Thursday, December 4, 2014

Mexico City 1

Day two we set off resolved to see the national palace and, once again, it was closed. Seems the security folks were a tad skittish after the recent big demonstrations when things got out of hand. A typical scenario in Mexico. So we went up the Torrelatinoamerica, once the tallest building in Latin America at some 47 stories for a 360 degree view of the city and smog.

Then to the Belles Artes, the beautiful Porfirio era building where major music and dance performances are held and where there are art exhibitions and murals from some of the great Mexican muralists.

From there to the National Museum where there is a big permanent exhibition of the great Mexican artists: Diego Rivera, Clemente Orozco, David Segieros, Rufino Tamayo, Manuel Bravo, Tina Mondotti, etc.

David Alfaro Siqueiros
Clemente Orozco
Rufino Tamayo
Diego Rivera

That brought us to lunch time and the plan was mole (the sauce, not the rodent) at Fondo mi Lupita, reputed to be among the best in Mexico City. Took us while to find it but, after some back and forthing, we were rewarded by a terrific mole lunch. I'm pretty sure it was Lupita herself serving us out of the huge clay mole bowl used for its preparation that she's been using since 1957.

 

Whatever the case, it was among the best I've had with a sweet, smokey flavour. Our appetite satisfied we headed for the Mercado San Juan de Carnes Exotica (San Juan market of exotic meats). As you might guess from the name, this market specializes in those "hard to find" bits of all sorts of animals and insects as well as imported foods from Europe not widely available here, cheeses, salamis, Spanish ham, etc. I was here on my last visit and took lots of photos you can see at: bicycle.smugmug.com - Travel - Mexico 2014 - on about page 17, if you really want to (as well as tons of other photos of Mexico City). There were rabbits and piglets and deer and fowl of every description, most hard to identify without skin,


unrecognizable parts of who knows what, every imaginable sort of swimming thing and worms (no, they don't taste like chicken I'm sorry to say) alive and dead (I'm pretty adventuresome but couldn't do the live ones),

 

and so on. An interesting place. We brought home some big prawns for dinner that looked way better than they tasted. Another hot game of crib and bed. And that was day two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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