Mercado Roma and Calle Amsterdam

We spent most of yesterday walking around a really lovely neighbourhood not too far from where we're staying.  It's in an area called Condessa, home to wonderful leafy streets and classic buildings, some colonial, some art deco, some more modern. We started out at the Mercado Roma, a new upscale market full of contemporary food and treats.

Then we walked down to Calle Amsterdam, which we learned of from our friend Andrea, who lived in Mexico City for some time.  Calle Amsterdam runs in an oval circle around a lovely park. Apparently it was originally a racetrack for horses owned by a countess. Now the track has been turned into a lovely avenue with a wide pedestrian walkway in the middle, completely shaded by trees. It was a perfect place to stroll along in the heat of the day.  Here's some of what we saw.

This is the Mercado Roma, a new building with flower stalls outside,

And inside some wonderful food vendors and restaurants, with a gorgeous outdoor eating area.

On a Friday morning there weren't tons of people there but everyone was relaxed and happy. We didn't indulge in much except one of these gourmet Mexican creamsicles (called paletas con leche)  and some tea. On our way out we spotted this ultra-cool thing--uber food delivery by motorcycle.  What a great idea.  

Then we wandered over to Calle Amsterdam, a two- or three-kilomoter oval surrounded by classy coffee shops, galleries, restaurants and stores, and home to lots of young, hip people.

This place opens at night. When the green door slides up you'll probably see a sidewalk cafe.

Some of the apartment buildings on each side of the street.

It's easy to take photos from the middle walkway.

Here's a view of the path with a young couple walking their dog. We saw so many well cared-for dogs here. And dog walkers too. Reminds me of Victoria.

These darlings were waiting outside an upscale grocery store. And below is a fellow with three big dogs hanging out in the shade in the plaza by a Moorish-themed fountain.

I'll leave you with a couple more views of the vegetation and trees. We walked for a long way in the middle of a hot day and it was simple cool and pleasant.

Of course if you get too hot you can always get a cool coconut from the vendor.

This is a view of the street along the edge of the oval that bounds the lovely Parque Mexico. It's an area we'll go back to for sure. If we ever come to Mexico City for a month or so we'd love to find a place here--that is if we could afford it (which I doubt). But it's a great place to wander around.

It's really hot here in CDMX

Today the temperature hit 30 degrees again and still no sign of cooling rain. We were talking to a fellow in a sidewalk cafe this afternoon and he told us that May is a very hot month. It's even hotter than June or July because there are no rains to cool the air down. Well now we know. Today there was some thunder and lightning and even some sprinkles of raindrops but nothing is cooling off this air. Not really complaining though because we've endured months of cold and dreary weather in Victoria. And it's lovely to be able to sit outside in the evening.  Now that we have a fan I think I'll be able to sleep better tonight.

Our adventure today was a hop-on, hop-off tour with a company called Turibus, which took us down the Reforma to the historic centre of the city, where we saw the Zocalo, some very very old buildings and the Palacio des Bellas Artes. Here are a few photos of our day.

This is the old guy posing in front of a very old building and one of the city's iconic pink and wite taxis.  Some buildings here are 300 years old.

This photo is taken on the inside of the Palace of Fine Arts, which has a mainly art deco interior and some amazing murals. (More about those in another post.)

These guys were playing chess in Alameda Park and one old man challenged Harry to a game. He quickly declined, knowing that he'd be badly beaten.

We hopped off at the Del Angel monument where we stayed 33 years ago the first time we came to this city and found that the hotel we stayed in was still in operation, and looking pretty much the same from the outside. The inside was somewhat modernized but still recognizable.

This is the Monument to Independence featuring the angel, hence the name del angel, taken from the top of the open air double decker bus. And below the angel, the hotel.

Speaking of hotels, we're staying at a pleasant B&B called Anys Hostal where we have an apartment with a kitchen, two beds, and large bathroom area plus desk, plus even more space. It's a great oasis from the hurly burly of the city. We met the owner Alfonso last summer when he was in Victoria and we're so pleased that it worked out for us to stay at his place.

This afternoon we spent an hour or so down by Del Angel having a late lunch and then hopped back on the bus to find ourselves mired in a Mexico City traffic jam. It took us 45 minutes to drive what would normally be a 15 minute ride. Note to self: stay off of transit after 4:30 pm in Mexico City. The traffic of course adds to the smog, which builds up with heat and humidity too.

