Category Archives: Mexico

A Wine and Cheese Weekend

Posted on by under Celebrations, Food, Mexico, Travel

Wine and cheese in Mexico – who knew?! We are cheeseheads, after all, and were thrilled to find there is a wine and cheese route just a few hours away from Mexico City. We checked it out with our friends Josette and Scott during Tequisquiapan’s wine and cheese festival.

Pink Sandstone Church
Cheese!
Josette and Scott
La Ruta del Queso y Vino
Hiding in the Shadows
Pink Church at Dusk
Hidalgo Square
Waiting for our First Drinks of the Trip

Matt was the tour director and Scott was our accommodating designated driver (he’s a beer guy) for the weekend. We started out at a reasonable hour on Saturday with our only goal to arrive at the Freixinet winery by 2 pm because we had tickets for its paella festival and we were told the paella could run out. First stop was the Neole cheese shop for a tour and tasting. We were joined by a tour group and headed behind the cheese shop for the simple tour that doubled as our daily Spanish lesson. We checked out the cheese making area, had the process described to us and then enjoyed our first cheese tasting of the trip. We would learn at our second cheese tasting that orange slices are to cleanse the palate, sweet is to temper the taste of the cheese and salty is to intensify the cheese’s taste. I used this guide as my excuse to eat the sweet pieces of “ate de membrillo” or quince jelly every time I tried a bit of blu or smoked cheese.

Waiting for the Women
Cheese Here!
Happy Cheeseheads
Where the Magic Happens
Cheese Smoker
Our First Tasting of the Trip
Enjoying our Samples

Even though we were full from breakfast and our subsequent cheese tasting, next stop was another cheese shop. Except we couldn’t find it and even Matt had to concede that despite its presence on his GPS, it didn’t really exist. No worries, it was time for some wine instead and we stopped at Viñedos Los Rosales. The grounds were beautiful, the servers were friendly and patiently described the wines we could taste and… the wines were terrible. So terrible that while we only had tiny 1-ounce pours, we still furtively dumped them out on the ground instead of finishing them. Driver Scott could rest easy that he hadn’t missed anything as he had taken a pass on the tasting, and we could all be confident that our $2 wine tasting fee was worth knowing never to drink Los Rosales wine again.

Los Rosales
Tasting Hut
Friendly Servers of Bad Wine
Enjoying the Company if Not the Wine
Vineyards

To get the bad taste out of our mouths, we quickly turned into Viñedos La Redonda for our second tasting. We opted to skip the tour (as we had done at Los Rosales) and headed to the tasting room at the front of the property. While the attendants couldn’t have been less interested in explaining the wine to us, the view was great and the wines were good.

La Redonda

Decisions, Decisions
Cool Decor

After enjoying our wine and the view, it was off to the paella festival at Finca Sale Vivé by Freixenet. What a great time! After the usual ex-pat confusion (we had advanced tickets but had to stand in a ticket line anyhow), we got our glasses and our complimentary wine and were off to enjoy the fest. We started with a review of the entries into the paella competition. The entrants were gastronomy schools and the offerings looked amazing so we purchased from the friendliest group who told us their special ingredient was mezcal. Next up was a tour of the winery including the underground wine cave, which the winery claims is the only one in Latin America. It was a refreshing break from the sun and nice because we could wander about at our own pace.

Student Chefs
Yummy!
Special Touch – Agave Leaves
Our Choice
Paella Picnic
Ton-o-paella
And Still More Paella
Scott, You Go First!
Fermentation
Roll Out the Barrel
Kerry Dawdling

Fun in the Cave

Back outside we checked out the hot air ballon, refilled our glasses and continue our wandering. The entrepreneurs who were supposed to be signing people up for rides the next morning were running a little side business taking pictures of people inside the balloon. We admired the effort and stepped inside. The festival crowd was laid back and family-friendly (despite the occasional passed out over indulger) and there were several seating areas with music. We headed through the vineyards, found a seat at the outdoor tent and enjoyed a mariachi band and then a band playing tunes like Stand by Me. I don’t think I have ever been in a vineyard surround by cacti before.

