Parque Ecológico Cuicuilco

Today we went south to ancient ruins a bus ride away. Called Cuicuilco, https://lugares.inah.gob.mx/es/zonas-arqueologi…; it was different than any of the other ruins we have seen. The pyramid was actually round. And it was surrounded by some volcanic tubes and flows and forest. I stupidly didn’t bring my binoculars with me (and I bet Gail was glad as I would have spent way too much time figuring out the birds I was looking at - that will be for my last day.) I believe we were the only people visiting this spot on a Friday morning. They had a little museum (of course) to help us understand what we were looking at.

The history of the place is that the nearby Xitle volcano erupted in about 250 AD, covering much of the area with lava. Many of the inhabitants made their way over to Teotihuacán to live. It wasn’t very picturesque with tall buildings and busy streets/highways all around the site, but the significance of their resilience was evident.

Next up was a bus ride up to the National University of Mexico or UNAM. First stop was the Museum of Contemporary Art https://muac.unam.mx/. Gail isn’t much of a fan of contemporary art, so I went through on my own while Gail suffered through with a tall, chocolate milk shake. Pobrecita! There were about five or six different artist retrospectives including Beatriz González. Her work was so moving. She had a fairly unique outlook on her work and what she was trying to convey. A real treat.

We headed up to the area just north of UNAM to get some (delicious) tacos. And then walked down to the main campus. There we spied the newly erected encampment supporting Gaza and just a huge amount of graffiti covering the buildings. The protest/encampment seemed peaceful although pretty small. The graffiti was shameful. It covered some of the art and architectural features.

We decided to head into the library because there was supposed to be an origami exhibit! I was not disappointed. These were some very intricate and exquisite specimens of paper craft. During my first time in Portland Oregon back in the early 80s, I worked late into the evening canvassing. I was staying at a woman’s home (I’m sorry I can’t remember her name), but she had a normal 9 to 5 job. So, by the time I got home, I had a couple/few hours at the end of the day to wind down. Quietly. I took up origami. Mine were complicated but nothing like these. Made me happy to see such artistry from one single, uncut piece of paper.

After a couple of bus mishaps, we decided to visit the Frida Kahlo Park which was not more than a two-minute walk from our apartment. It was small and pretty. We tried to have a conversation with Diego and Frida who were hanging out in the garden. They were congenial if a little stiff.Read more