Mexico, the Sequel
On to part 2 of our Mexican adventure...
On Tuesday morning, we woke up super-early to go to the Teotihuacan pyramid remains. We tagged along on a hotel "turibus" (tour bus) so no one would have to drive us (and so we wouldn't get lost on the way). We met up at in this gorgeous hotel lobby.
Cruising out of town, we realized it was Naked Protest Day.
We stopped along the way at a workshop that crafts trinkets out of obsidian, this beautiful black mineral with swirls of gold in it. This dude was our guide around the workshop, and boy was he hilarious. I think he thought we were on a honeymoon.
He made us drink tequila made from the plants they have on site (which we later regretted, after being in the sun for several hours).
They had a great gift shop.
I bought myself this pretty li'l ring.
We then made our way to the ruins. There was a whole civilization to see.
They painted the walls of their stone houses.
Finally we arrived at our Everest. We looked upon the first challenge of the day, the Pyramid Of The Moon.
We climbed with enthusiasm, determined to make it to the top.
But the heightened elevation and steep steps made it difficult... we had to take a few breaks.
Look at how tall these steps are!
It was quite a hike, especially for two people who never exercise. But we victoriously made it to the top.
And looked out to the second pyramid, that of The Sun, which was even taller.
But we knew we could do it. We didn't stop to take pictures. We just hiked until we reached the top.
On the way home, we stopped at a little restaurant... actually, I think it was the same place as the workshop... something tells me there was a kickback in there somewhere between the shop and the hotel. But it was cute nonetheless.
Dustin got to quench his thirst.
I fell asleep in the turibus on the way back, and was cranky to know there was yet another stop on the tour. However, I'm glad we did it... it was this church built on a site where, apparently, the Virgin Mary had appeared to this dude and requested a shrine be built for her. The priest didn't believe the dude, so the Virgin Mary gave him a blanket with her image embedded in it. So they built this amazing church, which is now sinking, because Mexico City is built on what's basically a swamp.
John Paul II was the only pope to ever have visited Mexico City, and not only that but he did it 9 times. So they built him a little something too.
The church is under renovation (because of all the sinking) but it was still beautiful inside.
While it's being renovated, they built a temporary church. It was very different, much more modern.
Had awesome stained glass.
And it had the famous blanket on display... and far from anyone's reach. Apparently the Virgin Mary was astoundingly artistic, especially for an apparition.
The gift shop was totally stocked. It reminded me of the knick-knacks from The Empire State Building.
And the whole trip was guided by this terrific man. He explained everything to us in Spanish, English, and French.
The next day we went to Diego Rivera's studio/house.
We were only allowed to go into a couple of rooms. But it was quite interesting to see the artist's space.
And he had a fabulous staircase.
Then we went to the coolest place in all of Mexico City...
... it was enveloped by bold, bright colors....
Frida Kahlo's house.
They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, so we took a million outside. But the inside was full of her paintings, and paintings of her, and her journals. You could see the brightness of her personality and the vivaciousness of her relationship with Diego all over the place. It was sad, inspiring, and absolutely beautiful.
Here are pictures of their backyard.
You get the point. We, of course, attended the gift shop.
Luckily they had some postcards of the house's interior. They don't do it any justice, but it's better than nothing at all.
The dining room:
Frida's bedroom (and brace):
Following the theme, we visited the house that Leon Trotsky stayed in when he lived near Frida & Diego.
The museum was filled with protest art.
We took a bunch of pictures there but I don't have them on me at the moment. There was one of the sparse kitchen and bedroom the Trotskys inhabited, and one quite darkly humorous one of me surrounded by the bullet holes, angelically....
But for some reason this was the only one I could find at the moment.
I wanted to see more churches, so we went to this one. I don't remember the name.
The interior was vaulted and dramatic.
Outside, we soaked up the culture in a little town square.
The Mexican Flintstones:
We went into a little shop and I was blown away by these gorgeous lamps:
Then we got some famous ice cream.
I had tamarind sorbet. Dustin had some kind of berry that he didn't like.
On the way home, I saw the Oscar de la Renta outlet and just about peed my pants.
When we got home, we found that Dustin's other brother, Louis-Jose, had arrived from Los Angeles.
We celebrated the weather by having an outdoor lunch.
Poor Caitlin had just had some teeth removed. Her usual fiery spunk was nowhere to be found.
That night, Dustin chilled with Sugar...
... while I chilled with my torturous pyramid sunburn.
Sigh. This is a lot of stuff to cover. Okay, so the next day we went to this art museum (which is also sinking).
It was guarded by sculptures of heroism and godliness.
There was art inside.
However, in the middle of our art appreciation, there was a fire drill. How weird is that?
People just milled around the square.
