Thoughts: Saturday, May 22, 2010

Today was an event filled day. We basically had four places to visit. El Museo del Carmen, which is a cathedral and museum; el bazaar sábado (Saturday Bazaar), Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Studios, and the San Angel Inn Restaurant for a fancy lunch.

We met for breakfast where we were served tortillas and black beans.

Breakfast at the Hostal Cuija Coyoacan

Then we set out in taxis towards our first destination. We are a group of thirteen and so we had to hail four taxis. My taxi and the one behind us got lost... and we ended up at the wrong cathedral. Luckily Dr. Burmeister had her phone and was able to call Marcela and figure out this situation. We hailed two more cabs and met the rest of the class at the Museo del Carmen. It was a pretty interesting sight... I really liked the architecture.

Museo del Carmen

After visiting the cathedral/museum, we walked across the street to the Bazaar Sábado. There were so many vendors walking the streets, and stations set up everywhere. It was really cool. I bought many items and used my Spanish a lot. I was mostly translating for my friends, telling them what the vendor was saying about the cost and what not.

I bought two ceramic things: a decorated sun and moon piece that can be hung on the wall and a colorfully painted bowl for 600 pesos. The vendor also gave me a small ceramic container for free. I also bought a Frida Kahlo tote bag for 65 pesos, four wooden bookmarks for 30 pesos, a scarf for 80 pesos, a sketchbook with a Mexican motif on it for 90 pesos, six postcards for 60 pesos total, four magnets for 180 pesos, and one ceramic butterfly piece for 70 pesos.

After we were done shopping... well as 'done' as we could be with the alotted amount of time... we all met at the doors of the indoor bazaar and began our walk to Frida and Diego's Studios.

Frida's Studio

That was a pretty interesting site, Frida and Diego each had their own buildings. Obviously Diego's was bigger. My guess is that because he was a large man, a man in general, and more prominent as an artist; his place had to be bigger. It was still really cool to see. I like his work, I just don't appreciate him as a person. We couldn't take pictures in Diego's studio, but we were able to in Frida's... I took pictures of the outside of the studios. It was awesome to see the bridge between the two studios where Frida and Diego used to cross over into each other's workplaces.

Upon leaving the studios, a few of us stopped by the gift window and bought some Frida and Diego items. I purchased a Frida Kahlo mug for 95 pesos. Amazing.

After that, we walked directly across the street to the San Angel Inn Restaurant. It was a very fancy place, I've never been to an upper class restaurant like that. All of the employees were in nice white and black suits, and there was a Mariachi band that would come table to table and play instruments and sing. Their singing was lovely.




This was our midday meal. In hispanic culture, it is typical to eat a large meal in the middle of the day. All other meals are light. With that said, the plate that I ordered was pretty huge.

I had arrechera bien cocida, cebollas, y frijoles negros (really tender steak well cooked, grilled onions, and black beans). I also tried one of Marcela's tortillas with cow brains... that was pretty interesting. There wasn't much of a taste... it was the texture that got me. It was squishy and strange. Lol. For sweet nom nom noms, I shared a slice of chocolate cake with Ashley. It was super special awesome.

Steak, onions, and beans. Yummy! ^-^

Cow Brains on a Tortilla

After our big lunch, we took a stroll down the cobblestone streets of San Angel, looking at all of the houses and scenery. When we reached the main road, we hailed cabs and headed back to Hostal Cuija Coyoacan.