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Mexico City

Friday, June 8th, 2007

When Barbara and I were in Mexico City last week it almost felt as if the resistance had moved to that city. We stayed in a Quaker guesthouse about two blocks behind the Monument To The Revolution. A striking planton was layed out for blocks on Juarez Avenue in front of the monument. Many of the groups were from Oaxaca. Someone (who?) decided to knock hundreds of windows out of the ISSSTE (union) glass building nearby whereupon a couple hundred strikers marched in protest down Reforma.

A couple days later the hop on hop off bus I was on pulled over by the side of the road and stopped near the Bellas Artes…the driver conferring on the phone. Turns out that the strikers took over the Zocalo and all roads around it were blocked. So the bus just continued on back to the Monument where I had picked it up. Actually the 3 hour open air bus under the hot sun was tedious…just drove down tree-lined Reforma Avenue to Chapultepec Park and back through Polanco (high end shopping) Condesa (best place for sidewalk cafes) the Zona Rosa (cheesy tourist area with bars) around the Zocalo, Bellas Artes (a must) and on to the Monument To The Revolution.

However, you could spend weeks visiting the historical buildings and museums…the most highly recommended being the Museum of Anthropology that covers acres just off Reforma Avenue.

The Zocalo taken from the rooftop restaurant of the Holiday Inn.
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In the corner of the bare treeless, chairless Zocalo I spent two hours watching some young guys performing an amazing breakdancing/gymnastic routine on bare pavement.
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“Ciudad de México, México, D.F., or simply México is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial and cultural center in the country, and the most populous city with 8,720,916 inhabitants in 2005. However, Greater Mexico City (Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México) extends beyond the limit and covers 58 municipalities of the State of Mexico and 1 municipality of the state of Hidalgo, according to the most recent definition agreed upon by the federal and state governments. In 2005 Greater Mexico City had a population of 19.2 million, making it the largest metropolitan area in the western hemisphere and the second largest in the world. In 2005, it ranked as the eighth-largest urban agglomeration GDP in the world.

Mexico City is also the Federal District (Distrito Federal in Spanish, and hence the abbreviation D.F. that officially follows the name of the city). The Federal District is coextensive with Mexico City: both are governed by a single institution and are constitutionally considered to be the same entity.

Mexico City is at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,349 feet). It was originally built by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island of Lake Texcoco.

It was built on a swamp and is sinking.

The Historical Center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I highly recommend the Casa de los Amigos Guesthouse in Mexico City run by the Quakers on Ignacio Mariscal No. 132
in Colonia Tabacalera Mexico D.F.
Tele: 5705-0521
email: amigos@casadelosamigos.org

The guesthouse is a short metro ride to Bellas Artes and on to the Zocalo.
Minimum stay 2 nights and max 4 nights unless you make a special request.
Full breakfast for $1.50 except Sundays

If you only have a little luggage you can take the Metro from the airport for two pesos and avoid an expensive taxi ride. You will have to make two transfers. Best to get written instructions from the guesthouse staff. Mexico City’s Metro is the cleanest, nicest and least expensive subway I have experienced in the world.

Monte Alban & Huayapam

Thursday, October 12th, 2006

Yesterday morning Mike and I drove 30 minutes to Monte Alban…a gigantic Zapotec ruins on top of one of the mountains surrounding Oaxaca City…passing early morning walkers along the way. We were the sole visitors this morning in this ancient ruins…meditating on the lives of this great indigenous people…looking sadly at the carvings of naked vanquished enemies. And we are surprised that the descendents of this proud people are standing up to their oppressors and shouting Basta!?

Around 500 BC ancestors of Oaxaca’s Zapotec people founded what many believe to be Americas’ earliest metropolis. They raised monumental platforms, pyramids, palaces and ceremonial courts. Encompasing 3 sq miles, Monte Alban flourished for centuries as a city with as many 40,000 at it’s height a thousand years later until an invasion of Mixtecs from the north who became the ruling class in a number of valley city-states. The blend of Mixtec and Zapotec art and architecture sometimes led to new forms especially visible at the sites of Yagul and Mitla.

Monte Alban is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

By 10 am we were drinking bad coffee with Mirella, my Australian friend and my friend Sharon in the Zocalo.