Mariachis
Up, Up and Away. Or Inside, Anyhow.
Wine and Paella Lovers, Unite!
Enjoying the Scene
Hot Air
Notice the Rock in the Background in Front of the Mountain

We left the festival and headed back to enjoy the pool at our lovely hotel. Afterwards, we returned to the main square of Tequisquiapan and went to La Vaca Feliz (The Happy Cow) cheese shop. It was crowded and we were a bit overwhelmed when the gentleman behind the counter took an interest in us and began describing all of the cheeses and giving us samples. We must have tasted 15 kinds of cheese! The man (if we got his name, I forgot it) was actually an optometrist who loved cheese and was eager to practice his English with us. We bought  couple of kinds but assured him we would be back on Monday before we left town. We did, in fact, return, and while we were disappointed that many of the cheeses we intended to buy had sold out over the weekend, we found plenty of other kinds to buy instead. And while our new friend wasn’t working, the woman who assisted us also generously gave us about another dozen samples.

Chilling by the Pool
Professed Center of Mexico, Except It Isn’t
Our New Favorite Cheese Shop

Day 2 was as exciting and wine-filled as Day 1 and once again began with cheese. We went to Bocanegra – the companion cheese shop to Neole where they have a cheese cave. It looks like a winery – a gorgeous building with cool art in a beautiful setting. Wisconsin cheesemakers should take note.

BocaNegra
Ready to Tour
Cheese Cave
Beer on Tap
Pairings
Delicious!
Cheese Tasting #3
Life is Very Short, Eat a Lot of Cheese

It wasn’t all wine and cheese (and the occasional beer) – we were headed to the Pueblo Mágico (Magical Town) of Bernal to see the Rock of Bernal. Mexico designates certain towns as “Magical Towns” to promote tourism, protect traditions, provide jobs and highlight the towns’ cultural or natural significance. 83 towns or villages throughout Mexico have the designation, and Tequisquiapan is also one. I was game to explore another Pueblo Mágico, but I was confused by Bernal – a big rock was all it took? My first glimpse of the rock did not impress me.

Rock of Bernal

I did some quick internet research and learned it was the 3rd highest monolith on the planet. What the heck is a monolith? The Merriam-Webster definition, “a single great stone often in the form of an obelisk or column” didn’t do much to enlighten me.

We got to Bernal, parked the car and wandered around the cute town. The rock grew on me – the town was in its shadow and it was cool to see it looming above. We wandered in and out of shops on our way to the main square. We were admiring the church when we noticed a bunch of kids hurrying to stand before the door. They were eagerly awaiting something, which I didn’t think it was for mass to start, when the door opened and a guy started throwing coins to the kids. They scrambled for their share and then resumed the wait. What the heck? We saw a family come out with a newly baptized baby and Scott surmised that the tradition must be to throw coins to kids after your child is baptized. Sure enough, we entered the church and saw the set up for another baptism. Later research confirmed that this practice is called a “bolo” and the baby’s godfather throws the coins to ensure a prosperous life for his godchild.

Pueblo Mágico

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We went to a restaurant called El Negrito, which is a little disconcerting to an American as it translates to pickaninny. (Peru had a restaurant in the airport called La Negrita.) The terrace view was lovely and we enjoyed our lunch before heading back to Tequis for a cool down in the pool before going to the Wine and Cheese Festival.

Fossils for Sale
Steeple and Rock
Chicken Tinga
El Negrito
Shopping in the Shadow of the Monolith
Seal of the Pueblos Mágicos

Terrace View

While I think Matt, Josette and Scott would have been happy to stay at the pool and skip the wine and cheese festival, they humored me and we headed to the park, paid our entry fees, bought our glasses and started tasting. There was a pavilion set up with several rows of wine and cheese stands and a stage in the front of the grounds with several benches. I think there also was a food area, but we never made it there as we arrived with only two hours left of the festival and were focused on the tastings. While it was the last day of the festival and you could tell some of the vendors were ready to pack up, most were very friendly and happy to explain their wares to us. Like the paella fest, the vibe was relaxed. We left with several bottles of wine and cheese, so it was a worthwhile addition to our busy day.

Let the Tasting Begin!
Friendly Wine Vendors and Good Wines
Moo
Mid-point purchases
Beer Sausage
Enjoying at Home

The next morning after our final stop for cheese at La Vaca Feliz, we left Tequis with 9 bottles of wine and about the same number of cheeses. My only disappointment – no cheddar!

* In addition to Matt, as usual, photo credit for this post goes to Josette and Scott. Thanks, friends!

