and some pastries while I watched a soccer game on TV: America (a Mexican team) versus Santos of Brazil. It ended in a 0-0 tie. Typical. But it was a perfect way to end the evening. Now it´s off to bed and the odorific joys of communal living.

As promised, here is the link to my photo gallery:
Mexico City Photo Gallery