Tonight we're trying to keep cool as we listen to some thunder and hope for rain.

Mexico City - day 1

We arrived yesterday evening in Mexico City, now called CDMX for Ciudad Mexico. It's so big that it's hard to get your head around it. On the plane coming in we flew over it for about 45 minutes! It's an amazing trip to be here in this city of 8.8 million people. Beyond the city proper are miles and miles of suburbs and shanty towns. The total population of the valley of Mexico is in the range of 25 million people.

And yet it's beautiful, no?




This trip is Harry's reward for completing his six-month chemo program. He was here for five weeks in early 2016 and wanted to share it with me. Today we got settled in our little apartment in Roma Norte, one of the more upscale neighbourhoods of the city.

We are staying in the central area close to the historic centre and Chapultapec park. Here is where the tourists come but also where many professional working people live. We arrived last night around 11:00 pm and spent the day settling in, getting oriented, and adjusting to the altitude. At 7,300 feet, it's about  mile and a half above sea level and boy, can I feel it. Just climbing one flight of stairs leaves me breathless and dizzy. And we both find that our thought processes are quite scattered. (Even more so than usual!)

We've been taking it easy today, hanging out in the shade with cool drinks. This one at the Museum of Modern Art.

I'll post a few photos from today's trip across town and into Chapultapec Park where we visited the Museum of Modern Art, a really gorgeous building with amazing exhibits.

But first I want to thank our friend Ritchie who insisted on driving us to the airport to arrive more than two hours before our flight to Vancouver.  When we checked in we were told that the flight from Vancouver to Mexico City had been reschedule to two hours earlier! Our travel agent had not informed us of this change!  It was only due to the diligence of the Air Canada staff that we were able to get an earlier flight and rush through security in order to get to Vancouver in time to board our Mexico City flight. What luck!  And a good beginning to our trip.

This is a sculpture outside the museum. I love the solidity and humanness of these figures. Below is a view of the inside of one of the two circular buildings that comprise the museum. Beautiful!

We saw some wonderful exhibits. To me the most memorable was a series of drawings of 20 women. Sadly I don't remember the artist but I must say I was truly impressed and inspired by the way these women were captured in graphite.

On another floor were paintings showing the soul of Mexico and I was struck by this drawing by Diego Rivera. What an amazingly distinctive style he had. And how beautifully he captured the maternal love of the Indigenous peoples.

After visiting the museum we stopped at a restaurant for a drink. Here in CDMX there isn't much in the way of wine served, so I've had to make do with beer. (Not my favourite!) But I've found that a light beer is somewhat palatable, especially in the late afternoon sunshine. Harry's beer was chosen in honour of our home town.

It got so hot this afternoon that we had to come back to our apartment and have a shower and a nap. It got cooler around 7:00 and we headed out to do a few errands and find a place to eat. We lucked out with a little sidewalk cafe and wine bar just a few steps down the street. Here I'm sitting on the sidewalk in a short-sleeved blouse at 8:30 at night. Lovely!

A carpet of blue

Every year at this time the hilltops and larger parks in Victoria bloom in a carpet of deep purple-blue. It's the time of the Blue Camas flower, which grows wild in the natural Gary Oak meadows.

This flower grows from bulbs that were harvested and eaten by the native peoples who lived here for thousands of years. There is some kind of symbiosis between the Gary Oak trees and the Camas flowers. The meadows are always found where the native Gary Oak grows.















Today my friend and I spent some time in one of these meadows walking and looking and taking photos of these stunning flowers. It's magical hanging out in these meadows especially when the spring sunshine warms your back and the buzzing of bees and birdsong fills the air.







Take a closer look at these beautiful flowers. This is the bud before it opens, and beside it a photo of the flower opening up.

After the flower opens, it develops strong yellow stamens and a bulbous shape in the centre, which becomes a seed pod. 

They're just so strong and vibrant that it's hard to take your eyes away.



And then there is the odd rare white one. These are called Death Camas because unlike the blue variety the bulbs are poisonous. The story is told that the native peoples marked the white ones so they would know to avoid them in the harvesting.

For me the Blue Camas bloom is a sure sign that summer is coming.