Monday, April 28, 2008

Mexico City Part II

Its my second to last day in Mexico City. Its a city which people either love or hate. For me, I will be very sad to leave what is for me the best city in the world.
My time here has been amazing, and the city provides constant suprises behind every street corner, like markets, museums and beautiful historic buildings. Yesterday I decided to walk around the city and see where it took me, and ended up stumbling upon a street square where hundreds of people of all ages were dancing salsa.
One of the highlights was definately the Leon Trotsky museum. Mexico was the only country which would accept Trotsky after he was exiled from Russia, thanks to a plea for asylum from artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. He lived in Mexico city until his death in 1940 by one of Stalins agents, who famously murdered him with an ice pick in his study. The museum is actually the entirely preserved house that Trotsky lived in until his death. You can still see the bullet holes in the walls from a previous assasination attempt, and even an old tube of his toothpaste...
I also visited the Blue House, former home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who were at one point good friends with Trotsky and part of the leftist intellectual circle in Mexico. Many of Kahlos paintings are on display as well as personal relics.
The museum of Anthropology was another highlight- one of the best museums I have seen. Its absolutely enormous. I also managed to go up one of Mexicos highest buildings, which gave a much needed perspective on this mega city (population 20,000).
On Friday night I attended a Mexican specialty, the Lucha Libre wrestling. Its similar to WWF, but with a twist. The fighters don colourful masks and costumes, and pull staged moves in the ring, with the odd midget thrown in. Its a hilarious spectacle, and the Mexicans really get into it.
You could stay here for years and still not see all the city has to offer, but unfortunately all good things have to come to an end. Tommorrow I will go to Teotihuacan, Toltec ruins dating back to about 200 BC, and then onto Guanajuato to stay with some friends of a Spanish friend I met in Puerto Escondido.
I have loaded a lot of photos on Flickr- http://www.flickr.com/photos/24491659@N03/
Hasta la vista

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