Mexico City

The chance to see the magnificent Monarch butterfly en masse and to learn about its migratory practices drew us to México.  These delicate but clearly hardy creatures move each year across practically the length of North America – from Canada to the mountains of central Mexico – to spend the winter.

But first – we must get there ourselves.   Our flight to Mexico City on a relatively small Aeromexico flight had the most traffic of physically-challenged people we have ever seen on a single plane.  Out of approximately 100 passengers, at least 15 of them gained priority boarding in wheelchairs.

Not quite sure what this means – but it made us happy to still be ambulatory, and conscious of the fact that we don’t have all the time in the world left…… perhaps like the Monarch butterflies, whose numbers are dwindling for reasons we will explore over the next week.

First stop in Mexico City – the Medellin market with earthy beans, lentils, peppers and spices….

Also pork skin or chicharrons, of which I am clearly not a fan…

Henry interviews a local purveyor of chicken to find out once and for all why the chickens here are yellower than those available commercially in the US….

The answer has to do with the corn-based cuisine and free-range lifestyle these birds enjoy in Mexico, versus the cramped cages and grain-based feed they get in the US. The Mexican poultry supposedly tastes richer…..

Love of dogs is a characteristic that many share across cultural and language divides…..Wouldn’t it be great if we could all bond together with our dogs and forget about political and religious differences?

Murals became a premiere art form in Mexico in the early 20th century, most notably by Diego Rivera, whose works reflected his communist convictions….. through glorification of the working class…..

And scorn for the capitalist society…… here watching their wealth grow on ticker tape in 1928 (before the stock market collapse that gave rise to the Great Depression).

Other works at the mural museum celebrate aspects of the Mexican economy and culture….

And the common history of Latin America as a whole….

From the mural museum, we hiked through the area surrounding the big cathedral in moderate rain…. Which did not dissuade this hurdy-gurdy player.

Henry hoped for divine intervention to bring out the sun…..

While a holy man of the Aztec community performed a cleansing ritual involving crushed herbs and smoke….

Speaking of Aztecs….. long before they emerged as a significant power in this part of the world, there was……. Teotihuacan. Near Mexico City is the site of an ancient metropolis that in its heyday (about 100 BC to 650 AD) had a population of as many as 100,000 people and a sophisticated economic and political structure. Aside from archeological remains, little is known of these people and why their culture crumbled in about 750 AD.

It’s now a major tourist site with lots of vendors, guides and other people hoping to make a bit of money off the many sightseers who come through. The enormous pyramids and broad sweeping thoroughfares are nonetheless breath-taking.

We easily traveled to the site with Uber, but unfortunately could not get a signal to summon a return to the city. A local “tour guide” offered to have a friend drive us back…. Who coincidentally had a credit card swiping machine

After several unsuccessful swipes, we became suspicious and opted to take the city bus back to town. All of which demonstrates that it’s all well and good to know where you’re going, but it’s also helpful to know how you’re going to get back again!

Next we will be joining our group to travel into the mountains west of Mexico City on our butterfly adventure.

On a personal and sad note – we had to say farewell to our beloved canine friend Raider a few weeks ago. He had a great run – taking care of us during the pandemic and joining us for several road trips. We will miss him greatly.