Mexico City Day 3: Frida!

Today we went to Frida Kahlo's house, the Casa Azul (Blue House). Frida was born and died in la Casa Azul. There, we saw some of her famous paintings, some of Diego's paintings, and Dego and Frida's collection of Prehispanic art. And her furniture is also art! I really love the style of the Casa Azul. The rooms are small and simple, but decorated with Mexican folk art in every color of the rainbow. Her garden is especially beautiful. Unfortunately no one is allowed to take photos inside la Casa Azul, but I took some of the garden. 

"Frida and Diego lived in this house, 1929-1954"

The garden and a pyramid that Diego designed to display sculptures.

We also saw lots of pictures of Frida and Diego. She always looks so serious! I don't think I've ever seen a picture of Frida smiling. She had an accident when she was about my age and it left her paralyzed for a long time. She was eventually able to walk again, but she suffered nearly constant pain and she was never able to have children. One can see from her paintings that her many miscarriages were really tough for her (and Diego as well). 

After la Casa Azul, we went to La Museo de Dolores Olmeda. Dolores Olmeda was a wealthy woman who modeled for Diego Rivera. Now her house is a museum that contains some paintings by Frida and Diego, and some other works of art she collected, and also modern folk art. The museum has beautiful grounds with peacocks and geese and hairless dogs that existed before the conquistadors came to Mesoamerica! The dogs are kind of so ugly that they're cute.

A real dog basking in the shade of a sculpture-dog.

The peacock has babies!

We had lunch in a fancy restaurant with really good appetizers. It was a bit expensive but the food was worth it. The place was packed because on Sunday, family lunch is The Thing To Do. I really like the trend of having a big lunch at 3 PM or so and then eating a small supper around 9 PM. 

After lunch we went back to the Museo Nacional de Antropología to see Ballet Folklórico. They are a famous touring dance company based in Mexico. Here, the word "ballet" just means "dance". It does not mean tutus and buns and pointe shoes. The Ballet Folklórico performs folk dances from all over Mexico. The costumes are amazing, and all the dances are fast-paced and require an awful lot of energy. 

Tomorrow we're going to Teotihuacán! Yay! Huuuuuuge pyramids, lots of sun, and our awesome guide who knows so much about Mexican history. 

The word of the day is postre. It means dessert. Used in a sentence, "Siempre puedo comer un postre" (I could always eat dessert).