Mexico City

The kids and I arrived in Mexico City a couple of days ago, flying in from Oaxaca and then reuniting with Nadia who flew in from Jordan. Nadia arranged a house swap and landed us a really nice apartment right in the heart of the historic district. We have a flat with a beautiful open floor plan and situated on the top floor of an old building with expansive views of the city. With high ceilings, huge windows and a fully stocked fridge and bar, its a place you could chill out in for a few days without even getting out on the town. For us though, we only have a few days in the city so we're trying to make the most of it.

Yesterday we walked through the city and checked out the main city square (zocalo), which you may have seen in opening scene of the new James Bond movie - Spectre. We also had lunch at a nice restaurant that served delicious Mexican food. I had roasted peppers stuffed with salmon and shrimp  in a mole sauce (yum). We also visited the old Parliament building where Diego Rivera painted highly political murals on many of walls depicting the bloody history of Mexico including arrival of the Spanish and then the Catholic Church and the impact it had on the country. This city is massive. The buildings aren't so high, maybe 6-7 stories, but they cover every block for mile after square mile. Food stalls and restaurants are everywhere, as are parks, street musicians, people protesting one thing or another, pretty heavy-duty looking police, and much more. Walking down the streets you really get the sense this is an old but still very vibrant city.

Today we're off to the Frida Khalo museum and hopefully another tasty lunch and tomorrow we're excited to fly to Puerto Vallarta to visit my sister Jane who lives in a nearby town called Punta Mita.

Cheers, Rob

View from our balcony at night (the Museo Nacional de Arte)

 View from our living room early morning (the dome is the Opera House)

 The flat we're staying at in Mexico City

Enjoying the Plaza del la Constitucion o Zocalo (town square) 

Notice how wavy and unlevel the building are. Most of the old building in the city are leaning, some heavily and the floors are either slanted or wavy, following centuries of ground settlement 

 Beautiful Spanish architecture and crowded streets are the norm

 One of many highly political Diego Rivera murals cover the walls of Parliament

 Centre courtyard of Parliament

 New age pedal taxi

 This is the view you'll see on most streets in old Mexico City, the 4th most populous city in the world after Tokyo, San Paulo, and New York

Old puppet master selling his wears on the street 

Metropolitan Cathedral on the Zocalo

Massive alter of the Cathedral

:-) :-P :-O

These past few days have been amazing! We went to a "petrified waterfall" 

We went to a huge FREEZING moving waterfall 

We painted these beutiful Alabrijes 

we visited a cat sanctuary

we held a snake

And we had company.

Love, Mira

Interlude with Contrasts

I expect cultural differences (e.g. language and religion) when I travel.  It's amazing to me, however, how different places can look, even if they have fairly similar geographies (e.g. mountainous and dry).

Typical colorful street in downtown Oaxaca, Mexico, where we've been for the past 10 days, and where I've left Rob, Maya, and Mira for six days.  Oaxaca is at 5,500 feet and is arid much of the year.

Typical monotone-colored Amman, Jordan, where I am for the next three days for a sudden and very short work trip (women's rights and peace - how could I say no?!).  Amman is at 2,500 feet and is arid much of the year.

Nadia

From Cabo to Oaxaca

For the first time in an amazing 10 months, I enjoyed a short break from the family by spending five days with childhood and college friends in Cabo San Lucas for 'a guys weekend'. Starting from the time I met everyone at the airport arrival bar in Los Cabos on Wednesday afternoon, until I flew out on Sunday, it was nothing but fun and laughs with good buddies include 3 Marsocci brothers - Bob, Chris and Dino, high school friends Jim and Ben, my college and livelong friend Dom, and two new friends Cory and Mack. We rented a huge house high on a hill with a great view of Cabo town and the sea. The house also had a swimming pool, horseshoe court, and much more. If we weren't drinking beer and laughing about old times, we were fishing, jet skiing, quad-4ing, and of course eating lots of tacos. I hope we can do it again sometime.

After leaving my friends on Sunday, I flew to Oaxaca, Mexico (in the mountains 1.5 hours flight south of Mexico City) to reunite with the family and where we've rented a flat for two weeks in the historic part of the city. Oaxaca is situated in a valley (elevation 5,000ft), is surrounded by mountains, and maintains much of Mexico's traditional culture in terms of architecture, dress, cultural festivals and food. We're fortunate to have Nadia's good friend Holly joining us here for a week from Washington State. We've been taking walks through the city daily and are constantly coming across new things to see and explore.

Two days ago, we walked around the ruins of Monte Alban, which had been a spectacular planned city built by the Zapotec high in the mountains above Oaxaca town and inhabited from 500BC to 800AD. I was in awe when looking at the size and quality of engineering and craftsmanship that went into building this place so long ago. 

