el D.F.

The internet isn't being cooperative, so while I have plenty of wonderful videos and photographs to upload, they'll just have to wait.

Dinner last night was fantastic! We went to a restaurant called "El Lugar de las Mariachis" (the place with the mariachis), which involved a mariachi band, various vocalists, a trick roper, and a group of folkloric dancers. So impressive!

Today was something like a forced march through the history of Mexico, guided by the lovely Ivan. We started out at 10 AM, and visited the Palacio Nacional, the main governmental seat, replete with murals by Diego Rivera which all seemed to require a very long explanation and nowhere to sit down. Actually, they were all really awesome, and it was sort of surreal to see them in person. Apparently, however, I am more affected by high altitude than my peers, so I was a little on the grouchy side and wanted nothing more than to sit somewhere and rest my eyes.

Also at the Palacio were exhibits about Benito Juarez, including the bedroom in which he died.

After the Palacio Nacional, we visited the Templo Mayor, which is an Aztec ruins right in the middle of the city, surrounded on all sides by vociferous venders selling anything you might ever want. That has to be one of my favorite things about Mexico so far; old and new are intertwined completely and inescapably.

Lunch was at a very nice restaurant (we're SO pampered here), and I managed to revive myself a little and improve my mood.

After lunch we went to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and saw a bunch of murals, some by Diego Rivera, and others by people whose names I don't really remember, but whose murals contained exclusively violent imagery. I actually would like to go back and take more time to look. There's so much detail in each of Rivera's murals that it seems impossible to take it all in at once.