Travels in Latin America : Mexico City!

Now onto one of my favourite places of the whole trip so far - Mexico City!

Plaza de la Constitución, or the Zócalo, the main Square

The Metropolitan Cathedral

Mexico City (or CDMX, short for Ciudad de Mexico) is enormous. Sources vary but the population of the metropolitan area is estimated at around 21-23 million, with the city proper holding over 9 million people. In certain areas - such as the historic centre - you can definitely feel it. In others, like the beautiful Roma Norte where we stayed, it feels mellow and not overcrowded (until you need to head to the incredibly popular vegan taco spots, which I simply must).

Roma Norte is possibly the coolest and most hipster place we've ever been to, which is certainly saying something. There's endless street art, sculptures, specialty coffee places and vegetarian restaurants.

Beautiful Street Art around Roma Norte

We were also staying in an art lover’s rental apartment (and the art was incredibly creepy, which was absolutely why I picked it), which only added to this.

Some of the amazing art in our apartment!

As with many capital cities, you would never run out of things to do - even if you spent your life here. The art, history, scenery, cuisine - it could never be called a dull place, that's for sure. We only had seven days so we had to squeeze a lot in!

Watching the sunset from the Torre Latinoamericana (597 feet high) - so beautiful!

Art

Mexico is world renowned when it comes to many things - art being one of them. One of my highlights was the Palacio de Bella Artes - which is a piece of art in itself, one of the most incredible buildings I've ever seen.

Mexico has some of the best muralists in the world, and the Palacio de Bella Artes has a ton of incredible murals.

My favourite: Katharsis by Jose Clemente Orozco, painted in only 40 days!

Tormento de Cuahtemoc by David Alfaro Siqueiros

Carnaval de la vida Mexicana by Diego Rivera

Another incredible mural, by one of the most famous Mexican muralists is Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park by Diego Rivera. It is absolutely gigantic, and so impressive to see (and then to stroll out through Alameda Park itself).

The mural chronicles four centuries of Mexican history, and includes many famous figures, including Rivera himself, Frida Kahlo and La Catrina in the centre. It covers the colonisation of Mexico by the Spanish, the struggle of the Porfirio dictatorship (Diaz Porfirio was the president for over 30 years, and whilst he brought modernisation in a lot of ways, his reign saw increasing inequality, loss of political freedoms and tension) and the resulting revolution.

When anyone thinks of Mexican art - there is one name that springs to mind - Frida Kahlo. And for good reason. She wasn't simply a famous painter - she overcame so much in her life to become a truly unique artist, who was politically engaged in defiance of so many contemporaries, who loved and lived to the fullest extent. Her art involved her own culture, her questions in relation to identity, gender and sexuality, her views on politics and class, and her struggles with chronic pain and infertility. She was disabled after contracting polio as a young child. She went on to be one of very few girls chosen to study medicine, but was forced to discontinue her studies at 18 after a bus crash left her as the singular passenger injured. She nearly died, and suffered spinal fractures, a shattered pelvis amongst other intense injuries, leaving her to recover in bed wearing a full body cast. Never deterred, Frida painted that cast, and revived her childhood love of painting and art.

A photograph of Frida whilst on bed rest

Frida's crutches

An active member of the Mexican Communist Party, Frida met Diego Rivera, her later husband. He taught her much about art, and they went on to marry. Diego Rivera was reportedly abusive, ill-tempered, and slept with Frida’s sister (which does seem slightly out of bounds, even in an open marriage).

Much of Frida's art, poetry and belongings remain on Casa Azul, her family home in Coyoacan - along with her death mask and ashes. It's an incredibly special place to visit - knowing all that we do about her life. She was a truly one-of-a-kind individual and overcame every obstacle thrown at her (of which there were many).

Frida's paints

Her copy of Das Capital!

Death mask and ashes (on table)

One of my favourite experiences was visiting the Museo de Arte Moderno to see my very favourite Frida painting - The Two Fridas. It was truly breathtaking.

Trotsky's House

Nearby Frida's home stands Trotsky's House - now a museum of the former residence of Leon Trotsky, who stayed there for 15 months before being assassinated there on the orders of Joseph Stalin in 1940. An incredibly important figure in the Soviet revolution and revolutionary, Trotsky spoke out against Joseph Stalin and led the left-wing opposition against him, which eventually cost him his life.

In 1929, Trotsky was forced into exile after being critical of Stalin and the communist Soviet State. In 1937, whilst in Norway, Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo offered Trotsky to come live with them, after persuading the Mexican Government of the time to grant him asylum. Trotsky and his wife, Natalia Sedova, moved in with Diego and Frida before relocating to Trotsky's House. In 1940, after a failed assisination attempt earlier the same year, Ramon Mercader killed Trotsky by striking him on the head with an ice axe. Mercader had infiltrated the home using a fake name and backstory, and had become romantically involved with Trotsky's personal assistant. His ashes lie in the stone monument in the garden of the home.

