panteón civil de dolores magnifico

the largest cemetery in latin america would be incredible anytime, but during dia el muertos it was simply overwhelming --- families cleaning, painting, and decorating graves, scattering marigolds everywhere --- so unlike our dreadful, soul-less, perpetual-care cemeteries, aka lawnmower cemeteries

kiosk morisco y nova!

as we were riding in from the airport last sunday, we glimpsed this building, with music and people dancing --- the building was the kiosk morisco, a wonderful cast-iron structure designed by engineer José Ramón Ibarrola Berruecos (1814-1925) for use as the mexican pavilion at the the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition in New Orleans in 1884-1885 --- it was dismantled when that exposition closed, but re-constructed for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St Louis in 1904 --- in 1906, it was re-constructed again near Alameda Central, but dismantled and re-constructed a final time in 1901, at its current location in Santa María la Ribera

the dancing was absolutely the best --- the blonde woman at center in the video below was the flashiest, but check out the old guy in the white shirt and his dumpy little wife kicking their heels --- the blonde woman came up afterwards and introduced herself and her partner, who have "danced in a thousand places," including at clothing-optional events in san diego (!) --- she grew up in the neighborhood and said that every sunday afternoon, people of all sorts are there dancing --- the nekkidness aside, she will remain a sweet memory of cdmx

it was one of the best things we saw

growing things

i'm a bit of a pervert for plants, doncha know, so i always try to check out a town's botanical garden, if any --- el jardín botánico del bosque de chapultepec is not that large (about 13 acres) or that old (2006), but it was still purty good --- when the orchids are in full season, it must be spectacular

wasting time

it took me a bit to figure out the time this morning --- the cellphone said one thing, the wall clock something else, and bedside clock was ahead of them all --- turns out the phone was stuck on central time, and for the first time since john gave it to me over ten years ago, the radio-controlled wall clock actually re-set itself on schedule, all of which left me confused

i hate daylight saving time

faces of the dead

marigolds, tagetes erecta, are indigenous to central and southern mexico and have always been associated with the holiday --- they were everywhere, along with copal incense, which one may now purchase on amazon

this is the modern version of the aztec's la catrina

the aztec had a thing for skulls, doncha know, but the face painting is a modern phenomenon i think --- it produced some awfully cute decorated chillen

some of the kids looked a little freaked out about it all, but not this one

an excellent excursion

we stumbled into mexico city's celebration of día de reyes in january, but came back intentionally for dia de muertos --- a syncretism of aztec and catholic traditions, the holiday has been listed by unesco as part of "the intangible cultural heritage of humanity" --- one feels the weight of john calvin and his ilk on our own culture

the fitbit claims that we walked about 55 or so miles over six days, but it got off to a somewhat poor start when i stumbled across a big fat street bollard and fell over --- no, i had not been drinking, just ogling the architecture and what not, but i got a nice knot on my head, big-ass bruise on my thigh, and that eye turned kinda black the next day --- that's about the 106th time i've busted my head hard enough to make a knot, including twice impacting a car windshield  --- the incident got robert off

six days away from these guys was just about too long, so it's good to be back home ---