Thoughts: Thursday, May 20, 2010 Cont.

The metro

It is now 7:00 pm, we just arrived back at the Hostal Cuija Coyoacan... Today we rode the metro [subway] for the first time! It was insane, 3 pesos to ride the trains to wherever. The metro was crazy. There were so many people traveling in the station and in the train cars. **During rush hour, men and women ride in separate cars**

The first train ride, I wasn't able to grab the pole to hold on to... it was crazy... The trains move at a rapid pace and stop frequently. Our first ride took six stops before we exited the train. I almost fell at four occasions.

There were people selling cds, gum, etc on the train. One guy had a boom box in his bag, playing the music from a cd he was trying to sell... roca español... We boarded three trains in the metro, and finally got to the part of town where the Anthropology Museum. It was HUGE! I took so many pictures while there. Evan and I also had our pictures taken by some Mexican guys. It was kinda funny.

Cool design at the Anthropology Museum

We ate at the restaurant in the museum. It was buffet style: I had beef cooked in a red sauce, green tinted rice, broccoli, beans. I had two servings. For dessert I had a corn pancake.

La Comida Deliciosa

**I actually practiced some Spanish at the restaurant when we were leaving... I spoke to our waiter... he said that I was preciosa. ***

After seeing the museum and eating at the restaurant; we traveled to el Castillo de Chapultepec, Chapultepec castle. There was a very long hike to the top, it took about ten or fifteen minutes... but it felt like forever... Luckily, it was nearly closing time...and instead of having to pay 51 pesos to get in, we were able to go into the castle for free!!!

Chapultepec Castle

In the castle, there were so many beautiful murals by several different artists including Siquieros and Gorman. I took several photographs. The castle rooms were huge. At the entrance where the grand staircase is located....there was the most beautiful chandelier. The mural on the ceiling in the entrance was of the young boys who sacrificed themselves because they did not want to surrender to the Americans. It was really breathtaking and full of action lines. There were other things on exhibit like oil paintings, clothing of the time, cannons, weaponry, statues and the courtyard.

I filled up one memory card so far, it was only 512 mb... and now I am working on 2.0 GB...I have a little less than 400 images left on that card. Woohoo!

After seeing the castle, some of us rode the metro back to Coyoacan whereas others, like me, rode in taxis. I was too tired to try to hold myself up on the subway again, after having walked around all day long... so I rode in the taxi with Dr. Burmeister. I took several images of Mexico City from the taxi. That ride was so much fun, and our driver was very nice. We actually didn't start talking to him until we reached Coyoacan... then I began to talk to him in Spanish because he didn't speak any English. The first thing that I said was No hablamos mucho español. And then the conversation went on. I told him the address to the hostal, and he knew exactly where to go. We reached the hostal in no time, when we stopped he turned around and said Yo conozco toda la ciudad. It was funny. Dr. Burmeister paid him, and we said our good byes, i waved and he waved as he drove off.

Since we were back, and it seemed like it will take a little while for those who rode the metro to arrive, we went to the nearby store to look around and then to the farmacia to get drinks and snacks. Then we walked back. **it actually didn't take long for the others to arrive, but we still went on our way to the two places I just mentioned.

The rest of the evening was basically down time. Some people went out to a restaurant to get tacos and such. I stayed at the hostal and caught up on my internet :D And finally went to bed.