The neighborhood of Coyoacan is Really lovely with lots of trees and wide boulevards.
Many trees had similar signs on them, presumably to help preserve the leafy character of the neighborhood.
I stepped in to the Mercado Coyoacán, and it was pretty and clean and a little different than other markets. I had a pleasant stroll through the market and drank a fun cup of coffee before walking several blocks to the Trotsky House.
Trotsky House
The Trotsky house was filled with photographs of Trotsky and a history of his travels through history and the world. I watched a long video that described the politics of the world leading up to WWII. He lived in and the rise of fascism. It is significant that Mexico was the only country that would take in Trotsky after he lost His citizenship to Russia under Stalin. His entire family was hunted down and murdered as well as Stalin, considered him a threat.
The house itself had a was built around a lovely garden with rabbits and chickens. It’s really quite lovely that Mexico has preserved this piece of history.
Frida Kahlo
Close by is the home of Frida Kahlo. To get into this museum, you need a reservation, and when I arrived there were lines for the various reservation times. The lines slowly moved into the house. I do not like crowds, and so skipped the first three rooms because I really did not want to be crowded by so many people. So I missed a lot of the museum, but I fast forwarded to some colorful rooms that I enjoyed. The house, like Trotsky’s, was built around a beautiful garden. The museum is quite nice, but too popular to enjoy thoroughly.
I adored these functional rooms in the house, and I’m quite taken by the yellow floors.
There was a beautiful exhibit of her clothing, most of it inspired by Zapotec costumes. Sorry, I could not take photos because the rooms were dark and and temperature controlled. One of her reasons for wearing this clothing was that Zapotec women take leadership positions in their societies.
A view of gardens from the house.
Lucha Libre
I first learned about Lucha Library from a book of matches that I bought in Oaxaca that featured different Lucha Libre stars. Then one of my Duolingo lessons featured several lessons about the sport.
It seems that there is a special arena just for Lucha Libre. We arrived early and noted that people came in a steady stream so that by the middle of the show, the stadium was almost full. The show started with the least famous actors in lucha. Library, some of the characters were masks, and others do not. They act out fights among two to six people (two teams) until one of the groups wins. There’s lots of booing about the bad guys and cheering the good guys. It seems like lucha libre is a great way to blow off steam and to get some satisfaction that the good guys win and being able to boo the bad guys.
It turns out that the masks worn by half the players get their inspiration from Aztec Warriors, and are based on animal themes.
Max got a michelada, which is beer and Clamato and the cup is rimmed with a gloppy pepper infusion. The server first poured two bottles of beer into the giant cup, and then two bottles of clamato.
There were folks selling popcorn (palmitos) with hot sauce, Tostitos, and hot dogs, all of which we tried.
Que divertido!
This is the women’s team in action.
Image of boys in the next row wearing their masks.
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