Then I walked across the Zocalo to visit Max at a sidewalk cafe. After awhile, I received a call from Gerardo. “Come to Bardo’s and bring some beer and cheap mescal,” says Gerardo. Just as I hung up, an old Mexican comes by our table selling a three-liter gas can full of mescal…smooth yellow mescal…”anejo” (aged) mescal. I bought a liter of water, dumped it out, gave Max a liter and took off for the apartment to get Mike who had collapsed in his room earlier for a nap. “Hey, Mike, get up, you want to party?” And off we went to Huayapam…of course getting lost in a small village but finding our way through dirt roads to Bardo’s house. I gave out my gifts I had brought for the family and Bardo sent out for great pastor tacos with those glorious sweet roasted onions while Gerardo regaled us with the story of his march, his hard life in Mexico and ten years in the US while poor Bardo, tired of listening to Gerardo’s untranslated (slurred by this time) English, finally retreated with his wife Mica to their bedroom to watch TV.

Dodging the burning tires and barricades through the Centro, we finally made our way home at 2am…eating left-over vegetable soup and guacamole before collapsing into our beds.

Driving From Oregon To Oaxaca

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006
After finally getting the title and registration to the Toyota, I drove down to Klamath Falls Oregon from Salem to see my second family Bea and Sal Florez who are being well-taken care of by a couple in their home. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Oaxaca City

Friday, June 2nd, 2006
mexico_oaxaca.gif jNdWfJItyaUf9pFqJEvFh0-2006170145612034.gif PICT0192.JPG.jpg After three weeks in Salem sorting through 40 years of junk...one pile for St. Vincent de Paul, one pile for the dump, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Luang Prabang Lao

Sunday, April 2nd, 2006
DSC00495.JPG Luang Prabang is an outstanding example of the fusion of traditional architecture and Lao urban structures with those built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its unique, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Tai Shan Sacred Mountain

Sunday, November 14th, 2004
East China.gif Located midway between Beijing and Shanghai, "Tai Shan" is probably the most famous of the five sacred mountains of China. According to legend Tai Shan represents the head of Pan Gu, who ... [Continue reading this entry]

Great Days Great Wall

Sunday, October 17th, 2004
East China.gif Video E found the website (www.wildwall.com) and the adventure offered intriguing potential...off the beaten track, away from the Chinese tourist groups that follow a guide with a microphone and colored flag held high ... [Continue reading this entry]

To Siberia & Lake Baikal

Saturday, September 18th, 2004
7yBXvp82X2gVlMeZe25DiM-2006198051115673.gif Video We boarded a Moscow train at midnight. We are headed across Russia on the trans-siberian train system. However we will be breaking up the trip by getting off in Yekaterinburg and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Free-Wheeling Moscow

Saturday, September 18th, 2004
7yBXvp82X2gVlMeZe25DiM-2006198051115673.gif Video 2004-09 Like in the big Central European cities we visited, there are cranes everywhere... old soviet buildings built during the Stalin era are scheduled to be razed and new one modern ones put up. ... [Continue reading this entry]

On The Street In St Petersburg

Tuesday, September 7th, 2004
7yBXvp82X2gVlMeZe25DiM-2006198051115673.gif Video We hail down a minibus, just like we did in Viet Nam, which takes us across the Neva River to Nevsky pr (like Rodeo Drive in LA which has to have some of ... [Continue reading this entry]

Life Becomes More of Adventure

Sunday, September 5th, 2004
Old Town Vilnius is now on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sights. Some graffiti seems significant in this country where a staggering 91% of the 64% of the population who turned out to vote gave a resounding yes ... [Continue reading this entry]

Interesting Lithuania

Saturday, September 4th, 2004
The Baltics...Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Are these in Central Europe or do we call this Eastern Europe...where is the line? We stop a few days in Vilnius Lithuania on the way to St. Petersburg Russia. It is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Warsaw

Sunday, August 29th, 2004
Ancestral Poland.gif In re-built Warsaw we view public art memorializing the Warsaw Uprising...Nazis destroyed the city while Russia watched on the other side of the Vistula River...then moved in and occupied the city for the ... [Continue reading this entry]

Auschwitz-Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp (1940-1945)

