Bosque de Chapultepec

This past Friday, I was invited by my friend Eder to attend a presentation on the history of Mexico. Eder is an Economics major at UNAM here in Mexico City, but he has a close friendship with a few of his teachers from his high school.

The presentation was held at Eder's former high school, the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria Plantel 2, so I actually got to see what high school life is like here in Mexico. Unlike our schools in the U.S., there are two sessions of classes—there is a morning group of students and an afternoon group. The high school “campus” was very large, and Eder informed me that about 8,000-10,000 students attend this school. What really made my mouth drop was that this is one of the smaller high schools in DF! I got to meet some really great teachers and also had the opportunity to meet the guest speaker, Dr. Federico Navarrete Linares, who is the author of the book Huesos de Lagartija. Federico discussed how present day Mexico might be changed if certain situations had happened differently. It was very interesting, and it was really great to see an auditorium packed full of students who were genuinely interested in the history of their country. I also got to meet a some of Eder’s friends, Lilia and Luis, who sat with me during the presentation.

On Friday night, Claudia invited me over to celebrate our friend Javi’s birthday. The party was held at Diego’s (Claudia’s brother) apartment. Roberto came along with me, and we enjoyed meeting Diego’s roommates. I brought along some puppy chow, which went over well with the crowd, and Javi and the gang cooked up some tortilla Española a la Mexicana. (Tortilla Española is a Spanish omelet made with potatoes, onions, and eggs, but they added corn tortillas into the mix for a little Mexican flair.) It was delicious!! We played various card games including Mentiroso (I doubt it) and Asesino (Assassin). I also taught them how to play Spoons. It was a lot of fun.

On Saturday morning, Roberto and I decided to go to Chapultepec Park. Chapultepec which means “Hill of the Grasshoppers” in Nahuatl consists of 1,600 acres of land and is home to attractions such as the Museo de Antropología, the Zoológico, and the Castillo de Chapultepec. We enjoyed walking around the park along the shady paths and around the many lakes. We fed peanuts to some scrawny-looking squirrels and watched the crowds paddle boats on the lake.

On Sunday morning, I made some chocolate chip pancakes for Roberto and Señora Nena. They turned out to be pretty yummy despite the fact that I couldn't find buttermilk. Plain yogurt and regular milk turned out to be good substitutes. In the afternoon, Roberto and I decided to return to Chapultepec Park since admission to museums is free on Sunday. Isn’t that the coolest thing? FREE admission to all museums on Sundays. I love it! We visited the Castillo de Chapultepec which was begun in 1785 and was completed after Mexico achieved its independence in 1810. In 1864, Emperor Maximiliano and Empress Carlota moved to the castle and had it refurbished as their residence. Today it is a museum that recounts much of Mexico’s history through artifacts and paintings.

I had the opportunity see some very famous murals by David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco. The second floor of the castillo was beautiful as well

The black and white checkered balcony served as a great backdrop for some artsy photos taken by Roberto and me.

In addition the view of the city from the castle balcony was incredible. Because the castle sits atop a large hill, you can observe the urban sprawl of the city and the rolling mountains beyond. It is quite a landscape!

The top floor of the castle is still furnished with original pieces from when Maximiliano and Carlota resided there. In addition, there are some beautiful French-style gardens; panes of stained glass windows line the hallways. As I walked through the marbled arcades I almost felt as if I was transported to that era of Mexican aristocracy.

After our trip to the museum, we enjoyed a delicious lunch-dinner near metro Balderas and then we made a short stop at the lucha libre (Mexican studio wrestling) arena to watch the last of the Sunday matches. But, I will save lucha libre for another time since it deserves a whole post to itself :-)

Click for more pictures!

Abrazos, Nicole