Mexico City III

soumaya museum

Mexican Art

Mexican Art(?)

castillo de chapultepec 

squirrel


museum modern art 
Kazuya Sakai
Well here in Mexico City there is proof that money cannot buy you everything. We started out to visit the Soumaya Museum of Carlos Slim and while the building from the outside looks interesting a closer look shows that it is pieces and bits a things that already existed before. It is BMW Welt combined with Guggenheim New York. The son in law of Carlos is the architect so maybe that explains a bit. The building is not working inside - the collection not properly displayed and lighted. The coin collection is really not visible which is a shame because that seems to be the most interesting part of the museum collections. Yes there is Rodin, Dali, Bourdelle, Frans Hals - well there is a bit of everything - but that doesn't make it a interesting museum.
Much better is the original museum of modern art in the chapultepec park from 1964. This building by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez is still very modern (or is it modern again?). It has some really interesting pieces and exhibitions. 
We ended our stay in Mexico City (which we really liked) with a visted to the chapultepec Castel where  the Mexican Emperor Maximilian I lived during the second Mexican Empire. It is build on a (sacred) Maya hill so you have a pretty view of the rest of the city - well a tiny part of it because this is a gigantic city.
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Mexico City II

piramides de teotihuacan

Wow - it really is a huge complex 

In the Cathedral - people lock in their vows to god

Cathedral

Palacio National
We stared early to climb the piramides de teotihuacan - I was a bit amazed that you could still that nowadays. The view is very nice and to realise that you are on top of something this impressive makes it even better. Luckily not a lot of people were around - at somethings more then 2 million people will gather here...
In the afternoon we walked the Historic District and then returned to the hotel early because to be frank we were a bit tired of all the walking and climbing.
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Mexico City

Maya Tomb

Looks like a Hergé comic drawing

Smile! - You're on camera

Faces

Made me think of India a bit
After a short flight we arrived in Mexico City - which is really huge! Luckily we have a hotel close to everything (museums, parks, restaurants and shops). The first thing we did however was to visit the awesome Museum of Anthropology right around the corner. This is the place were the Mexicans moved all their important stuff to - so finally we could see artefacts from all the temples and places we have visited the last weeks. It was truly a very impressing experience. One of the best things is also that they recreated some temple facades in the original colours through which the whole Maya Culture comes to live even more.
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Day 11 - Acapulco

view from the car

No divers for us...
We did mis plan our next trip a bit... In stead of a couple of hours to reach Acapulco over a reasonable fast highway, it took us 7 hours + over sometimes tiny roads and trough villages. It was a nice trip though with lots of things to see - but we ended up in Acapulco a bit late to see the divers. We had a great dinner and a good sleep in the hotel.
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Day 10 - Puerto Escondido

on the road II

Beautiful Mountain roads

Everywhere speeds bumps - somethings with a notice, most of the time without...

Our hotel in Puerto Escondido

Sunset at the Pacific
After an exhilarating trip from Oaxaca to the Pacific trough the mountains we ended up in Puerto Escondido. Not a lot to do here then to relaxed, enjoy the view and pool...
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Day 9 - Oaxaca II

agava

at the domingo cloister in Oaxaca

biotanical garden 
domingo church

pretty flower

ceiling of St. Domingo church

streets of Oaxaca

some houses need some renovation...

street view
The following day in Oaxaca we saw the St. Domingo Church and Convent, now an impressive, huge and modern museum about the history of Oaxaca, the influx of the Spanish and the original people. The streets and filled with colourful  houses and the city has lots of parks. Not a lot of people try to sell you something like in St. Christobal - so making this city much more agreeable and authentic.
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Day 8 - Oaxaca


cactuses everywhere 
monte alban temple

wide view on top of the mountain

close to heaven

nice flowers
Now here is a nice city where you want to spend a couple of days and that is just what we did. Oaxaca is an old colonial town, but it has Maya origins too - hence the Monte Alban Temple on top of a mountain overlooking the city. This is quite an unique setting and we had fun to explore it. Oaxaca is fun to explore as well with lots of churches, fun museums (post stamp museum!), smiling people and great food and wine.
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Day 7 - a boat ride in a magnificant canyon




Our next stop Tuxtla Gutiérrez,  is a working (coffee) city so why come here? For a boat trip in the Sumidero Canyon. The river flows between 800 meter high straight walls with crocodiles vultures, monkeys and awesome views!  
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Day 6 - two waterfalls and San Christobal de las Casas

On the road
behind the misol ha waterfall 

Mexican Oranges tast great, specially when fresh pressed

at the aqua azul waterfall

the aqua azul cascade is really really blue

san christobal de las casas

VW beetle - the national car, still
The road from Palenque to San Christobal is very windy and adventurous - some parts of the roads have completely disappeared  during the rain season. It offers great views though and has very high mountains. We visited two waterfalls misol ha (where you can walk behind the waterfall) and the aqua azul cascades which are strikingly blue if you are lucky - which we were.
Next to cows there is a strange phenomenon here people/children try to stop you with a rope over the road to sell bananas and such. The solution: buy bananas at the first "stop" and show them at each “roadblock” - they taste great as well.  The Mexicans have also other ways to let you drive slower: every mile or so there is a  “topes”, road bumps sometimes huge and you really want to pass those very slowly.
San Christobal itself is a tourist joint. All of a sudden we found ourselves in a situation were everywhere people try to sell you something - which is not great stuff.  The Domingo church is somewhat special, with gold paint and an ancient feeling. The rest of the city just ok - but nothing overly special. There are much more interesting colonial cities in latin america.
Our hotel (Bo) however was fun and had a very special design  and an oases in the bustling city. 
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