Day and Night Visits to the Ancient City of Teotihuacan

Posted on by under Mexico

I love visiting archeological sites. I drive Matt crazy because I want to read and look at everything, but I find it fascinating to see the remnants of ancient cultures. Equally fascinating to me is that we often know little about such cultures or sites but that doesn’t stop the experts from positing all sorts of theories that they later retract. It’s like being a meteorologist – no one seems to care whether you are wrong. In 2001, Matt and I visited the Iceman of Bolzano and I was cracking up over the tale the experts had developed about the noble origins of ol’ Ötzi and told Matt that it was equally probable that Ötzi was a criminal and killed a nobleman for the fancy breeches in which he was found. Guess what became a prevailing theory a few years later? I’m still convinced that some researcher overheard me and stole my completely made-up theory to add to the mix. But I digress.

Ötzi – our first mummy

Teotihuacan is ripe for stories: an archeological site about 40 minutes north of Mexico City, no one knows who built and inhabited the city. The name is a Nahuatl one given to it by the Aztecs long after the city was abandoned; similarly, the names of the buildings were given by the Aztecs. The major buildings were constructed between 100 BC and 250 AD and it is believed that by the 4th century somewhere between 85,000-150,000 people may have lived there in an area that covered 8 square miles. (Note the huge variation in the population figures – The official site says up to 85,000 inhabitants while others claim up to 150,000 people. Ahh, to be an anthropologist!) If this is true, it would have been the largest city in the Western Hemisphere at that time, assuming there aren’t some other hidden cities we haven’t found yet or that were completely demolished. By 900 AD, the site was mainly deserted and many of the structures were burned. Differing theories attribute the demise to a class uprising or a war with outsiders.

Teotihuacan Model with a View of the Sun Pyramid

The model sets out the town and includes buildings that haven’t yet been excavated. Regardless, the accessible parts are a marvel and we had great fun on our first visit wandering about with Beth and Chris. After a quick browse through the museum, we started at the Sun Pyramid. I had read horror stories about climbing it and while it was steep, it only took about 10-15 minutes to make it the 213 feet to the top. We appreciated the overcast day as we huffed it up the stairs.

Sun Pyramid
Climbing with a Smile
Happy at the Top!
View of the Moon Pyramid from the Sun Pyramid

We meandered down the Avenue of the Dead to the Moon Temple. Along the way we checked out the Puma painting and the various buildings. We were short on time so we skipped the Citadel with the Temple of the Feathered Serpent (Templo de Quetzalcóatl), but Matt and I had seen a replica at the National Museum of Anthropology.

Jaguar Mural
Reproduction of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl

I persuaded everyone that we needed to climb up the shorter Moon Temple, so up we went. The views were wonderful and we weren’t even allowed to climb the entire 141 feet, so it was a breeze compared to the Sun Temple.

Alive on the Avenue of the Dead
View from the Middle
Sun Pyramid in the Distance
Steep Stairs!
View from the Moon Pyramid

Avenue of the Dead from the Moon Pyramid

Our last stop was to the Palace of the Quetzalpapaloti and Patio of the Jaguars where we saw more frescos and some carved columns.

Courtyard
Courtyard of the Palace of the Quetzalpapaloti
Frescos
Bird
Bird fresco

Matt enjoyed Teotihaucan, but wasn’t eager to return (because I would make him climb everything again). But when his school invited us to enjoy the nocturnal light show, even he was in.

Light Show

It was a spectacular night. They severely limit the number of tickets and keep everyone on a schedule. First you have a guided tour of the site and walk down the Avenue of the Dead. All of the buildings are lit up with changing colors. While you can’t climb any of the structures, it was an equally impressive experience given the lights. It was easy to imagine the area flooded with candlelight for some ancient ritual. After about an hour, we were all ushered to sit on the stairs to watch a light show projected on the Sun Pyramid. It told the story of Mexico and had some beautiful images and sounds. Unfortunately, not much could be captured on film.

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Teotihaucan is an excellent day – or night – trip from Mexico City.

Mexican Cooking Class

Posted on by under Food, Mexico

When we arrived to Mexico in August, the restaurants were advertising chiles en nogada, a seasonal dish that also commemorates Mexican Independence. There are variations to the legend of the dish’s origin, but it is generally believed that it was created in Puebla for the military commander Agustin de Iturbide, as he passed through the town on his way to Mexico City after signing the Treaty of Cordoba, which freed Mexico from Spanish rule. The prevailing legend credits the Augustine nuns of the Santa Monica convent with creating the special dish that used local ingredients and incorporated the colors of the Mexican flag. Chiles en nogada require fresh ingredients, and the season runs from August through September although we found that some places continued serving the dish throughout October.

