greg in ohio

Flying away from the snowy desolate wasteland that is Cleveland in February provides a instant pick me up for the body and soul. As the plane rises up off the Cleveland airport tarmac your spirits rise with it, no one enjoys Cleveland in February. We flew overland down to rainy Houston, Texas where after a quick turnaround we were flying over the Gulf and well on our way to sunny Mexico City and its twenty two million residents, a melting pot of a city in anyone's book. Oh yes I had to mention the word 'melting' as a cautionary note is required here -Mexico City is a extremely dangerous city for those who are a little sensitive to the sun aka British people. The high altitude results in instantaneous sunburn regardless of what sun tan lotion you wear. Sunburn is painful but for a Brit there's nothing to do but grin and bear it. Infuriatingly Amanda did not burn at all, it is definitely a British thing!

We left this classic winter scene behind in Ohio. Little did I know that after a minute in the Mexican sun the Cardinal and I would become body doubles!

My sunburn after five minutes outside.

We stayed in Coyoacan - A charming suburb known for it's most famous residents Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo and the exiled Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky. We had visited before in 2017 and I have to say not much had changed in this sleepy town. Except for the heaving crowds at Frida Kahlo's digs, her popularity seems to have skyrocketed in the last few years. Last time while visiting her home 'Casa Azul' we would have a room to ourselves and time to think and take it all in - this time it seemed more like an attraction at Disneyland being shoved through the rooms at record speed before battling for a seat in the lovely manicured gardens which sadly resembled the mosh pit at a Good Charlotte concert more than a artists quiet retreat. After fighting for a seat outside and swatting away coachloads of Japanese tourists we had a chance to reflect on our visit around the Casa Azul.

Mexico City has very friendly squirrels, they'll eat right out of your hand if you let them :)

Mexico City is home to some sweet friendly cats as well

The lines outside Frida's house.

Frida didn't have it easy, during childhood she contracted polio causing her right leg to end up several inches shorter than the left. Frida would compensate for this by wearing custom shoes with one heel higher than the other and then hiding it by wearing long traditional Mexican dresses. If this was not enough Frida was also involved in a bus accident when she was just a teenager, a handrail from the bus pierced her abdomen causing her lifelong pain and severe spinal injuries that resulted in her having to wear a corset as well. Frida sought solitude in her art and lots of her beautiful and some rather grotesque paintings displayed throughout the house. Frida was not afraid to paint her pain, after suffering a miscarriage in Detroit she painted a picture of herself being born on a hospital bed with blood all over the sheets, it's tough to look at, I don't really like it. This painting is now owned by Madonna!

Apparently Madonna uses it to tell who her friends are, she is quoted as saying in Vanity Fair 'If somebody doesn't like this painting then I know we can't be friends', I guess Madonna and I will never be friends! If you ever want to see this painting in the flesh I wish you luck, Madonna would not even loan it to her hometown art gallery the Detroit institute of art who were holding an exhibition on all of the works Frieda and Diego painted while living in the city... all except one.. Thanks Madonna!

manda and I admiring ourselves in the mirror of Frida's dressing table, I'm not sure who the third chap is but he looks grumpy!

While in the Casa Azul I also enjoyed seeing Diego Rivera's painting overalls and hat still hanging up over his bed - Not like we had long to appreciate it what with the crowds.. Another memory I have from inside the house being one of indignation over a fellow tourist telling us off for entering and exiting Frida and Diego's kitchen in the wrong direction - daring to hold him up in the process. What was his rush to get around the museum? I'd love to know!

Diego's painting overalls.

Fridas shoes with one taller than the other to compensate for the polio withered leg.

When it comes to art in Mexico City, the Casa Azul is merely the tip of a very deep iceberg. Frida's husband Diego Riveras finest mural 'Dream of a Sunday afternoon in Alameda park' is a particular favourite of mine. The title might invoke a quiet and lazy Sunday in the park but this mural has had anything but a relaxing time. Diego painted a scene of famous Mexican historical characters strolling together through a park including himself as a child, his wife Frida and even a cheeky pickpocket! The mural was commissioned by the grandest hotel of its day, the Hotel Prado to sit in its fine dining restaurant 'The Versailles'. Diners got to appreciate 'Dream of a Sunday afternoon in Alameda Park' in this setting for four decades before 1986 when a enormous earthquake rocked Mexico City damaging the Hotel Prado beyond repair. Incredibly the mural survived unscathed. Before demolition work could begin on the hotel the mural had to be removed which is no easy feat considering the mural is 51 feet long! This was a huge undertaking which is best described by not describing it at all and directing you to the pictures below.

