CDMX

I spent a long weekend exploring the huge Ciudad de México. In a city of nearly nine million inhabitants, the first thing I did upon arrival was run away to the least populated part of the city…the Bosque de Chapultepec.

This would be the largest city park, except that it’s actually considered A FOREST (aka an UPGRADED PARK, my dream). It houses the only royal castle in Mexico…the former home of self-declared Emperor of Mexico, Maximilian I.

Yes, an European Emperor.

Of Mexico.

Unsurprisingly, he did not prove as popular as the concurrent Mexican President he was trying to oust, Benito Juárez. Max’s reign didn’t last too long, and ended in (spoiler alert) execution.

His castle is still full of beautiful furnishings and notes about how he settled here to write his memoirs. Which…seems a bit pretentious? Because he was still very young at the time? But perhaps that is just the royalty way.

Spotted: my gal Artemis.

Walking through Chapultepec is an exercise in finding unexpected monuments. Like this, “Sueño de Tezozomoc.” I looked up “Tezozomoc” later, and found this enlightening Wiki info:

Tezozomoc Yacateteltetl was a Tepanec leader who ruled the altepetl of Azcapotzalco from the year 1353 or Five Reed or Eight Rabbit until his death in the year Twelve Rabbit.

So there you go. Rabbits. Years. Death. Everything you need to know.

Also, Chapultepec’s monuments seem to all be MASSIVE. After an hour of walking aimlessly through the bosque (…aka being a bit lost), I tried locating my position on Google maps. Much to my surprise, I could see this looming wall/monument in person, but according to Google Maps I was next to the “Tótem Canadiense.” Is this wall secretly a totem of Canadian pride in the heart of Mexico City? Unclear!

Besides forest explorations, there were also many, many markets to walk through. Featuring: nopales (cactus pads), piles of mole, industrial sized bags of cheezy poofs, crickets, crickets in granola, and all the meats in the world (plus one meat vendor who was surprisingly camera friendly).

Also throughout Mexico City — so much amazing street art.

And dancers.

And lots of Frida. Everywhere. All the time.

The world cup has been going on for the past couple weeks (GO MEXICO, DOWN WITH GERMANY, BOOOOOO SWEDEN, BUT THANK YOU KOREA!). Many of the public parks have televisions where communities gather to watch games.