Chiles en Nogada at the Azul Historico

The first time I ordered the dish, I had no idea what to expect. The stuffed chile was roasted, battered and fried and covered in a sweet, creamy sauce. The chile was lukewarm and the sauce was cool – was this how the dish was meant to be served or had it sat too long under a heat lamp before being sauced and brought to the table? I wanted to make sure that I was tasting the dish in all of its glory, so we called the waiter over for clarification. He assured us that the dish was served properly and I got down to the business of enjoying every bite. I loved it! It was savory and sweet, crunchy and smooth – each bite was perfect. I resolved to enjoy the dish weekly throughout the season.

Love at First Bite

Once my culinary quest began, I noted that no two chiles en nogada were the same. They all started with a roasted poblano pepper stuffed with a meat, fruit and nut filling that was covered in a creamy walnut sauce  and festooned with pomegranate seeds. But only my first one was battered and fried, the fillings varied considerably in the meat to fruit ratio and, at one restaurant, you could order sweet or savory sauce or both. I had both, naturally, and decided that the sweet sauce was definitely for me. Similarly, discussions with locals confirmed that every family has its recipe that it swears is the best. One of Matt’s co-workers was delighted that I loved the dish so much and sent home some of his family’s batch for us – delicious!

I met Chef Paulina at an event in early September, and when she told me that she was teaching a chiles en nogada cooking class, I was sold. The class was postponed a month due to the earthquake that rocked the city, so I was suffering from chiles en nogada withdrawal by the time the class was rescheduled for late October. This was my second Mexican cooking class and both started the same way – I showed up at a stranger’s house and was instantly made to feel welcome by the assembled women. The first cooking class was as equally wonderful as Chef Paulina’s class, but it included stiff margaritas, so no blog post about that one!

Fun with New Friends!

Despite our propensity to chit-chat, Chef Paulina put us to work. In addition to chiles en nogada, we were also making tinga de pollo, agua de tuna and a salsa. First up was a chat about the fresh ingredients and how to peel those pesky walnuts. Not crack, people, peel! Thank god that Chef Paulina had already done that step. She then dropped a chicken breast in a pot of water and added salt, garlic, onion and, later, a cinnamon stick to prepare the chicken and a stock for the tinga. The chiles were placed to roast on the open flame and we peeled, diced and sautéed the ingredients for the filling.

Fresh Ingredients
Chef Paulina
Our Fabulous Instructor
Acitrón

With the exception of the acitrón, the candied flesh of the biznaga cactus, the ingredients for chiles en nogada were not exotic, just numerous. Even with her purveyor connections, Chef Paulina made a few substitutions from the written recipe due to the quality of the ingredients this late in the season. The first big test of our skills came when we were each provided a roasted pepper for us to seed, remove the membrane and peel off the charred skin. It became obvious why restaurants merely roast the pepper quickly so it doesn’t char and leave the skins on! We all managed to end up with fairly intact peppers.

The Filling is Prepared
Roasting for Salsa

While we were struggling with our peppers, Chef Paulina casually tossed a few tomatoes, slices of onion, garlic and a serrano chile in a frying pan. We students panicked, looking at our recipes – what was this?! She laughed and told us it was just an easy salsa to use to top the tinga tostadas. While you can prepare a salsa with the same ingredients without roasting them, it gives the salsa more depth if the ingredients are roasted before blending. She also started sautéing the onions, garlic and chipolte for the tinga. Ultimately, Chef Paulina would add a puree of tomatoes, chicken stock, raw onions and the sautéed chipolte to the onions and now-shredded, cooked chicken and allow it to cook down until the liquid was absorbed. The blender got a workout as the sauce for the chiles en nogada was easily made by tossing the ingredients into the blender and processing until smooth (but not too smooth).

Lots of Notes!

After a quick lesson on agua de tuna – which has nothing to do with fish as “tuna” in Spanish means prickly pear, or cactus fruit – we were ready for assembly. Chef Paulina explained that the tinga de pollo could be made into a taco or a tostada. If made into a taco, only the chicken tinga would be added to the soft tortilla shell. As a tostada, the tinga was topped with crema (a less-acidic, more liquid sour cream), panela cheese, lettuce and salsa. She laughed at our Tex-Mex ways of overstuffing a taco and explained that it was not done here.

Tinga de Pollo

As we enjoyed the tostadas, Chef Paulina prepared the chiles en nogada for us to take home to share with our family. It was a great class: Chef Paulina was a patient instructor, everything was delicious and I met some new friends in the process.

