More MEXICO!

 Tortillas being made by a pretty fascinating machine at the big mercado near Frida Kahlo's house. This is the view from the inside of the market. On the outside, there was a walk-up window where you could by them by the dozen or less or more. Fresh tortillas1

We walked to a plaza and found an area with stands making fresh tortilla things. Can't remember the name of them. Do you know what these are?
The woman made a tortilla, filled it with stuffing of your choice, then fried it and yum, freshly made food! I had cheese, bean, and shared a squash blossom filled one with my DIL. So delicious.

I had some fizzy lemony drink. Pato Pascual!

Here's a photo of the finished food. I'm getting hungry just looking at this, remembering how delicious it was.

I love how the buildings are painted in bright colors. This was a municipal building with a police station in it. It faced a lovely plaza/park area where lots of people were relaxing, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Here's our grand-girl with helado. She was quite quick to learn and remember that word.

I took photos of newspapers during our vacation. It was interesting to see how Mexicans wrote about things.  This article talks about how a higher wall between the U.S. and Mexico won't be an obstacle. This newspaper has a very good reputation for good journalism.

Have you been to Mexico? What were your experiences? We found the people to be very warm and open. Even my family members who don't speak Spanish, were able to get along fine. I was excited to be using my Spanish all the time. 

Remember the Shelf? An update.

Some of my readers may get remember the little shelf on a pole, which changed over time to a "Shelter." It's gotten shabby and the kids who added things to it are now pre-teens and teen, and moved on in different directions.

I decided to use a few items from the goodie back that my honey brought me from a NYC exhibit called Take This or something like that. So he took stuff, including, molded plaster take out coffee lids in two sizes, some "coins," a pin of a man's profile in blue and red, some fortune cookies, which I broke open and looked at the "fortunes." Also, a foil emergency blanket in a little plastic bag and part of the poem from the statue of liberty. I put these into the "shelf" and will check it tomorrow to see if things have been removed.

I'm happy the box is still there. I hope it intrigues people, still.

You can see past posts on this item if you search using the tag - shelf or elflog.

Bienvenida a Mexico

Practicing bull fight moves in the Viveros Coyoacan. We came upon this sight, which was totally amazing for us. We really knew we were in another place, for sure!

Passersby were oblivious to the practicing matador, while we were enchanted by it.

 Aw, a missing Gato, named Planeta. I hope someone found him or he found he way home. He has a flea collar on and a in his left pupil. Pobrecito.

We stopped for coffee at this cafe, not far from Frida Kahlo's house. It's very well known. We pulled plastic garden chairs from a stack set against the little building. We sat outside and had delicious coffee and watched the people going by and listening to a street musician. It was lovely.

We saw so many different types of flowers in bloom, everywhere.
Lots of succulents, of course, and palm trees. Plants seemed big! I'm sure that having so much vegetation was good since the city still has problems with bad air, though I think they're doing better. I think the pollution has lessened.

For me, in the beginning, it was hard to breathe because of the altitude. I had to slow down, but after a couple days, it wasn't noticeable. When we returned to Mexico City, after staying in San Miguel de Allende for a number of days, I didn't notice anything at all. Altitude in Mexico city is over 7,000 feet, I think.

We were so happy to be there. The trip we hadn't thought we'd take!!

Images from Mexico City

Nopales - cactus, which we cut up, fried, & ate

 We stayed in a very modern high rise in Mexico City when we first arrived. Because it was hazy, the mountains surrounding the city couldn't be seen clearly.

 Zinn likes the mirrors in the elevators in the building. She's practice making faces.

 Flowers seen while out on a walk.

 Across the street from the building was the Viveros Coyoacan. A very large park, part of which was used to grow trees and plants that would be planted around the city.

 We walked across this park to get to Frida Kahlo's home.

Plants in pots, gown to be transplanted. There were tiny plants in tiny pots, and large plants and even trees.  The park was full of people jogging, walking, exercising, and even practicing bull fighting poses.

Hello again. Long time, no see.

So, we went to Mexico. We loved it. I got to use the Spanish that I've been studying for years and it worked. I had lots of excellent conversations with people in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende. We want to return. We've been back for a month now but it seems like we were just there. It was good to be away, for the most part, from the political news in the U.S.

Here are three cards that I made while in Mexico. We were so fortunate to have seen Frida Kahlo's home but I didn't buy the permit to take photos, so I just looked at everything. The top card is my attempt to capture a bit of her studio. The second card is a bit of the roof top terrace over looking San Miguel from where Mica was living. The third shows three of the dresses that we bought Zinn. She said that her favorite thing about Mexico was the dresses.
More to come, once I can figure out how to get my photos from Google Photos. I'm still not doing great using my Chrome Book. I know, the same old same old.