Azul y Oro, Cafe Azul and around Coyoacan

December 20

Every trip has a lost day and this was it. I hope. I wanted to do the green line circuit of Coyoacan and points south. I wanted to get off at two stops, University City to look around and to eat at Azul y Oro. The chef there is famously a Mexican food historian, and the menu looked very interesting, and reasonably priced for alta Mexicana cuisine; and I wanted to check out Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul. Then I would come back and visit the Museo Antropologia, which stays open until 7:00.  But first I got stuff for a picnic for tomorrow's pyramid trip

So I bought bread, cheese, pate, guayabas and, planning to take the other Metro line, head that way. But I notice a bus stop and see that the bus goes to Nueva Leon. That is the name of the entry stop for the green line. So I hop on and the driver tells me when to get off.

I am in a totally strange place. It is beyond the end of my central city street map. I have no other map, having left the lonely planet guide in Cville, Just because it was a library book. Idiot.  I realize that Nueva Leon is many miles long, and I am nowhere near the part I nead to be. There is a nearby book store, but nothing opens until 10. The local 7/11s and gas stations have no maps or suggestions.

 I find the metro line some blocks away and head for the statue of Columbus which I think must be the Plaza de Madrid, which I remember the driver calling the stop. (I just happened across a photo of a statue in a plaza in Madrid with the same statue of a woman in a wagon pulled by lions, that is in the Plaza de Madrid in Mexico City.) But it is not the place, but is on Reforma. Reforma is a main boulevard designed by Maximilian and is lined with glittering skyscrapers and green strips, with periodic plazas with memorials. It also does have many interesting sculpted benches, all different.  I go to the Revolution memorial and am told where the Tribus stop is, but it doesn't seem right. So I find the place that does seem right. After some waiting, I find that it is a stop only for the red line. But I find out where the green line goes. So I take a cab. Get a green line ticket and hop on board. By now it is around noon; I was shooting for boarding the green line by 8:00.

At UMAC

The ride is not very interesting or dramatic. I get off at university, which is also or mainly a huge shopping conglobulation, walk a mile or so to the Uni gate, walk some more, pass an interesting wild garden with giant scentless orange monarda, passionfruit, small white cosmos, as well as some kind of tobacco with white-throated purple flowers, some of which looked years old and treeish, and  giant castor beans. I find the sala nehuatapetl or whatever,a deserted art gallery,  and the resauant Azul y Oro-- everything is closed. It is break. At least I find a toilet. I have been planning this lunch for at least a month and spent several hours (it is now 2:00 and I have had nothng but a banana and coffee all day) getting here. I feel like I have tramped many, many miles, and probably I have. I am losing the spirit of ‘whatever happens, it’s an adventure’. I start walking out of the uni, and, following the first truly bad directions I have gotten, exit by another gate. It is partly because I couldn't name the street I came in and have no map or idea or orientation. So after tramping a mile or so and realizing I am getting nowhere, I take a cab again which drops me off right in front of the shopping center.

Roadside Casualty

I eat at Sanborns, which is good  in a Hot Shoppes sort of way, with costumed waitresses. They were kind, and I ate a lot, but not what I had in mind.  I leave looking for the turibus stop, with a Walmart as a point of reference. It is nowhere in sight. This shopping center turns out to be about the size of the UVA main grounds. Then I happen to spot it--  the stop is on another main highway across a pedestrian bridge over an eight- lane highway and down some stairs. At the stop I fall in with some German ladies who turn out to be retired Finnish teachers. There is a tiny Charlie Brown highway Chrismas tree, a memorial to a fallen pedestrian at the stop. We wait by the highway for 45 minutes and reboard,

The bus took us through neighborhoods with tree leaves and xmas lights slung low across the road that bopped the tallest of us in the top of the bus. We passed charming neighborhoods with parks and endless roads like the one in Beijing where the 'French' bakery was: grubby 2 or 3 storey buildings, stores, etc. with no coherent feel. These kinds of places are hard to get to know.

around Coyoacan

The three of us checked out the Casa Azul, the Frida Kahlo house which was a shrine to Frida and Diego; I am not that much of a fan, but it seemed like a must-see. There were several cats and nice courtyard sculptures. We got on a metro to get back which was unbelievably crowded and the Finnish ladies decided to get a cab the rest of the way. So I came home, got some yogurt and v8 for dinner, and was unable to unlock the gate. Stood around for awhile, decided not to hang around on street corners, and went to sit at the nearby bus stop.

            Finally I knocked on the sister's door (a neighbor directed me) . The sister had three lovely daughters, and a very different household, relaxed and kid-oriented. There was a large navidad and kids’ stuff strewn around. We chatted and he sister called Paco. He drove back from wherever he was and  naturally fixed it immediately.

One of the 3 locks goes clockwise, the others counterclockwise. So he doesn't lock the different one. So when I thought I was unlocking all the locks, I was unlocking two but locking one. He was very nice, but I felt like an idiot.  So here I am, having checked email and ready to call it a day---tomorrow the Pyramides, and  a picnic. And if it is not too interesting, I will come back and try the museum, and figure out a dinner plan. Buenas noches.

I felt very very tired and frustrated at the end of that day, but reading my notes, it seemed like I actually accomplished quite a lot.