But D. and I got active and went exploring. We found a really old church and thought, hey what the heck. You can never have too much God, right?
All of the churches we visited in Mexico were unbelievably ornate, usually decorated with gold or at least gold leaf. This was no exception.
And they really know how to do ceilings.
Aren't confession booths fascinating?
They got St. Francis In A Box.
Outside, the courtyard, filled with modern sculptures, was set off by the backdrop of crumbling structures.
(This one got a little friendly.)
There was some great people-watching to be done.
We headed back to the museum in hopes of completing our art-viewing mission. I had to stop at the fountain and appreciate its design.
I went to the ladies' room and loved the lighting.
As I was waiting for Dustin, I looked around and started taking pictures.
... of pretty much everything that caught my fancy.
We ended our visit with a tour of the El Greco room.
Next we went to... you guessed it! Another church! I don't know why, but I just find them so interesting... architecturally, artistically, aesthetically, culturally. This particular one was the biggest one I've ever seen, I think.
And minutely detailed.
This one was also under renovation.
Dustin and I had a quiet slow-dance near the altar, and this woman politely reprimanded us, asking us to stop because "this is a place of respect."
Then we went to... this other place... my memory's already failing me. I think it's some kind of national building. Government building. It might be called The National Building. I dunno.
It was muralized by Diego Rivera himself.
On the way home, we saw many an interesting sight against the just-about-to-rain sky.
We came home to another picnic.
The last Stephens sibling, the lovely Mrs. Phoebe Linder, had arrived with hubby Sam in tow. She modeled Maggi sauce for us.
It was Louis & Karen's 21st anniversary. Louis surprised her with flowers and new earrings.
We all celebrated with pounds upon pounds upon pounds of Mexican candy.
Okay, one more day. We didn't do much all Friday, it was another relaxing day. We had lunch in the fancy dining room.
And then ALL NINE OF US got into the pool and played games. This is where the Stephens competetive spirit came into play like crazy. Every action to be done in the pool became a contest. "Hey, look, I walk around the pool on my hands!" became the prevailing contest of the night, followed by a swimming race, followed by who could get out of the pool without using their hands the fastest (ahem... I was the reigning champ on that one). It was my favorite part of the whole trip.
... followed by one more game of Dictionary, which Caitlin won by a mile.
One more post, to come next week. If you read this whole thing, I thank you. I commend you. I did it just for you.
love,
*jenna*
On Tuesday morning, we woke up super-early to go to the Teotihuacan pyramid remains. We tagged along on a hotel "turibus" (tour bus) so no one would have to drive us (and so we wouldn't get lost on the way). We met up at in this gorgeous hotel lobby.
Cruising out of town, we realized it was Naked Protest Day.
We stopped along the way at a workshop that crafts trinkets out of obsidian, this beautiful black mineral with swirls of gold in it. This dude was our guide around the workshop, and boy was he hilarious. I think he thought we were on a honeymoon.
He made us drink tequila made from the plants they have on site (which we later regretted, after being in the sun for several hours).
They had a great gift shop.
I bought myself this pretty li'l ring.
We then made our way to the ruins. There was a whole civilization to see.
They painted the walls of their stone houses.
Finally we arrived at our Everest. We looked upon the first challenge of the day, the Pyramid Of The Moon.
We climbed with enthusiasm, determined to make it to the top.
But the heightened elevation and steep steps made it difficult... we had to take a few breaks.
Look at how tall these steps are!
It was quite a hike, especially for two people who never exercise. But we victoriously made it to the top.
And looked out to the second pyramid, that of The Sun, which was even taller.
But we knew we could do it. We didn't stop to take pictures. We just hiked until we reached the top.
On the way home, we stopped at a little restaurant... actually, I think it was the same place as the workshop... something tells me there was a kickback in there somewhere between the shop and the hotel. But it was cute nonetheless.
Dustin got to quench his thirst.
I fell asleep in the turibus on the way back, and was cranky to know there was yet another stop on the tour. However, I'm glad we did it... it was this church built on a site where, apparently, the Virgin Mary had appeared to this dude and requested a shrine be built for her. The priest didn't believe the dude, so the Virgin Mary gave him a blanket with her image embedded in it. So they built this amazing church, which is now sinking, because Mexico City is built on what's basically a swamp.
John Paul II was the only pope to ever have visited Mexico City, and not only that but he did it 9 times. So they built him a little something too.
The church is under renovation (because of all the sinking) but it was still beautiful inside.
While it's being renovated, they built a temporary church. It was very different, much more modern.
Had awesome stained glass.
And it had the famous blanket on display... and far from anyone's reach. Apparently the Virgin Mary was astoundingly artistic, especially for an apparition.