Friday, August 27th, 2004
Ancestral Poland.gif Photos The Germans changed the name to Auschwitz but the Polish still call it Oswiecim. We hire an English speaking guide to drive us to Auschwitz and Birkenau for the day and ... [Continue reading this entry]

Krakow Poland

Tuesday, August 24th, 2004
EHcDvLBEX5UlHHY96lAFi0-2006185062720933.gif We are out of the unusually hot and humid Czech Republic. After an all night train we are in cool Krakow Poland. We accept an offer by a young English speaking man ... [Continue reading this entry]

Czech Jazz in Cesky Krumlov

Friday, August 20th, 2004
NikaFEAe66TwIiJDaeZZ7w-2006198180634090.gif In Prague, we phone the Chinese embassy and they suggest coming for an interview after which they would allow a visa in one week's time to allow for the processing and paperwork. Because ... [Continue reading this entry]

Young Czech Prime Minister

Wednesday, August 18th, 2004
NikaFEAe66TwIiJDaeZZ7w-2006198180634090.gif The Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Stanislav Gross, is 32 years old and looks 20! We are realizing how little information we have gotten in the US in the last ... [Continue reading this entry]

Christmas In Patagonia 2003

Thursday, December 18th, 2003
teXZAa4IijhKtuKuptSO5g-2006170183159840.gif Bob begins his Patagonia leg...making his way through through Baliroche and Califate Argentina. He visited the Los Glaciares National Park by bus, which is an area of exceptional natural beauty, with rugged, towering mountains ... [Continue reading this entry]

Naxi Old Town-Lijiang

Monday, December 9th, 2002
jWLtBzsBGHTUmbHjYHypj0-2006185073225366.gif Lijiang has been designated a World Cultural Heritage Site by the United Nations. There are two kinds of Naxi dwellings built with wood, clay tiles, earth bricks and hard work...one is a courtyard ... [Continue reading this entry]

Lijiang & The Naxi People

Sunday, December 8th, 2002
jWLtBzsBGHTUmbHjYHypj0-2006185073225366.gif Once in Lijiang, we dumped our luggage at the Shangira Hotel (Y80 or about $10 for a double) that was recommended by Echo. I suspect she was getting a kickback for sending tourists there ... [Continue reading this entry]

Siem Reap

Friday, October 25th, 2002
7VJvlOW1A5Ali2rnovusuM-2006216180228245.gif My original plan was to take a boat up the Mekong River in Cambodia to the Lao border and then on up through Laos but I kept hearing reports about the opening and closing ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ayutthaya

Monday, August 12th, 2002
Our friend Jiraporn let us gas up her car for a trip to Ayutthaya, ancient capital of Thailand about 60 miles north of Bangkok. Founded c. 1350, Ayutthaya became the second Siamese capital after Sukhothai. It was destroyed by the Burmese ... [Continue reading this entry]

Robben Island

Monday, June 17th, 2002
S12J2pKbmw6zVZyRvmb7L0-2006193181305721.gif June 16 to July 13, 2002 Standing bunched shoulder-to-shoulder in the small anteroom of the prison on Robben Island where Mandela and others were political prisoners, our half of the ferry load of visitors impatiently ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Dunes & Sarus Guest Farm

Monday, June 10th, 2002
t5vdleC6v9bjElbi1QdXwg-2006193172914229.gif June 10, 2002 After a night camping near Sesriam, everyone else is up at 5:00 to go hiking in the Dunes. No coffee and no "breaky" (breakfast). These are the largest Dunes in the world ... [Continue reading this entry]

Ngorongora Crater

Friday, May 10th, 2002
Firstviewofcrater.JPG The Ngorongora Crater is a conservation area and National Heritage Site. After breaking camp in the Sarangeti, we drive another two hours up to the Crater rim where we set up camp so ... [Continue reading this entry]

Driving & Cueing in Egypt

Sunday, April 28th, 2002
Drivers have immense patience with each other-each car gives way to the others like a million fish in a school swimming this way and that...narrowly missing one another but gracefully swerving away in time...implicit cooperation you would never see in ... [Continue reading this entry]