Assembling the Chiles en
Tinga and Chile
Ready to Eat!
Fruits of Our Labor
Finished Product

Lest you think only a professional chef can pull off these recipes, a few days after the class, I gave chicken tinga a shot.

Early in the Process
Blending the Tinga Ingredients
Cooking Down
Tinga Success!

The dish came together easily. I was pretty excited when I learned that fresh corn tortillas at my local grocery store were $.67 for about 40 of them! Of course, we ultimately gringo-ized our tinga tacos and added panela cheese and lettuce. They turned out great! Maybe next year I will have a chiles en nogada party… or maybe I’ll just keep eating them in restaurants.

A Mountain of Tortillas
The Proper Tinga Taco
Gringo-ized
Tortilla Warmer
Tinga Feast, American Style

Día de Muertos

Posted on by under Celebrations, Mexico

Several years after both of my parents had died, they both appeared in my dream one night. The dream was nothing special: we were milling about doing normal things in my final childhood home. No words of wisdom were spoken or cryptic message divulged. I woke up so happy as though both had visited me after so many years apart. That is Día de Muertos.

Final Christmas

Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead) is actually celebrated on 2 days in Mexico – November 1 and 2 – and is when the path between life on earth and the afterlife is open. This allows the dearly departed to return to earth to visit their living family. The living entice their dead relatives to visit by setting up altars (ofrendas) in their homes dedicated to their beloved – their pictures, favorite foods, mementos, sugar or candy skulls (calaveras), pan de muerto (sweet bread with a cross of “bones” on the top), candles and flowers. Or you can try to entice the famous – we were told of ofrendas for JFK, Marilyn Monroe and James Dean, among others. Marigolds provide the dead a path back to the living and are everywhere in the days leading up to the holiday. November 1 is the day for departed children and November 2 is for adults. Families will celebrate in their homes or in the cemetery where their loved ones rest. Unlike Halloween in which the dead are feared, Día de Muertos is when the dead are welcomed. And who wouldn’t want to see their deceased loved ones, if only once a year? Matt and I did not make an altar this year as we didn’t fully understand the holiday, but next year we will be inviting our deceased loved ones to pay a visit.

Catrina on Our Door

A new tradition for Día de Muertos in Mexico City is a fantastic parade. Spawned by the James Bond movie, Spectre, which (apparently) begins with a (staged) Día de Muertos parade in Mexico City, the municipality now sponsors a parade. Matt and I headed into the city early on Saturday to check out the scene and get a good spot. We were rewarded by happening upon the staging area and getting a good look at the floats before the parade began.

Deathly Undertaker
Groom
Bride
Dead Love
Mariachi of Death
Disney’s Alebrije
Shake Those Maracas!
Dem Bones
Yippee!
‘Til Death Do Us Part
Musical Skull
Festive with Flowers
Death is Rosy

After wandering around for 3 hours, we secured our spot an hour before the parade and were not disappointed. What an amazing spectacle! It began with a moment of silence and a moving tribute to the earthquake victims and rescuers.

The Parade Begins
Fuerza!
Symbolic Recovery Efforts

The next part of the parade, “The Living Dead,” was a walk through history and began with Mexico’s pre-hispanic roots.

Warriors
Bang the Drum
Time Marches On
Impressive!
Fierce
Nod to Temple Mayor
Pregnant Sacrifices (?)
Sun God
The Rabbit and the Moon

Next up were the Spanish Conquistadors and the Widows’ Altar.

Christianity Comes to Mexico
Religious Beauties
You are the Light
Mourning Widows
Altar

The colonial period was represented with some great dancing and costumes.

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A devil chasing an angel provided some comic relief and some interesting, but inexplicable (to me and my Spanish teacher) costumes followed.

Angel
Devil
Scary!
Hmmm
Gorgeous Ofrenda

Revolutionaries put on a show and then the press got a nod.

Smiling Shooters
Ana Get Your Gun
Revolutionaries
Do-Si-Do
Ode to the Press
Power of the Press
Woman of the Press
Read All About It
Pleading Press
Paper Royalty

The next part of the parade – Carnival of Skulls – continued the fun.

