Beechers at the Mexico MTC

Our First 6 week Farewell

for Branch 12

Branch 12 Presidency with Missionary

Neal, Bro Suarez (Mex RM from NYC),

President Machado

Downtown fountain round-about

Neal & Jackie

Sister Gill & the Calls

Long Limo--This is our Frida Kahlo

Turi-bus day. We went on Friday for P-day

because the doctors couldn't leave Saturday

OUTDOOR CAFE

BLAST FROM THE PAST

WOOLWORTHS

World's largest bull-fighting Arena

Turi-bus double-decker-Southern

Mexico City Route--Frida Kahlo

Beautiful flowers on the Turi-bus Route

Many Cathedrals

Cathedral at Coyoacan Centro Historico

Plaza--We saw statues of coyotes

in several places in this town.

Italian Restaurant in Coyoacan Plaza

Coyote Fountain in Coyoacan

Arches to the Plaza

Calls & us at the Coyote Fountain

Reminiscent of Philipino electrical wiring

Interesting Spanish-looking architecture

I loved this lego-look-alike apartment

complex. This boy helped me several

times try to fix the earplugs, which worked

only intermittently:)

One thing I love about Mexico City is

the plethora of mosaic murals on the sides

of buildings and walls.

This is the site of the Olympics. An

interesting story tells of a runner from

Tanzania, who was hurt, but continued to

run even though he was way far behind.

When he finally dragged to the finish line, he

was asked why he continued even though he was so

far behind. He said, "My country didn't send me

_________miles to quit before I finished the race.

Organ Grinder Musician downtown

Italian Restaurant--yummy food

We had fish. E. Harston didn't

get his main meal until everyone else

was finished. L-R: E. Harston, S. Harston, the

Gills, me, the Calls, Neal

Nola Harston, Nancy & Fred Gill, Me

World Trade Center Below

Street Cafe...cut your meat right off the spindle.
Not this puppy!

The streets were so narrow, the trees so

dense, that we had some near catastrophes.

My seat mate, a large Latino woman, was

standing with her big camera, looked up, and

was nearly decapitated by a low rock-bridge.

Scared us all to death! Note the woman on the

right with the beautiful Mexican shawl and hat.

This is a festive toyshop

More interesting murals--this at the

Turi-bus turnaround. It makes a long loop.

Long as in at least an hour, maybe more. It

was an all-day trip.

Again, we wanted you to see how narrow

the streets are in this part of Mexico City.

University City (note the murals on the bldg)

is huge. It covers many miles. It has the largest

student body of any school in Latin America--

314,000 students.

Me on the Turi-Bus BEFORE the

Frida Kahlo house tour...when it was still dry:)

We got rained on on the way back...but we dry easily

Pics of the Frida Kahlo childhood and lifelong home.

Polio when young, one leg shorter than other, terrible

accident w/ trolley car late teens, metal bar through

her stomach & uterus--no children--married Diego

Rivera (famous Mex artist), affair with Trotsky, who

was in exile from Stalin. Bedridden much of her life,

painted from there--most of her pieces are self-portraits, and

nearly all of them portray the angst she experienced all

her life from her medical problems and childlessness. Her leg was amputated as well, so she wore a prosthetic leg and many

braces (body casts) throughout her life. These are on display

as well as the beautiful clothing (traditional long dresses) that she wore to disguise her infirmities. The house is now a museum showing her art, her prosthetic devices, and her

beautiful native costumes. We had a 40 minute wait in line to get in. It was worth it though. A most unusual tour. Gills went to the Trotsky house about 4 blocks further up the road bec they had seen the Frida house before. While waiting, we met a delightful woman from Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She was on an all-expense paid tour from Wikipedia with her 16 year old, very bright son. He won this tour because of some work he had done for Wikipedia Russia. Wikipedia was hosting an International Conference in Mexico City. She said she had always wanted to see Frida Kahlo's work, so this was one of the stops she wanted to make, and it didn't matter how long she had to stand. She told us 90% of her country is Muslim like herself. We introduced her to our culture and a book we could share. She was glad to hear of it. She is an attorney--intellectual property law and has traveled widely including the states.

We were not allowed to take pictures in the home

without paying, so I bought a children's book, 170 pesos,

to show some of the pictures of this unusual woman, Frida Kahlo. She is really a Mexican icon--you see her picture and posters of her often. Her image is on the 500 peso bill.

She was very liberal, lived a bohemian lifestyle, and was

a Communist, with very strong political & social views.