Todos de la cuidad- All around the town

You have no idea how crowed a subway can get until you ride one through the middle of Mexico City. It only costs 3 pesos (less than 30 cents) per ride for unlimited transfers, so everyonone and his brother takes the Metro. It's fast and efficient, but you have to move fast getting on and off. Roger almost got left on the train at one transfer because he got stuck in the oncoming traffic. Lesson for travelers: carry your backpack, don't wear it -- you have to turn sideways to get around at the crowed stops, and the backpack is like having an anchor attached to you.

Our day started with a knock-your-eyes-out view of the city at 7 a.m. Omar immediatly made a trip to the market and returned to prepare coffee accented with cinnamon, followed by a breakfast of chicken mole and rice, the mole made Puebla style (poblano). He also brought back a bag of dead ripe mangos - you can't get these at Krogers - which he sliced up and pureed for a mango drink that was sweet, rich, and full-flavored. The day only got better from there.

Omar's friend Jose Luis provided a taxi ride to the Metro station, then we dropped off our bags at the Casa de  los Amigos about a block off one of the big subway stations, and in the middle of the historic district downtown. Quick stop for the ATM, then onto the famous library at the University of Mexico (UNAM). That building is amazing, the exterior is made of mosiacs of colored stones.

The university is enormous, with free buses to take you to different parts of the campus. Having accomplished the first item on our list of things to do, we headed to the Museo Frida Kahlo - Casa Azul - remember the movie Frida? If you never saw the movie, rent it if you want the story.

Well, on the way, Karen got a little hungry. Now, our entourage consists of K and Roger, Omar, and his kids, Ivan (18) and Karina (21 and a senior at UNAM). Karen remembers Karina talking about a place that makes ice cream in about a hundred different flavors (not all available at the same time, it turns out), so we make a little diversion. That was a good move.  Flavors in fruits you never even heard of. Yummmm!

The ice cream shop and the Casa Azul are both in a neighborhood called Coyoacan. After taking about 15 minutes to figure out what flavors to order, we crossed the street to a park, the Jardin del Centenario (Centennial Garden) with two fountains, sculpted boxwood plantings, palm and other low latitude trees, and a church at the opposite end, the Parroquia de San Juan Bautista (1592).

A friendly cop directed us to the Casa Azul -- it was a pleasant walk through a very attractive part of the city, restaurants, a mercado (marketplace with incredibly good looking produce and trinkets - watched a woman working on a pinata), apartments, residences. After our time at the Casa, we stopped at one of the cafes for cappucinos and a shared slice of cheesecake.  The museum was lovely, with lots of the artwork of Freida Kahlo, and some by her husband the famous muralist, Diego Rivera, gardens and sculptures.  Their life is a whole history lesson by itself.

Have we died and gone to heaven?  But, needless to say we are exhausted after this busy, busy day. So buenas noches (good night) to all of our amigos.

La touristas in Mexico,
 Roger and Karen