The Blue House
This is where Frida Kahlo was born and where she lived periodically with Diego Rivera. The house is in beautiful Coyoacan, is ovbviously blue and has works by Frida, Diego and other artists, plus letters they sent eachother, a great big pile of Communist literature and a mini pyramid in the garden.After seeing the inside of the house (taking photos unfortunately prohibited) I practiced my Spanish watching the video at the museum: From what I can gather Kahlo, in many ways had a very unhappy life, with a husband who had various affairs (including one with her sister) and spent a lot of time in hospital (due to polio at the 6 and a bus accident in 1925). She was also childless and suffered many miscarriages which she often references in her paintings.
Although, on the other hand I'm not entirely sure life for Frida was ALL the doom and gloom she made out. I think she was an outgoing, confident human being, always favouring the more tradditional Mexican dress and painting herself with prominent Mexican features (thick eyebrows and yes, a bit of a tash). She also managed to have her own affair with Leon Trotsky while he was exiled in Mexico DF...
...However in the painting below she does liken herself to a wounded animal.
It was particularly fun visiting the museum with my dramatic friend Vanessa who wandered around the house comparing herself to Kahlo at every oppourtunity.
Either way it was a great day and fascinating to visit the wacky house of this wacky but talented artist with my extremely wacky friend.
Anahuacalli
Rivera designed Anahuacalli as a place to display his Pre-Columbian artefacts. It is made out of dark Volcanic stone and is reminiscent of a Maya tomb, inside being cool and dark. In all honesty I was expecting this place to be rather dull, being a bit of a pleb when it comes to ancient history but with the (free [of course]) tour guide I found it pretty interesting especially thinking how old many of the items in the museum are. Diego's collection is huge, and includes models of warriors...
...childrens' dolls made from the historic version of playdough...
...and what may look like a jug but, when filled with certain levels of water, wacked and blown into correctly is in fact a musical instrument:
I also liked some Diego's personal touches especially his snake and Communist (what else?) themed ceilings:
And the random frogs/toads on the ground floor:
From the terraza there are views of the surrounding city and volcanoes in the distance although I am sure they were easier to see when Dego built his museum and Mexico City was not one of the most polluted places in the world (got to love that filthy sky)!
Outside of the museum there was also an alebrije; a paper maiche cross between a monster and an animal. These are a very common and tradditional type of art in Mexico and come in all forms and sizes (although this one was a biggy). Having mocked other tourists for taking photos of themselves "fighting" the monster, Zoe and I later did the very same: 
Overall it was a great week and one which makes me very grateful to live in such an interesting city with so much to do and such interesting inhabitants.
The arrival of the 3 Kings is yet another important festival in Mexico. Although many poor Mexicans do still have to go to work, the day does not pass by unnoticed.
Fortunately for Zoe and I, IH was still on holiday and so we took ourselves off to the Mueso de Arte Popular (as mentioned in a previous blog) to see their Piñata exhibition (what else?).
ANYWAY... Piñatas are extremely popular at Meixcan parties and are traddtionally star shaped with 7 points to represent the 7 Deadly Sins. You then bash them about untill gifts (usually sweets and little toys) fall out. This is done blindfolded in turns and is actually a lot of fun as I have been lucky enough to experiance first hand.
The exhibition however had a range of beautiful and unique piñatas. My favourites probably being the Kings (above) and this little guy below:
After the museum I then had to buy la Rosca for the party Vanesa and I organised for Dia de los Reyes Magos. 
This party essentially involves gathering friends and eating Rosca (a sweet bread; above) with hot chocolate.
A couple of days before Christmas I finally took my friend Vanessa up on her offer of staying with her family in Veracruz. Bus tickets were bought and we arrived in Poza Rica where her Mother had made us some delicious Pozole (Mexican bean/meat stew) before we took ourselves out to visit the town. Vanessa's family is lovely and her Grandmother is a particular riot, keen to tell me how much I look like "la novia de Principe Guillermo" (Kate Middleton) and share her views on our Royal Family. After explaining that the courts had in fact proved Princess Di was not murdered I decided it was best to give up agree that yes, it was an assasination all arranged by Al Fayed. 
As with Dia de los Muertos, this may be yet another example of the Catholic conquistadores trying to incorporate yet another Mayan image into the Catholic church in order to convert the indigenous Mexicans. However la Virgen is still, to this day a strong cultural symbol of Mexico and la Basilica in Mexico City is an extrmely popular pilgrimage destination.
The weekend before last we visited both la Basilica and the Capilla de Cerrito, a beautiful little chapel overlooking D.F. 
While it would have been great to visit the Basilica on the 12th, el Dia de la Virgen marks the begining of what is known as the Guadalupe-Reyes Marathon in Mexico. This means 25 days of squeezing in as many parties as is humanly possible from the 12th right through till the 6th January. Hence duty called and most of this past weekend was spent attempting to salsa, drinking wine and eating tamales at Mexican friends' or "friend of a friend's" houses all over D.F.
This last weekend was a bank holiday and, unlike Independence Day this time we all had Monday off. This meant that after a quick class in the South of the city on Saturday morning, I was picked up and taken (by friends, not kidnappers) to Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City and known as the 'land of eternal spring'. Although not 'land of eternal British spring' as each day the sun was strong and the nights were warm.
We stayed in a campsite by the River (shown in photos above) which we actually swam across a few times. The campsite itself had warm springs, which it used for water and to supply the pools we spent many hours sunbathing around (and rope-swinging into).
In the evenings we had BBQs and made bonfires to sit around. Unfortunately Pat and I had to sleep in the "palace" which we had bought for 200 pesos from the supermarket ealier that day:
In spite of all his enthusiasm for such a 'classic' tent it turned out Pat had no idea how to put it up (happily I have no issue with being bossy and so she was up in no time) and seemed surprised that the hard ground can be so "unforgiving". .
Either way, it was great to have a break from the city and enjoy the sunshine on my first trip outside of Mexico City and it has given me a new found appreciation of my matress in Mineria.
Sunday 2nd November is the main celebration of the lives of the dead, a trdditional Mexican Festival where it is believed the souls of the dead are able to visit most easily. Families usually make offerings to their dead in their homes. These usually incude food and drink which that person particularly liked during their lifetime. There are different days to celebrate the lives of those who died young and the disabled and I imagine these are quite sad, yet Dia de los Muertos was very cheerful.
While the festival is most keenly celebrated in the more indigenous parts of Mexico, there was still no lack of enthusiasm in D.F. We went to the historical centre (the Zocalo, above) to watch tradditonal dances (see below) and view the many public offerings made in the plaza.
Below is a photo of one of the many offerings. The orange flowers are tradditional for this festival as are the chocolate skulls.