Carnival of Skulls

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A wonderful introduction to Día de Muertos and a great celebration.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Posted on by under Mexico

We left the Galapagos Islands for the opposite end of the spectrum: Mexico City! A city* of 9 million people, with a metropolitan population of around 22 million, Mexico City is a booming metropolis filled with parks, plazas, museums, shopping malls, world class entertainment and fantastic restaurants. The Mexica people (Aztecs to us) built their capital city of Tenochtitlán in 1325. The city is over 7,000 feet above sea level but was originally built on an island. As a result, it continues to sink at a rate of up to 4 inches per year. Conquered by the Spanish in the 1500s, and renamed Mexico City, it is the oldest capital city in the western hemisphere. After the cultural desert of the Galapagos, we are thrilled to be back in an environment where traditions abound, the climate is temperate and there is  more to do than go to the beach.

México!

We live in Cuajimalpa, the most western “delegation” or borough of Mexico City. Cuajimalpa is situated in the Sierra de las Cruces mountains at an elevation of 8,900 feet. It was a separate rural town until being engulfed by Mexico City’s urban sprawl. As a result, it has a local feel, similar to our home in Cajamarca, Peru, but minus the farm animals. We are not in a fashionable ex-pat district of the city, although there are both McDonalds and Starbucks within a couple of blocks of our house (not that those make it fashionable, just typical). While it takes us about 45 minutes to get into the city, Matt has 3-minute, door-to-door walking commute that can’t be beat in a place where 1 1/2 to 2 hour commutes are not uncommon. A large, Walmart-owned supermarket is around the corner, but the neighborhood also has a Saturday open air market, which are called tianguis here, and there is a permanent market about a mile from our house. There are countless shopping malls throughout the area, with a few nice ones 15-20 minute car rides from our house. With some very minor exceptions (decaf black tea, parchment paper, Shout colorfast sheets), we can find pretty much everything we want or need in the city. What a difference that has been compared to our last two moves!

CDMX map – we are the blue dot
Front of our Complex
Courtyard View
View from our office
Mountain View

We learned from our other moves that it is best to get settled in quickly by buying what we need to make our home comfortable. We spent our first two weeks here going to the mall or some big box store almost every day. It wasn’t that we had more than a car-load of things to purchase, but when you don’t own a car, you can only buy what you can carry. One day, in a Home Depot, Matt looked at me and said, “Are we in Wauwatosa or Mexico City?” Apart from the language, it is hard to tell when you are in American stores that look exactly the same. We were lucky to have our shipment from the U.S delivered 2 1/2 weeks after we arrived – it felt like Christmas! We didn’t waste any time and had a chair reupholstered, paintings framed, our apartment painted and our artwork hung. We are having a media console and end table built and have a few more odds and ends on the wish list, but it feels like home.

Great light (except for photos)
Inexpensive, fresh flowers are a big plus!
Matt is thrilled to have a recliner again!
Serviceable galley kitchen
Packers Shrine

It hasn’t been all work since we arrived. I joined a book club and knew it would be a good fit when 50% of their titles matched the titles my Milwaukee book club has read. I’ve met nice people through the club and the International Women’s Club. While the drive time from the city makes it rare that we go there on a week night, we head to the city most weekends. Depending on who is counting, Mexico City has more museums than any other city in the world, so we have plenty to choose from. In addition to visiting several permanent collections, we have seen a Pablo Picasso – Diego Rivera exhibit and an Andy Warhol one, complete with a reproduction of the Factory’s balloon room. Mexico City is famous for a movement to bring art to the people via enormous murals so those pop up in plenty of places too. But my best museum visit thus far was when our friends, Beth and Chris, were visiting last week because we were going to the U2 show and we ran into Bono at the Soumaya Museum! He was incredibly gracious with his fans and I even shook his hand. What a great brush with fame!

The man, the legend, Bono!
Before the U2 Show
Part of a Siqueiros Mural
Balloon Room
Museo Soumaya
Sculpture in the Plaza de los 3 Culturas
Plaza de los 3 Culturas
Picture-Perfect View
Great Architecture in Belles Artes

Cosmopolitan Panoramic

While I know that we are in the honeymoon phase with Mexico City, so far all signs point to it being a lasting love affair!

*   Mexico can refer to three political units. First, the country, officially the United States of Mexico. Next, the State of Mexico, which is one of 31 states in the union. Finally, Mexico City, or the District Federal (D.F.), which is separate from the State of Mexico and its own federal political unit, like Washington, D.C. in the U.S. While in 2016 the city’s name was changed from Mexico Distrito Federal of Mexico to Cuidad de Mexico (Mexico City, CDMX), many people still refer to the city as D.F.