Sights of Mexico City

The wording on the wall
Horses
Alameda park
Angel
Stultiferaz Naviz
Stultiferaz Naviz
Stultiferaz Naviz
Palacio de Bellas Artes
Babak and Rouzeh
Shaking
Giant
Rouzeh in a hole
Nice breasts, lady
Taking it very easy
Give us a hand
Cheap tacos
Rouzeh with concheros
Conchero
Action
Conchero
Conchero
Conchero
Conchero
Conchero
Female conchero
Off the middle
In church
Rodrigo?
Uncommon door
Revolution monument
Photogenic
Revolution monument
Spread them wide, baby
Hanging out to dry
Circling
Going... down
Do you also sell Lucha Libre masques?
In your face
Dancing pre-Colombian
Chapultepec
Dancing elephant
Growl
Lounging tiger
Lovers
The black panther movement
The panther
Madagascar cockroach
Madagascar cockroach
El Caballito
Panda
El Caballito
Play
Enough brochures?
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The skyline of Mexico city
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The skyline of Mexico City
Palacio de Bellas Artes
The monument to the revolution
On the Placa de la Republica
The Placa de la Republica
I caught myself a fish!
The Mexico zoo
At Chapultepec

The last day of the IAC conference ended early. Judging by the activity on the conference floors, many attendees had already left the event by Thursday and many more had not decided to show up on the Friday.
My meetings were wrapped up just after noon, which was about the same time Rouzeh was ready with her last session.
Afterwards, taking a shuttle to Auditorio Nacional, we visited the crowded zoo, where pandas munched bamboo and tigers basked in the sun. Just outside the insect pavilion, where billboards advertised huge spiders on display, employees were playing around with a huge Madagascar cockroach, which you could let walk on your hands.
These things were seriously huge, so imagine my reluctance. But, as fears are there to be conquered, I bit the bullet and let the bugger walk over my hands. Nothing but a small tickle.

On Saturday, we did the almost obligatory tour past the city’s most important sites, starting at the Placa de la Republica, where the impressive Monumento a la Revolucion now houses the remains of the national heroes Pancho Villa, Francisco Madero and others.
The most prominent site is of course the Zocalo (“the base”, after a major independence monument remained unfinished in the 19th century), the heart of Mexico city and one of the biggest city squares in the world.
Dominating the square is the Catedral Metropolitano, which has been slowly and unevenly sinking into the underlying muddy ground ever since its construction started in 1573. A pendulum in the middle of the huge church marks the tilt of the building.
Also on the square is the Palacio Nacional, home to the offices of the president as well as some very nice Diego Rivera murals. Diego Rivera, if your memory fails you, is the lover of Frida Kahlo.

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On the square, we enjoyed a display of conchero dancers, in feathered headdresses and with shells, concha, on their ankles and hands.

After quick visits to the not-so-impressive Museo Nacional de las Culturas and Museo Jose Luis Cuevas, even though the latter had a Sala de Arte Erotico, we headed to the Torre Latinoamericana, the tallest building in Latin America when it was constructed in 1958, for some wonderful views of the city.
The Torre is right across from the neo-classical and art nouveau Palacio de Bellas Artes, which houses a few more impressive murals by Diego Rivera, including El Hombre En El Cruce de Caminos, which was originally commissioned for the Rockefeller Center in New York, but then destroyed because of its anti-capitalist themes (remember the film?).

In the next door park, the Alameda Central, we listened to Stultiferaz Naviz, a Mexican goth/punk/ethnic Viking-looking band with several bagpipes as the main instruments.

Back to the hotel, the last on Saturday’s list was El Caballito, a huge yellow abstract horse’s head on Paseo de la Reforma.