Where Trotsky's ashes are interred, in his garden

Trotsky's House is now a museum, and has been restored to look as it did whilst they lived there, and also houses the Institute of the Rights of Asylum - an organisation which promotes asylum for political dissidents seeking refuge. It is a very special and sad place to visit - particularly for anyone with an interest in communism, human rights and revolution.

Coyoacán

Whilst visiting Frida's home town and Trotsky's house, we did a bike tour around the neighbourhood, Coyoacán.

Coyoacán is where Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés decided to eventually settle after invading the Americas. Starting in 1519, Cortés arrived in the Yucatán peninsula with 11 ships, 500 men, and 16 horses (of which there were none in the region), and strict instructions to chart the peninsula, NOT to colonise. Cortés was welcomed with gifts from the local Mayan people, and was ‘given’ 20 enslaved women, including his soon-to-be wife and interpreter, Malinche.

Malinche's is a fascinating story. Born Malinalli, around 1500, she was enslaved at a young age by the Mexica (commonly known as the Aztecs) and sold several times, and at some point was held under the control of a Mayan community. She had an incredible talent for languages, and spoke both Yucatec (Mayan) and Nahuatl (Mexica), and whilst enslaved to Cortés, eventually learned Spanish and became Cortés’ sole interpreter. So important was Malinche, that when Cortés met the Aztecs, many even referred to him solely as Malinche. It is unknown but suspected that at many pivotal points of such meetings, Malinche did not translate directly, but put some spin or interpretation on her translations. Naturally, as she was enslaved and treated horribly by her captors, Malinche had her own motives when it came to Cortés’ moves against the Aztecs. She was by his side when Cortés arrived in Tenochitlan to meet the Aztec leader Moctezuma (Montezuma), and was key in Cortés plan to kill Moctezuma, to destroy the beautiful city and to kill/starve the people of Tenochitlan, taking it for himself and the Spanish. She eventually bore him children and married him, shortly after Cortés was thought to have killed his own wife, who arrived to join him by surprise in the now neighbourhood of Coyoacan in Mexico City, where he had been living with Malinche. Whilst some consider Malinche as a betrayer of her people, Malinche lived her whole life as a slave, and it is clearly a much more complex situation.

On our bike tour, we visited Cortés and Malinche's old home and the church where they got married - again, containing old stones of a former Mayan sacred site that was destroyed and a Catholic Church built in its place.

The church where Cortes and Malinche got married

Cortes and Malinche's old home

Coyoacán is now a beautiful, tranquil neighbourhood outside the hustle and bustle of central CDMX - and a lovely place to cycle around!

Lucha Libre

Another huge part of culture in CDMX is Lucha Libre wrestling. We went to see a show on a Tuesday night (one of the most popular nights apparently), and it was so entertaining.

We drank beer and ate crisps smothered in soy sauce and salsa (when in CDMX, right?! - surprisingly delicious). It was a really fun time, and so impressive to watch!

Historical visits

The Museum of Anthropology in CDMX is one of the most impressive museums I have ever seen. The largest and most visited museum in all of Mexico, it is absolutely huge, with incredibly important artifacts documenting the history of the Americas and beyond.

There are a number of Olmec Heads in the museum. There is little known about the Olmecs, a civilisation dating back from 1200 to 400 BCE, and the heads dating back to around 1200-900 BCE. They are incredibly fascinating and huge.

Olmec Head, from 1200-900 BCE

Statue of Chacmool, excavated from Chichen Itza

One of the most impressive artifacts is the Aztec Sun Stone, which is often called the Aztec Calendar (although it is actually a monument, and not a functional calendar, as others were). It was carved by the Mexica, in the early 1500's, on stone from the Xitle volcano.

The sun stone was placed at the Templo Mayor, the center of the city state of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire - which now stands in the main square of the historic centre of CDMX. The level of destruction to Templo Mayor is sad to see, particularly as there are so many other ruins you can visit around Mexico that are so well preserved. However, it was the pinnacle and center of Mexica religious life, and the heart of the city - and so was destroyed by Cortés and the Spanish in 1521. The ruins remain incredibly impressive, considering what the city used to be like in the 1500s.

Food

One thing that most people talk about when thinking of visiting CDMX is the food, and I can see why. It is just unbelievable, and in our experience, a paradise for vegetarians (about 19% of the population of Mexico are vegetarian). There's the most incredible food, from street food to Michelin starred restaurants - there's something for everyone.