Frida and Me

A dream come true... visiting my favorite person/artist of all time's homeland, hometown, actual home, and her studio!

Mexico Sketch 7

I drew this with no references! (I usually draw using a reference because I have no confidence in myself as an illustrator... and I want things to look close to accurate...) Anyways.. this fun sketch is of a joke we came up with as a class while visiting Teotihuacan and the pyramids. The 1.5 mile walk down the Avenue of the Dead was loaded with vendors coming at us from every direction... and so instead of calling it the Avenue of the Dead... we refer to this place as the Avenue of the Zombie Vendors! They all talked about how they would give us a good deal... and many sold things "almost free" :)

La Comida!! MMMMmmmm Sabrosa!

VCOM 392 Group Photos!!

So many new friendships, new bonds, new connections, new stories to tell. Mexico City.

Sketches/Watercolors from the Trip

Mexico Sketch 1: Day one of the trip

Mexico Sketch 2: The Hostal Cuija Coyoacan, where we stayed

Mexico Sketch 3: Tlaloc and the National Anthropology Museum

Mexico Sketch 4: Quetzalcoatl, Chapultepec Castle, and the metro

Mexico Sketch 5: Teotihuacan

Mexico Sketch 6: Frida Kahlo's Blue House

Thoughts: Saturday, May 29, 2010

HOMEWARD BOUND!!!
enough said.

Thoughts: Friday, May 28, 2010

Schedule:

• teacher's strike holds up traffic
• Dolores Olmedo Museum
  --peacocks running freely
  --Xoloesquintles... ugly... hairless... sandpapery-feeling dogs from Aztec times
  --gross food

• Xochimilco
  --boat ride
  --blanket vendor
  --horrible mariachi band: the singing was horrible, the instrument playing was good
  --much better, more professional mariachi
  --vendor on our boat; Mexican finger cuff similar to Chinese handcuffs

Xochimilco, the floating gardens
It is named this because when the boats were once
adorned with beautiful, fresh flowers and they looked
like floating flower gardens...

Me on the boat


The good mariachi


A replica of the Island of the Dolls
There was a little girl who drowned near an island,
and to honor her the caretakers would hang up dolls...
This island was a five hour boat ride from the area where we were...
so we photographed this replica because obviously it was closer...
Still creepy...

• loooooooong bus ride back to Hotel Catedral
  --we drove on a college campus where 600,000 students attend for FIVE U.S. DOLLARS A FREAKING YEAR! We definitely chose the wrooooooong school...
  -- Marcela attended that school
  -- we also drove by the Polyforum
  -- got stuck in Mexican rush hour... so aggravating... so crowded.... so no bueno
• dinner at the Hotel
  -- ordered drink and food, I helped everyone order... especially those who wanted a hamburger cooked well done...
  -- got bothered about whether or not I finished the card for Marcela... got really aggravated by it because I have motion sickness and so I can't do anything while in the van, or on the boat, and I didn't bring my stuff into the museum...i didn't even have my camera in the museum! ..and we've been on the move all day with no break (unless of course you can work..while in a moving vehicle without feeling sick)....
  -- Evan and I ran upstairs after putting in our orders, to paint the card. Luckily I had drawn it out last night... Evan painted the back of the card, as I painted the front.
  -- We finished the card while eating dinner... Erin finished coloring in the gecko for us, using a watercolor pencil.
  -- I made it clear that I wanted to wait for EVERYONE to be present, before we gave Marcela the gift from the Browns, and my card that everyone signed.
  -- Marcela loved it, and I think I saw happy tears
  -- Then she gave us all hugs! And I decided that I love her :)

Images of the card before it was colored... I have no images of the card when it was finished because Evan, Erin and I rushed it during dinner... oh well...


We painted the card the colors of the Mexican Flag, green, white, red. The sun and moon were yellow and blue, the cactus was obviously green (good contrast against the red), and the gecko was purple. She loved the card. I'm glad I got it finished in time... if I hadn't drawn it the night before (because I have trouble sleeping)... it probably wouldn't have gotten made at all... unless someone who doesn't suffer from motion sickness would have made it...

Thoughts: Thursday, May 27, 2010

I actually didn't write anything in my journal for today... but I do have pictures..

La Quinta Casa de Correos
The Post Office


One of the altars at the Catedral Metropolitan


The view of the cathedral from the Templo Mayor
an ancient temple destroyed during the conquest,
and later its rubble was used to build the cathedral...


What the Templo Mayor may have looked like...

Thoughts: Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Montezuma visited me yesterday and again today… no bueno…

Today Montezuma and Mother Nature created the ultimate tag team and I was their opponent. Naturally, I didn’t sleep well and could not eat much breakfast. I decided to stay in my hotel room all day… meaning that I was going to miss going to the Cathedral, the Basilica, and the site of the Education Ministry murals. However, I do plan on going to the Ballet Folklórico at 7 PM tonight.

I really wish I could eat something… all I have done today was lay down… couldn’t catch up on my journal… or on my watercolor paintings… Definitely no bueno… and nobody came to check on me either…

It was about time for everyone to get back from their trip. We were all showering and getting changed into our nicer clothes for the ballet. The majority of the class rode on the metro to get to the Anthropology Museum, where the ballet was being held. Marcela, Stephanie, Terresa, and Alice rode in a taxi. I’m glad that they made that choice because Terresa was wearing high heels and I don’t know how she would have been able to manage riding on a crowded train with them on… let alone traveling down the halls to get to the next station…

The subway was so crowded around that time… it was just after rush hour because women and men did not have to ride in separate cars, but there were still a lot of people there regardless. Erin, Sarah, and I got really close… literally. Also some guy’s suitcase was right underneath my skirt… NO BUENO.

The Ballet Folklórico was amazing! I loved all of the different costumes, which we later found out that each different outfit represents a different state of Mexico. I enjoyed the music and the elegant movement of the clothes, and the dance moves themselves. My favorite song that was played was La Bamba… because I know the words… and also the traditional Mexican Hat Dance. Lol. La Cucaracha was also played; I found that one to be amusing.