A week-long Oaxaca festival starts today so we're looking forward to seeing what this entails. I may even take the kids to a wrestling match (the Mexican version of WWF) where the wrestlers wear cheesy masks. I have no idea what to expect but it could be a good laugh. Nadia will miss the festival though because she flies to Jordan today on a week long consultancy and will reconnect with us in Mexico City next week. 

Even after all the adventures experienced and locations we've traveled to, the trip continues to inspire and enlighten.

Cheers,   Rob

Poolside at the house we rented in Cabo 

Dom and Ben feeding our fishing bait to a visiting sea lion on the way back to port

 

We stumbled across this bar called Fenway's (no pun intended) while walking through the streets of Cabo - Ben, Dom, Soch, Jim, Dino, Chris, Mack, Cory and me

At Cabo Wabo (Sammy Hagar's bar)

Holly and Nadia hiking above Oaxaca city

 Maya at Monte Alban ruins

 Amazing architecture

Rob and Nadia taking in the sights 

Hats for sale 

Expansive view of Monte Alban

The Zapotec

The Zapotec are really an amazing civilization. I feel as if when talking about ancient people in Mexico, the Aztecs and Mayans take all the credit. However the Zapotec were just about as advanced. Yesterday we visited Monte Alban, some Zapotec ruins. They were incredible, and quite large. In fact, they very much reminded me of Chichenitza, the most famous Mayan ruins. Monte Alban even had some ball courts, for a ball game that was also played by the Mayans and Aztecs. Why do the Mayans and Aztecs get all the spotlight, when the Zapotec were just as advanced, and so similar as well?

-Maya

Mitla - A Zapotec Site

Mira Sitting on some Zapotec Ruins

Alebrijes

The story behind Alebrijes is a man got yellow fever and started seeing weird things like chickens with bull horns, or a giraffe with a serpents tail. They were all calling out to him, Alebrijes Alebrijes! Nobody would believe what he was seeing so he started carving what he saw. He caught the eye of the owner of an art shop in southern Mexico, and Alebrijes are now a household item. I don't know if I believe it, but it's where they say Alebrijes come from. Today we did a workshop where we got to paint them.  It was a great day! 

Mira

Maya chose a giraffe, 

I chose an armadillo, 

Mama and Papa chose turtles, 

and Holly chose.... Um.... A donkey I think..

Common Themes

Traveling the world, seeing different cultures, common themes of humanity emerge.

Religion:
In every single country and every single culture we have seen on our Big Trip, people believe in something for spiritual enlightenment or salvation and relief from earthly suffering.  They invest significant resources for places and spaces for enlightenment and/or worship and/or the afterlife.

The inside of the 700 year old Tlacolula Church

Violence:
In every single country and every single culture we have seen on our Big Trip, people have a history of oppressing each other and/or forcing their personal views or opinions or cultures on people with different views or opinions or cultures.  In some countries and cultures, the violence was hundreds of years ago.  In other countries and cultures, it was tens of years ago.

A reproduction of a Mexico government torture room from the 1970s

Art:
In every single country and every single culture we have seen on our Big Trip, people use art as a vehicle for expressing their world views, bearing witness to history, and/or protesting oppression and violence.

1970s art highlighting institutionalized violence in Mexico

Food:
In every single country and every single culture we have seen on our Big Trip, people savor the flavors and fill their bodies with more than just calories.

Chocolates, chili, and crickets - typical and delicious ingredients for Oaxacan food

Love:
In every single country and every single culture we have seen on our Big Trip, people have hope.  They love each other.  They fill their lives with color and joy.

Our house for two weeks in colorful Oaxaca City

Nadia

Sleepless monster👹

 When I sleep, I rest my eyes on the moon with my back facing the earth and my face resting towards the unknown. And when I awake, the unknown is wondering what woke me up. And when I am woken, I dream more than I sleep, and that puts ideas in my head. And when that happens, everyone around me becomes at risk. 👹👹👹

Mira

Dancing

My flippers splash the surface above me, but only for a few seconds before I am completely submerged. It's like a dance, swimming with the sea lions. You have to do flips and twirl all the while facing eachother. As the dance progresses, the sea lion and I get closer and closer, until one point when he is just inches away from my face. Finally, after much twirling and spinning and flipping, I need to take a break. It's harder than you would think, swimming with these creatures. While I catch my breath on the surface, the sea lion patiently floats below, staring up with large curious eyes. Once more it is time to dance. We circle eachother getting faster and faster, until it is time to start the spinning and twirling and flipping again.

