Mexico City Adventure III

After the escapade in Mexico City's subway, Paco and I decided to go to one of the many chocolate cafés you will find throughout the city. These cafés offer many varieties of international hot (or cold) chocolate drinks served with sugar and cinnamon coated sweet braided bread sticks you can dip. My favorite was actually the Mexican chocolate. You can buy your chocolate by the pound in solid blocks where you shave off however much you need to add to milk and slowly bring to a boil. I preferred chocolate shavings in goat milk.

We walked downtown into the Zona Rosa over to the National Museum of Anthropology. Paco and I spent the rest of the long afternoon into the early evening touring every crook and cranny of the museum. We must have read every exhibit marker and historical documentation while we examined every display of artifacts. After so many years of seeing pictures of the Aztec calendar, I was ecstatic to finally see the actual stone right before my eyes. Latin American history and culture was one of our concentrations in college. We gained further insights as we conversed with actual archaeological guides scattered throughout the museum. Most all of the guides spoke Spanish, French, and/or English; and all documentation was written in those three languages as well. Thank goodness, because I had very limited knowledge of Spanish. Both of us more control of the ancient Mayan Nahuatl language than we had of Mexico's official language - Spanish.

National Museum of Anthropology

Afterwards, we met with Mario and two of his amigos to dine at an American restaurant called "The Tasty Freeze" in the Zona Rosa. The restaurant was quite formal inside with drapes and table cloths with pictures of Americana on the walls. American old time "Rock and Roll" music quietly wafted through the air. Customers were well dressed and ate their hamburgers with knives and forks using Mexican relishes and garnishes on their sandwiches and potato fries.

That night, after dinner, we went over to the Hotel Isabella to drink a few ron y refresca (rum and coca cola) while enjoying one of Mexico's famous pop-singers entertain us up on stage.

Aztec Calendar