Our Mexico City trip

I have to say that the Flores Family, especially our Elder Osmar Flores  made us feel soooo Loved.  Also Elder Josh Rojas joined us when he could, but often had to work.  We could see that they had spent so much time planning what we would want to see and do.  You remember how busy young adults are, right?  Then when ever we were together we just talked non stop...about so many things.  It was such a mishmash of English and Spanish.  They tried to speak English for me but I wanted to practice my Spanish.  It was just funny. 
Several times during our trip, Osmar would make comments about how fast the time was passing but then he would say 'but that's Okay, you're here now'.  It touched my heart that he was trying not to anticipate our leaving and just enjoy our time there.  I hope we can return the favor one day.

Here are some more of our fun adventures.

This visit was to a pyramid in the middle of Mexico City...as you can see.  There have been obvious restorations but it was Huge.  Somehow I had the impression that most these things were all 'lost in the jungle'. turns out they are everywhere.

 

These statues were about 4 ft tall.

I was intrigued to see hints of the colors they used to have.

They really don't know what the skulls mean but Wow!

This sculpture is huge.  It's a woman with her tongue out.  Moving it into the museum was very difficult as you could guess.  It's something we don't think of.

At the intersection of two major streets is this monument to Independence. 

Inside the base is this memorial to the dead who fought for independence.

 We visited a park and on the way took our photos as 'angles'.

We had lunch at Sanborns de los Azuelejos

The servers wear this costume, the skirt from one area of Mexico, the top from another and the collar from a third but the collar's color is different every day, to remind people of their 'no drive day'. In an effort to reduce air pollution, all drivers are assigned a color which tells you which day you aren't allowed to drive.

We were seated in the main dining area in an open 'plaza' at the center of the building.

This is one wall.  The food was good, but the ambiance was wonderful.

We enjoyed a Picasso and Rivera exhibit in an art museum.  I never knew they were acquainted.

We enjoyed seeing this palace museum downtown.  There were rooms furnished as they would have been during it's use.

We also enjoyed the archeological museum.  The artifacts of the various civilizations are stunning.

 

The museum had made this exhibit to simulate it's original location.

Talk about a big head.

My knees were aching so I rode a wheel chair....this is the 'goal' in the ball game the ancients played.  The balls were hard rubber. I don't think they were allowed to use their hands either.

I will save our temple visit and the great pyramids for next post.  Thanks for letting me share our wonderful experience.

Catch up

Time to play catch up! At the end of June, we enjoyed a wonderful trip to Mexico City....meeting up with a couple of our missionaries from Spain.  They treated us like royalty.

The Flores parents had a layover in Phoenix on their way to Utah a couple of weeks before our trip.  We were pleased by the chance to host them for a few hours. We took them to see a couple of temples and let them crash for a few hours.

 

 

 

Brother Flores was particularly glad to be at the Mesa temple as that was where his parents were sealed. It was on their anniversary too.

 

Our Missionaries picked us up at the airport...a fun reversal of roles as Rod had done that for them often during the mission. We stayed with the Flores family and loved getting to know older brother Alex.  Papa Flores works out of town and is only home for the weekends so we didn't get to see him.

 

Our first 'sight' was the National Autonomous University of Mexico. (both missionaries attend here)   This is the library covered by mosaic by Carlos Lazo...The colors of the mosaic are made by native stone from around Mexico.  It was just awesome. 



 

 It's a huge school and some of the buildings were used during the Mexican Olympics.  The Flores were our guides and transportation for most of our trip.

 I thought this building was very cool too!

That first evening we had dinner with the Rojas family.  These young men know my husband well.

 

They had forgotten why standing next to Rod for a photo is dangerous.....wedgie.

 It was such fun!

 The next day we enjoyed murals by Diego Rivera  at the National Palace.

Sculptures in front of the cathedral

 I really liked this one too.  I love the contrast between ancient, traditional, and modern art.
The epic will continue later....