Dream of a sunday afternoon in Alameda park.

A cheeky pickpocket!

Aftermath of the '86 earthquake.

Moving the entire mural!

You can now view the mural in its own special gallery. We visited on a Saturday morning, a trip which was made all the more entertaining by the Funko pop market that had 'popped up' around the museum. For those of you unfamiliar with Funko Pops, they are wildly popular plastic toys with large heads and creepy eyes that resemble celebrities' and popular culture characters. We had to battle our way through what must have been millions of boxes of Funko pops before emerging not in the museum but in the Pokémon card sellers street wide convention. Millions of people all with their Pokémon portfolios flashing you glimpses of their holographic Pokémon cards in the hope of a trade. I was tempted by one seller offering up a holographic Charzard card (Amanda told me of the existence of this card - she is a Pokémon geek!) and so I offered up Amanda up in a optimistic trade attempt! Now several months later Amanda lays next to me on the sofa while I still dream of that elusive Charizard card!

Trying for the Guinness world record for the most Funko pops in one place.

Pokémon heaven

A romantic stroll through Alameda park.

The gallery housing the Diego Rivera mural is located next to the actual Alameda park depicted in the mural so having dodged all the Pokémon traders for a second time on the way out of the gallery we took a stroll of our own through the park to get to a coffee shop I had been excited to visit 'Cafe de Tacuba' on the other side of the park. When I was young and HMV record shop still existed I used to enjoy browsing through the international music section where I once came away with a Cafe Tacuba cd which I enjoyed immensely. Little did I know that 20 years later that purchase would lead me to the very café the band took their name from! I say 'took' for good reason as after getting sued by the aforementioned café the band are now known as café Tacvba instead! As for the café itself... wow! gosh! what a amazing place! It dates back to 1912 and has hosted some momentous events through the ages, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera hosted their wedding recoption there and a political assasination occurred in 1936 when masked gunmen burst in and shot a Mexcan politician enjoying his morning cafe and empanada. The bullet hole is still visible in the wall. Probably the cafes biggest claim to fame occurred earlier this year when it played host to Amanda Minute and Gregory Hart for lunch. Rumour has it that Gregory enjoyed his Chicken enchilada bathed in a mole (chocolate and chili sauce) sauce and his Mexican hot chocolate very much indeed!

Mariachi band :)

The waitresses in Cafe Tacuba wear the same outfits today, including the massive bows :)

We were very lucky on this trip to meet up with Chris who may be known to many of you as my friend Tim's little brother! Well it turns out he is not so little any more, Chris is a English teacher in Mexico city now and it was great to meet up and have someone to show us the sights. Chris somehow managed to negotiate tickets for us to see one of the must see events of the year in Mexico City - The Lucha Libre featuring the legendary 'Mistico'! The battle took place in the Arena Mexico - 20,000 screaming fans baying on their heroes and we were fortunate on this particular night to be in the presence of the one of the greatest... The legendary 'Mistico'. Well he certainly lived up to expectations although he had to really dig deep in this fight to overcome the evil villains Euphoria and The Magician for a 'thumping' victory! The good guys (always) wIn in the end! Sadly I have no pictures to share from this evening as my camera was confiscated at the entrance. You can take videos on phones though... go figure....

Thank you Chris for showing us around :)

We had a vague recollection of seeing the same truck in the same space on ourlast visit to Mexico City!

As if Arena Mexico wasn't enough we also got to visit another iconic stadium the Estadio Azteca. To say it is iconic is an understatement this is the stadium in which both Pele and Maradona have lifted the world cup, it is the stadium where Maradona the goal of the century against England taking it round one, round two, round three and then left Peter Shilton sitting on his booty before passing into the empty net. In the same game Maradona scored the infamous 'hand of god'. The less said about that the better although I will say it shows you how good England were that even the greatest player in the world had to resort to cheating to beat us. As for the game we witnessed I must confess it lacked the magic of that infamous night in '86 with the home side, our team, Cruz Azul succumbing 2-0 to Tigres. We had great seats situated right underneath the ultras so lots of dancing and noise and we even got to enjoy some tortilla crisps and HOT hot sauce mmm! Chris said the previous week he had gone to see a Club America game at the Azteca where he witnessed a real life eagle fly over the pitch, we got to watch Cruz Azul's cement truck drive around the stadium, a close second in anyone's book! Still it was a fantastic evening, I'd love to go back and see Cruz Azul win next time! I have no pictures from the game sadly, after I had my camera taken away at the Arena Mexico I did not risk taking it into the football stadium.

