From Markets to Murals to The Beatles?

What a great first day in Mexico City, DF. Headed first thing to the Mercado Merced this morning. A short metro ride deposited me in the heart of the market. It's by far the larrgerst market in DF and perhaps one of the largest in all of Mexico and Central America. I landed in my favorite part - the produce section. What great veggies and fruit. Check these photos out:

Peppers, peppers, and more peppers! Chili Rellano Heaven!

At 35 cents a pound, I'd be eating  tomatoes every meal!

Dried chilis for every taste - hot to very, very hot! Yum!



After a great hour enjoys the smells of cilantro and other spices, it was time to head off in search of some murals. My first stop was to be at the Antiguo Colegio de San Ildefonso to see Rivera's The Creation. If you saw the movie Frida, this is where she first met Diego as she yelled at him from the balcony. It's a great amphitheater with his first mural as the background to the performance stage. Today, I had the entire space to myself. This is definitely one of my favorite spots in the city. There's a piano concert here on Sunday that I'll try to attend.

 Rivera's first mural, The Creation painted around 1923.

I had planned on visiting the Secretaria de Education Publica today to see some of Rivera's best murals. Unfortunately, because of a teacher strike and demonstration in the main square, El Zocalo, the Education Ministry was closed. I'll catch the murals on Tuesday when it reopens. But, just a few blocks away is the wonderful Mercado Abelardo Rodriguez. A number of Rivera's contemporaries painted murals there at the entrances of the market in the 1920s. Some are in pretty bad shape. However, I learned that there were also murals upstairs that I had missed on my last visit to the market. In addition to much better preserved murals, there was an absolutely facinating wall sculpture by Isama Noguchi that he did in 1936. What a treat!

 Noguchi three-dimentional wall sculpture of cement and plaster (1936).

Detail from mural at Mercado Rodriguez.

One of the great things about any city is what you discover on the street when you're least expecting it. Yes, a Beatles cover band on a street corner just a few blocks from my hotel. After walking most of the day, it was a relaxing half hour to listen to Beatles' classics. These guys weren't half bad!

Los Beatles? No es possible!

Time for dinner. My lunchtime chili rellano from the mercado wore off hours ago. Off for a delicious treat in the neighborhood!

Tomorrow: Travels to Cuernavaca