el elefante

Diego Rivera is maybe the most recognized Mexican muralist in the world of art.  His style is easily identified because of the colors he uses and the historical themes to the majority of his works.  I never tire of revisiting his masterpieces in so many of the government buildings here; with each viewing, I find a new face to study or notice details that had escaped me before.  The following pictures are from my fave piece, Sueño de una tarde dominical en la Alameda Central (Dream of a Sunday afternoon in the Central Alameda park). 

It's always a personal goal of mine to identify as many historical figures as I can.  Here, we see Hernan Cortes with a bloody hand on the shoulder of Bernardo del Castillo (a monk who greatly defended the indigenous peoples against the maliciousness of the Spaniards), both standing behind Felipe II of Spain.  Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz is off to the right, with her skeptical gaze scrutinizing the Spaniards.

It's no wonder that Rivera decided to portray Benito Juarez above all the fray.  As México's only indigenous president to date, Juarez stood for all that Rivera's generation wished México to achieve in prosperity, social awareness and equality.  Rivera never hesitated to criticize his society and thus, we see drunks in the lower right-hand corner, as well as a Mexican woman holding a blonde baby; maybe the babe is the product of an ill-fated affair, or maybe she is the nanny...

A self-portrait of Rivera, holding the hand of Lady Death (La Catrina) while his wife Frida Kahlo stands behind him, holding the yin yang that their marriage represented despite the turmoil.

torres en el cielo

Coyoacán is hands down my favorite part of the Distrito Federal.  I love its handcrafts market, its coffee shops, its parks and its sounds.  More than anything, it helps me imagine what México must have been like back in simpler days, hace muchos ayeres...

Coyoacán's main square has a church that dates back to 1845.

back to school

When travelling, most to-do-lists don't include visits to universities, but the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México is one of my fave chill spots in Mexico City.  I mostly enjoy seeing the mosaics on all of the buildings (its main campus is a World Heritage site, boasting murals by Diego Rivera and Davíd Alfaro Siqueiros), but it is also a great spot for people-watching since there are 310,000+ students!! 

the main Medical building

In the bkgd we see UNAM's central library and perhaps its most famous building.  It is covered in tiles which depict various aspects of México's history and culture.  In the foreground, we see a wall with one of the many pre-Columbian designs the university features.

now THIS is a quad =)...but UNAMers prefer to call this area Las Islas or the Islands  =)

baño de sol

Sunbathing is a common activity at the Museo Frida Kahlo.

goodnight moon

walking along Madero, towards the Zócalo, there was much in the sky to admire

el último árbol

The sun sets on the holiday season =(

The Zócalo's Christmas tree and the Cathedral

natives

We Americans tend to pride ourselves on being from an extremely diverse country.  We see and feel the diversity in our foods, our accents, our cities and even our music.  Unbeknownst to most, México is NOT lacking in diversity, although it is not necessarily as visible as it is in the States.  Walking along the street near the Zócalo, I found myself following these three girls.  They caught my eye because of their similar garb.  Uniforms??  Kind of.  You see, the forgotten faces of México are those which have been here the longest:  the indigenous descendants of the people which populated this land long before the arrivals of Columbus and Cortés.  México turns its back on these founders, and it's not quite clear why.  However, as I walked and heard the girls conversing in their native tongue (náhuatl, perhaps??), it was hard to imagine that they represent a people that was almost completely annihilated.  They are a link to the past which we Americans cannot boast-- how many Puritans or Native Americans have YOU seen lately??  But here are these young women, dressed in the fashion that their tribe dictates.  And here they are, in this big city, probably commiserating over their tough work days.  So, what makes them so different from other Mexicans??

sombras, nada más

After all of the New Year festivities, it is typical for the family to re-gather on the 1st for the recalentada, the re-heating of food!  If you have spent NYE with one family, then it is more likely that you'll go to another family's recalentada the following day =)  During one of these, I sat and asked my tías about the grandmother I never got to know, causing them to scurry and pull out old pictures.  I can't emphasize enough how much I love looking through old photo albums, and this journey to the past was much more poignant, perhaps because this is a family I did not grow up with...Then again, I found some familiar faces amongst the gems.  Here's to a 2012 full of many more laughs, pictures and memories!!

my paternal grandmother, Maria Luisa Rodríguez

my grandfather paying a visit to my father, when he studied in the seminary

my aunt at her quinceañera

me! washing dishes during my very first visit to México  =)

my abuelo with my brother and I during his last visit to Chicago