The gift shop was totally stocked. It reminded me of the knick-knacks from The Empire State Building.
And the whole trip was guided by this terrific man. He explained everything to us in Spanish, English, and French.
The next day we went to Diego Rivera's studio/house.
We were only allowed to go into a couple of rooms. But it was quite interesting to see the artist's space.
And he had a fabulous staircase.
Then we went to the coolest place in all of Mexico City...
... it was enveloped by bold, bright colors....
Frida Kahlo's house.
They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, so we took a million outside. But the inside was full of her paintings, and paintings of her, and her journals. You could see the brightness of her personality and the vivaciousness of her relationship with Diego all over the place. It was sad, inspiring, and absolutely beautiful.
Here are pictures of their backyard.
You get the point. We, of course, attended the gift shop.
Luckily they had some postcards of the house's interior. They don't do it any justice, but it's better than nothing at all.
The dining room:
Frida's bedroom (and brace):
Following the theme, we visited the house that Leon Trotsky stayed in when he lived near Frida & Diego.
The museum was filled with protest art.
We took a bunch of pictures there but I don't have them on me at the moment. There was one of the sparse kitchen and bedroom the Trotskys inhabited, and one quite darkly humorous one of me surrounded by the bullet holes, angelically....
But for some reason this was the only one I could find at the moment.
I wanted to see more churches, so we went to this one. I don't remember the name.
The interior was vaulted and dramatic.
Outside, we soaked up the culture in a little town square.
The Mexican Flintstones:
We went into a little shop and I was blown away by these gorgeous lamps:
Then we got some famous ice cream.
I had tamarind sorbet. Dustin had some kind of berry that he didn't like.
On the way home, I saw the Oscar de la Renta outlet and just about peed my pants.
When we got home, we found that Dustin's other brother, Louis-Jose, had arrived from Los Angeles.
We celebrated the weather by having an outdoor lunch.
Poor Caitlin had just had some teeth removed. Her usual fiery spunk was nowhere to be found.
That night, Dustin chilled with Sugar...
... while I chilled with my torturous pyramid sunburn.
Sigh. This is a lot of stuff to cover. Okay, so the next day we went to this art museum (which is also sinking).
It was guarded by sculptures of heroism and godliness.
There was art inside.
However, in the middle of our art appreciation, there was a fire drill. How weird is that?
People just milled around the square.
But D. and I got active and went exploring. We found a really old church and thought, hey what the heck. You can never have too much God, right?
All of the churches we visited in Mexico were unbelievably ornate, usually decorated with gold or at least gold leaf. This was no exception.
And they really know how to do ceilings.
Aren't confession booths fascinating?
They got St. Francis In A Box.
Outside, the courtyard, filled with modern sculptures, was set off by the backdrop of crumbling structures.
(This one got a little friendly.)
There was some great people-watching to be done.
We headed back to the museum in hopes of completing our art-viewing mission. I had to stop at the fountain and appreciate its design.
I went to the ladies' room and loved the lighting.
As I was waiting for Dustin, I looked around and started taking pictures.
... of pretty much everything that caught my fancy.
We ended our visit with a tour of the El Greco room.
Next we went to... you guessed it! Another church! I don't know why, but I just find them so interesting... architecturally, artistically, aesthetically, culturally. This particular one was the biggest one I've ever seen, I think.
And minutely detailed.
This one was also under renovation.
Dustin and I had a quiet slow-dance near the altar, and this woman politely reprimanded us, asking us to stop because "this is a place of respect."
Then we went to... this other place... my memory's already failing me. I think it's some kind of national building. Government building. It might be called The National Building. I dunno.
It was muralized by Diego Rivera himself.
On the way home, we saw many an interesting sight against the just-about-to-rain sky.
We came home to another picnic.
The last Stephens sibling, the lovely Mrs. Phoebe Linder, had arrived with hubby Sam in tow. She modeled Maggi sauce for us.
It was Louis & Karen's 21st anniversary. Louis surprised her with flowers and new earrings.
We all celebrated with pounds upon pounds upon pounds of Mexican candy.
Okay, one more day. We didn't do much all Friday, it was another relaxing day. We had lunch in the fancy dining room.
And then ALL NINE OF US got into the pool and played games. This is where the Stephens competetive spirit came into play like crazy. Every action to be done in the pool became a contest. "Hey, look, I walk around the pool on my hands!" became the prevailing contest of the night, followed by a swimming race, followed by who could get out of the pool without using their hands the fastest (ahem... I was the reigning champ on that one). It was my favorite part of the whole trip.
... followed by one more game of Dictionary, which Caitlin won by a mile.
One more post, to come next week. If you read this whole thing, I thank you. I commend you. I did it just for you.
love,
*jenna*
posted by jenna at 11:02 AM
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