Post Office, Manuel Tolsá Museum, Templo Mayor Ruins, National Museum of Cultures, Alameda Central, National Museum of Anthropology, Chapultepec Forest
While I intended to leave Sayulita pretty quickly, I was feeling unwell and had to stay there for a few extra days before going to Puerto Vallarta. That turned out to be a pretty disappointing visit, mainly due to the state of hostels in this city, and I didn’t waste much time there before getting on a plane to Mexico City. At this point, I started to feel like I’ve been playing this “on and off” game with Mexico, which made me question some of my plans for the country.
After settling down in the new accommodation, I went to have a look around. On the way I passed by the post office, which was a nice looking building although there wasn’t much to see in it, and it didn’t take more than a couple of minutes before I was out.
While I planned to go to the Telegraph Museum, I wasn’t sure where the entrance was. But next to it I came across the Manuel Tolsá Museum. I had no idea who that was, but the museum was right there and the entrance was free, so I decided to head it and see what I can find out.
Pretty much all over the place the signs were both in Spanish and English, which made things more convenient for me. From what I could understand, Manuel Tolsá was an artist and an architect who grew up in Spain and later in his life went to Mexico.
The museum contained some art pieces, as well as building models and some documents. Even without reading every sign, it was still nice to have a look around and try to learn a little bit about the man. The museum wasn’t very big, and pretty quickly I got to the end, at which point I turned around and left the building.
From the museum I kept walking for a little while before I got to the ruins of Templo Mayor. As I didn’t pay to enter the museum, I was limited to taking a look at the ruins from the outside. There was a bridge tha ran across from one side of the ruins to the other, and I walked alongside many other people, taking a look at the historic site. There were some guided tours, in multiple languages, and as I made my way I could hear different guides talking about the history and the significance of the ruins. A couple of minutes later I got to the other end of the bridge and saw everything that I could.
The next place I wanted to visit was the National Palace. For whatever reason, I struggled to find the entrance to the palace itself, however, I did find the entrance to the National Museum of Cultures, which according to the internet is within the grounds of the National Palace.
The museum had different galleries, each of them about a different country. Unfortunately, this time there were no English signs to read, only Spanish. But, as three of the galleries were about Asia, I had some knowledge and context to draw from, which made things a bit easier.
I started with the gallery about Japan, as this one was the first I’ve seen coming up the stairs. From the direction I entered the gallery, it started by talking about some funeral tools and rituals, then moving to the development of religion, culture, and a few things I still didn’t quite understand. Other than the signs, there were quite a few items on display, such as tools, clothes, and weapons. It all felt familiar to me, which was enjoyable while at the same time I also didn’t feel the need to stick around there for too long.
From there I moved on to the China gallery. While I was less familiar with it, the connection with Japan was clear, so I could still understand what I was looking at. The third gallery was about Korea, which I have been to, and while there were clear differences between this gallery and the previous two, there were also similarities.
And then I entered the Turkey gallery, at which point I started to feel lost. I could understand the titles of each sign, but the walls of text mostly went past me. The displays were still nice to look at, and I had a bit of context regarding this country, but it was a bit too much for me.
I headed upstairs to the top floor, where there were a couple of small galleries. Looking around, I felt completely lost, and put much of an effort to try and make sense of it all. Instead, I went to take a look at the garden, and then left the museum.
To end the day, I went over to Alameda Central, a nice little park in the historic center of Mexico City, with several fountains in it. I walked around the park, essentially, going from one fountain to the next, until I’ve seen them all. Even without them, it was a nice park, with grass and trees all around. There were some areas to sit in, as well as dancing and other leisurely activities. It was a small park, but quite a nice one, and worth the visit while I was in the area.
Further away from the center was Chapultepec Forest. Before going around it, I first entered the National Museum of Anthropology, which was located inside the park along with a few other museums.
It looked like quite a big place, with an open space in the center. There were several galleries around, and I entered the one closest to me. It started with some general background information about prehistoric time, talking about the land, the animals, and the people. Although there were some English signs, the Spanish signs had a lot more information in them. Along with the signs, there were also many items on display, including tools and sculptures. This gallery felt quite familiar to me, as I’ve seen that before, and I didn’t spend too much time there.
I kept going, and came across a gallery which started to focus more on Mexico, the people who came to this part of the world and the ways they lived their lives. I started to get a bit confused with some of the terms, but I got most of it. The displays have changed accordingly, and I looked around the gallery as I made my way from one section to the next.
Then the galleries got more focused, talking about more specific times in the history of Mexico, and certain power players that were around. At the time I felt like I learned quite a bit, although at the end of the day I didn’t retain much of the information. A few times I found myself going outside, to look at some sculptures, ruins, and some plants that made the whole thing a bit nicer and provided some contrast of colors.
About half way through I was getting tired. I kept losing focus, and after a short rest I made my way toward the exit. However, while walking along I spotted a gallery about the Mayan culture, and I wanted to have a look around before leaving the museum. Although I didn’t plan to take my time there, I did stop to read some of the signs, rather than just look at the sculptures and the other items on display. There was also a lower floor section which was talking about the Mayan and their beliefs regarding the afterlife. There were more galleries there, more that I could learn and look at, but it was a bit too much for me. After taking one more look around and seeing pretty much all I could see, I left the museum.
With the museum behind me, I just started walking around Chapultepec Forest without any clear direction. It was quite a nice park, with plenty of green around it, ruined slightly by a few too many stalls selling food, drinks, and souvenirs. Getting away from the louder area, I eventually got to a lake, which was nice but not very impressive. There was also a section of the park which was designated as a “botanical garden”, which had some variety of flowers, and cactus, although it was less colorful than I would have liked.
I kept walking around, got some food, and sat down by a fountain to eat and relax for a little bit. I enjoyed spending some time in the park without really doing anything, but there was only so much to see. I took one more look around, taking a different path, and then made it back to the bus station, where after a few confusing conversations I finally managed to get on the right bus and get back to the accommodation.