Cairo Egypt

Sunday, April 21st, 2002
gvSQ2vhpltKkixr9PjGld0-2006186175750571.gif On April 21, 2002 while waiting for our flight from Athens to Cairo, we visited briefly with a gentleman sitting next to us who was on his way to Alexandria for what we thought ... [Continue reading this entry]

Athens Greece

Tuesday, April 9th, 2002
pjSwKsKjPzr5gOYYAx9PKM-2006172111649438.gif Landed in Eletherios Venizelo airport and everyone clapped as is often the custom around much of the world. Took a one hour bus ride from the airport to Monastiraki Square Station at Syntagma Square in ... [Continue reading this entry]

St. Peter’s House

Tuesday, April 9th, 2002
The Vatican City, one of the most sacred places in Christendom, attests to a great history and a formidable spiritual venture. A unique collection of artistic and architectural masterpieces lie within the boundaries of this small state. At its centre ... [Continue reading this entry]

Michelangelo’s David

Saturday, April 6th, 2002
Bob is going on a walking tour where he will learn how the Renaissance Medici family ruled and held onto their city as an independent state for three centuries in face of pressure from the Papacy and how they commissioned ... [Continue reading this entry]

Cinque Terre

Monday, April 1st, 2002
k08zEG1a840cNznVAe7p30-2006172142756225.gif Took a train to the Cinque Terre (Five Lands..or villages) area on the northern Italian Riviera. The Ligurian coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of great scenic and cultural value. The ... [Continue reading this entry]

Avignon France

Thursday, March 28th, 2002
knQlFSdvbI6pWFyrlGKiaM-2006172135618873.gif Took the train from Barcelona to Avignon in the Provence area in the south of France. Stayed at Hotel Mignon on rue Joseph-Vernet. Cute little French hotel room but the smallest loo ... [Continue reading this entry]

Barri Gotic Barcelona

Monday, March 25th, 2002
In Barcelona we stayed in the Lower Barri Gotic area at Hotel Peninsular at Carrer Sant Pau, 34. Two single beds; sink; window opens into central court; very clean and nice bathroom and shower down the hall; towels, ... [Continue reading this entry]

Pink And Tent-like Marrakech

Wednesday, March 20th, 2002
Founded in 1070–72 by the Almoravids, the Medina of Marrakesh remained a political, economic and cultural centre for a long period. Its influence was felt throughout the western Muslim world, from North Africa to Andalusia. It has several impressive monuments ... [Continue reading this entry]

Seville Spain

Monday, March 11th, 2002
pjSwKsKjPzr5gOYYAx9PKM-2006172115844514.gif In Seville, found a charming pension-the Hospedaje Monreal at Calle Rodrigo Caro, in Barria de Santa Cruz-about a block from the cathedral right in the middle of maze-like Barrio Santa Cruz with its hundreds ... [Continue reading this entry]

Salamanca Spain

Saturday, March 2nd, 2002
I just walked out of the jaw-dropping Cathedral in the beautiful old city of Salamanca a few minutes ago. Made Notre Dame in Paris look pretty tame. And there are several cathedrals in Salamanca! The city, named ... [Continue reading this entry]

Paris

Thursday, February 28th, 2002
From the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower, from the Place de la Concorde to the Grand and Petit Palais, the evolution of Paris and its history can be seen from the River Seine. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame and the Sainte ... [Continue reading this entry]

Climbing In Nepal

Thursday, June 18th, 1998
Bob climbs mountains in Nepal, including Everest base camp, on two different occasions...in 1998 and in 2000. I'm waiting for him to tell his own story. He likes layovers in Bangkok especially. The cultural heritage of the Kathmandu Valley is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Istanbul Turkey

Saturday, September 30th, 1995
According to political geograpy Turkey is half in Europe and half in Asia. But since it is ethnically and culturally closer to the Middle East I have categorized as such. With its strategic location on the Bosphorus peninsula ... [Continue reading this entry]

A Dacha In Samarkand

Saturday, September 30th, 1995
7Z3XBdt3hLmJjqkmk2I6k0-2006190121351559.gif After coming off the Kyrgyzstan trek, Peter, our trip leader, had arranged for us to go to Samarkand in Uzbekistan before continuing on up to Tashkent for the flight home via a week in ... [Continue reading this entry]