Thursday, July 17, 2008, Mexico City

Today was our big museum day. First the National Museum of History, then the National Museum of Anthropology. Both are beautifully designed and displayed. The history museum required a climb up to the top of Chapultepec (grasshopper hill) where we enjoyed great views of Mexico City. The turret of the castle, residence of viceroys from Spain, was built over the site of a prehispanic ceremonial center. Later a military academy was built next to it. Six cadets became martyr-heroes by resisting the symbolic storming of the academy by Americans during the Mexican-American War (1847), after which the battle for Mexican land was lost.
Our guide, Linda, was great as we lunged through 500 years of history, Spanish conquest to Revolution, in two hours, convincing us that Mexican history is complex to say the least. Unfortunately, no one was allowed by guards to take notes, labels were in Spanish only and the shop had no catalogue of the collections.

We then hiked down the hill and through Chapultepec Park (like Central Park in NYC, but twice as large) to the famous National Museum of Anthropology, had a "quick" lunch, then faced 5000 objects on the first floor, and ethnographic displays on the upper floor. We had English audioguides to hear about major objects in the museum. By 4PM we suffered TSO (Total Sensory Overload). I take away that a codices is a type of early book, accordian folded, made of deer skin coated with white lime, painted in natural dyes with writing to be read right side to left, zigzag. They record lineage or history accounts. They are beautiful. Also, comparing a Maya Chacmool (rain god) image of the early Maya period to a later Aztec image it is clear that the aesthetic movement was from simplicity to super elaborate decoration with clothing and jewelry.

Then it rained as we left. We ended our last full day in Mexico with a splendid dinner at Hacienda de los Morales, with government officials for education, culture and Fulbright. They are encouraging many further teacher exchanges and welcome all interested in coming to learn about Mexico, train teachers, or teach here, and etc.

Carol, Virginia