-Maya

Annoyed

I'm quite annoyed that today, Thursday, my blog day, is the day before we go on a camping trip. By the time it's my turn next week everyone else will have written about all the amazing marine life we are going to see. I'm super excited to dive, snorkel, and swim with whales, dolphins, whale sharks, and other tropical fish. According to Jaque Custou, this is "the world's aquarium."

-Maya

Grey

My mind is filled with color, except the things that don't matter, Are grey. I have no gray in my mind. I have no grey because everything matters, maybe not so much to me but I bet that every grey thing of yours is neon to somebody else. The best color in the world, is the one that looks best on you. 

Mira

Beer

"While wine holds the mystery and magic of weather and geography, beer, too, has something to offer.  Beer is instant community, a reason to congregate.  Whether it's Martin Luther in his backyard sipping home brew and philosophizing the origins of a new religion with Philipp Melanchthon or a North Side Chicago watering hole where union workers are planning a strike action around mugs of cheap German-style lager, beer has served to loosen tongues, free minds, incite revolutions and fuel a billion amorous encounters since the dawn of history."  Bruno Tannenbaum, "100 Years of Windy City Beer," Chicago Sun Times

Beer is also an excellent conduit for catching up, reminiscing, and creating new memories.

Nadia

Catching up with Kathy, the "Baja Buddy" with whom I camped a gazillion times in Baja, Mexico's deserted beaches, mountain lakes, canyons, and hot springs

Another exciting month

Hi All,
It's been another great month and actually some time since I've blogged about the trip. As a quick rehash - in the beginning of March we were still in New Zealand where we had the chance to go white water rafting, Maya bungy-jumped off a very high bridge over a ravine (Mira couldn't do it because she weighed 3 kilos less than the minimum weight requirement -bummer), we spent a day white water rafting and I ran in the Mountain to Surf Marathon finishing in just over 4 hours.

After New Zealand, we flew to Samoa to reconnect with my good friend Cedric from our graduate school days at Brandeis. In addition to spending quality time with Cedric, Suzie and their wonderful kids on Upolo Island (a big thanks Cedric and Suzie for hosting us), we also explored the island of Savai'i where we stayed at a relaxed resort and kayaked everyday out to an island about a mile offshore to snorkel on the coral reefs.

We then flew to Chile and spent five days in Santiago exploring the city on foot, eating at their outdoor restaurants, visiting museums and even taking a day hike at 10,000 ft in the Andes. We were fortunate to spend this time with our dear friend Inaki, who we became close friends with from our days in Asmara, Eritrea, and his wonderful girlfriend Meritxell. I'm grateful they've been traveling in and weren't in Brussels recently, where Inaki lives and regularly uses the transport systems that were attacked.

From Santiago we flew to Easter Island where we spent 5 wonderful days exploring one of the most remote places on earth due to it's location in the South Pacific. The island is famous for the giant Moai statues carved in stone by the original inhabitants in the 15th century and boy are they amazing. We explored the island on foot, by car, off-road on bikes and even underwater with scuba gear. The place is quite beautiful with electric blue water, green volcanic mountain slopes, wild horses everywhere, and Moai dotting the landscape reminding us of the island's mysterious past.

We're now just arrived in Baja, Mexico for a new phase of our trip. We're doing a 'house swap' so have a beautiful 3 bedroom place with a pool and jacuzzi just a few minutes walk from the beach. Our dear friend Kathy has flown down from San Diego and is with us as we toast the sunsets over the Pacific every evening with cold bottles of Mexico beer.

Here are some photos from the past month. I'll also post more pictures from March on my Facebook account. If you want to see them feel free to send a friend request to robmaroni.

Cheers, Rob

Maya getting ready for a long bunny jump into a ravine 

Just about to reach the finish line at Mountain to Surf Marathon, New Plymouth, NZ 

Beautiful coastline, SW on North Island, NZ 

At Mt. Taranaki, NZ 

Valparaiso, Chile 

Valparaiso 

Kids and artwork 

Maya in the Andes 

Hiking in the Andes 

With good friends  

Sunset on Easter Island 

Amazing Moai 

Looking to sea 

Inspiring

Nadia and Mira walking and biking along coast, Easter Island 

Colorful transport on Samoa

Mira sliding down waterfall, Samoa 

Seaside dinner, Savai'i Island Samoa 

Girls learning traditional way to make coconut cream 

Robert Louis Stevenson's House, Upolo Samoa 

Maya surfing in Baja, Mexico 

Cactus and mountains in the Baja 

The ultimate way to relax at the beach 

Late afternoon Cerveza, southern Baja 

The house we're staying at in Todos Santos