Ballet Folklorico de Mexico

 

we were lucky enough to get tickets

 

we just walked over to the box office on Tuesday

for the Wednesday night performance

 

 

 

at the Palacio de Bellas Artes

which was a couple blocks from our hotel

 

 

the inside was truly amazing

we were in what I call the nose bleed section

it was a great view of the dancing but it made me sort of dizzy

 

 

the "curtin" was made of some kind of translucent glass

 

it was stunning!

 

I could not believe it could be lifted - but lifted it was

 

 

the dance started out with just drummers

 

it was very powerful

 

 

 

 

 

the costumes are always great

 

 

by the end

 

 

there was a 12 piece mariachi band

bravo!

 

 

during intermission we hung out on that top balcony

(we took this photo the next day)

at night it was very romantic and looked out over the lights of the Almeda

 

I was still battling the altitude and went back to the hotel after intermission

it was a few blocks away and I felt totally safe in the city

didn't even think about it, stopped for a torta even

 

our friends left on Saturday - we still had a couple more days

 we headed over to the Almeda

the oldest park in Mexico City - created and used by the Aztecs

to find the home of a famous mural of Diego Rivera's

 

"Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Almeda Park"

 

 

as with all murals the scale is huge

 

 

 

and with Rivera's the detail is always amazing

 

in addition to being a political and social commentary

 

 

 in the middle of the mural he painted in himself as a boy

holding hands with La Catrina

with Frida his wife behind him

 

after walking back to the hotel we took a long nap

 

then headed for the Plaza Garibaldi

it was Saturday night and that was the place to hear mariachi music

 

 

we had to stop when we heard this young man

 

 

 singing some old Beatles and Dylan songs down the street from the hotel

he was damn good

I was surprise how many people were singing along in English

 

 finally we move on

 

 

we don't get very far when

 

 

 we hear the drums of the ancient dances

 

 

being performed in the street

 

 

oh I love Mexico City!

 

we walked on to Garibaldi

 

 

 had a great dinner outside on the square

 

 

 this group of guys played for us

 - I did not get their photo when they were at our table

it did not seem to be the right thing to do...

 

we asked for "Guadalajara, Guadalajara"

great song

we wandered around the square after dinner

and listened to several mariachi groups

 

 

the plaza still had it's decorations up for Dia de Independencia

1810 - 2013

here I am with all the leaders of the revolution

 

 and the virgin just in case

 

 

 we found a great bakery on the way home

 

 

a whole cake was out of the question

right?

 

 

 

last view of the night

from a pretty perfect day

 

 

 

we have one more day in DF left.......