The legendary home of the Lucha Libre

No blog would be complete without a shout out to nature and on this trip nature really excelled herself, from the grandeur of Popocatepetl volcano to the prickly attitude of the cactus she never ceased to amaze. I loved watching the leafcutter ants strut their stuff, it is mesmerizing watching this never ending stream of ants continue up and up and up to the tips of the tree and back down again. I was also delighted to see the Monarch butterflies in their winter home. I have shared Monarch butterflies with you before but always from here in Cleveland and so I am happy to report that all seemed well with the Monarchs down in Mexico as well. Just like in Cleveland the locals have planted pollinator gardens all over the place so you are never too far from a Monarch. By now (late April) the Monarch butterflies will have started their epic multi generational migration North over the gulf of Mexico and away to wherever in the US or Canada their wings take them. It takes the Monarch four generations to make it to Cleveland it is just a incredible feat, how does the great grandchild no where to go?

Leaf Cutter ants.

Monarch butterfly in her winter home!

300 year old cactus

After some hectic days in Mexico City it can be nice to get away for some rest and recuperation so we followed our noses to a gorgeous little provincial mountain town called San Miguel De Allende. If you happen to be an American reading this you have probably heard of San Miguel - The place is FULL of ex pats, everything is in English and most things are very expensive by Mexican standards. This doesn't detract from the town as much as you might think. San Miguel is big enough to absorb the expats and it is pretty nice to see a English menu. The boutique shops in the center of town were well out of our league cost wise but stroll a few blocks from the zocalo and you can find the 'real' Mexico, Like this amazing carpenters shop full of masks! We got a bunch of them... 5 masks and one hanging bird all for about 60 dollars and we even managed to fit them all in our checked bag :)

spot the cat

close up :)

Hunting for treasures.

more beautiful hand carved masks.

Our lovely hotel 'Casa de los Noches' was in a old bordello, with each of the rooms being named after one of the working girls. The owner of the hotel is known as 'Madame'!

Strolling around San Miguel you may come across a old convent building with its doors flung open in welcome. After walking around the pretty gardens and admiring or sniggering (depending upon your taste) at some of the modern art you'll stumble upon a unfinished David Siqueiros mural. David Siqueiros was quite the character known as much for his art as for his fiery temper and attempted assassination of Trotsky (!). Siqueiros's troublesome reputation was on full display while working on his San Miguel mural. about a third of the way through the work Siqueiros fell out with the family who commissioned the art and before you know it he had stormed off and out of San Miguel never to return to finish his work. This presents an excellent opportunity for you to examine the inner workings of a mural, sight lines, warts and all!

modern art... not my cup of tea.

My muse Amanda shows the ginormous proportions of the room that holds Siqueiros's unfinished mural.

Expats are not the only people who have found a haven amongst the gothic spires of San Miguel If you were to step back to the age of the beatniks you would have encountered a very different place, a dusty provincial town down on its luck that was sure to attract some countercultural beat legends like Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady and Ken Kesey...I know I cannot find any proof of Kesey visiting, but I feel it is a town he would like! I have been on a fiendish Beatnik reading spree ever since our visit to San Francisco last year so I was pretty excited to follow in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac in Mexico. Jack was a brilliant writer with a beautiful heart who sadly battled alcoholic demons his whole adult life. I read his book 'Desolation Angels' on this trip where Jack Kerouac spends his summer working as a fire lookout in the Northern cascades miles from civilization and the nearest off license. After this alcohol free summer Jack embarked on an epic trip through the US and into Mexico stopping in San Miguel. Incredibly 2 of his haunts in town - La Gato Negro and la cucaracha bar are still standing! Sadly despite several attempts to visit they remained stubbornly closed during my trip, perhaps with the help of this picture you'll be able to imagine Jack Kerouac stepping through these swing doors yourself!