Coyoacán, Mexico. April, 2019

Nice to get out of the city proper for a day and take the metro to this quieter suburb. A short walk from the station to the centro can take you through this peaceful park. It's in this park that the plantings for all of the city's other parks are grown. (See all of these plants in their containers, ready to be moved to their new homes.) It's also a favorite spot for joggers, for neighborhood ladies to compare notes, for this tourist just to breathe.

Habana, Cuba. February, 2012

I was warned by our tour guide not to venture into the “dangerous” neighborhood of Havana’s central market, the Mercado de Cuatro Caminos. Too late! I’d already been there earlier in the day. And mucho happy that I had been. No other tourists around. Just Habaneros doing their daily shopping from whatever happened to be available that day. If the truck arrived with a certain kind of produce, it was up for sale. If not, not. Potatoes, I was told, only make a rare appearance here. Look at that great old scale!

Mexico City. April, 2019

Visitors to the city's famed archeology museum just can't help themselves when it comes to taking photos in front of this huge sundial or sacrificial altar or whatever it is. Truth be told: The museum is exhausting. So many rooms, so many cultures represented. Admirable, of course. And the city's main tourist attraction. But I had to sit down a lot.

Centro Habana, Cuba. February, 2012

As soon as you wander away from the tourist-heavy streets of Old Havana and approach this neighborhood where most of the city’s residents live, the brightly restored colors are no longer in evidence. Things get a little funkier. And, for me, much more real and interesting. This is one of the streets I was warned not to walk down because it was likely that a piece of crumbling building might fall on me. I listened politely to the well-meant warnings...and then headed right down the street as soon as I took this picture. Much more interesting than the Disneyfied tourist sites filled with, well, tourists.

Puebla, Mexico. April, 2019

At each market I visited in Mexico, there was always at least one (usually more) booth selling "magic" votive candles, herbs and potions to deal with any number of personal issues. Trouble with your boss. Snagging that guy you have a crush on. Anxiety. Mother-in-law annoyances. And so many more. Here's an assortment from the market in Puebla. (Full disclosure: I walked many blocks to this market, not to find a candle solution to any problem...but to sample the city's famed cemitas sandwich. I was not disappointed. But if I had been, I'm sure there would have been a candle to deal with my dismay.)

Jaimanitas, Havana, Cuba. February, 2012

Everywhere you look in Cuba, even in the heavily mosaic’d neighborhood of Jaimanitas, you find remnants of that moment in the country’s past when Americans were living high on the hog, filling Havana’s casinos, driving their snazzy cars down the avenidas. When the Revolution took place and Castro took over, the Americans fled. Their cars remained. Many have been beautifully refurbished and still grace the streets. Others, like this one, simply languish.

Mexico City. April, 2019

This little lady has just been baptized at the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and she doesn't look too happy about the inconvenience. In fact, I think I was more excited about it than she was.

Tucson. April, 2013

Nice welcome.

Mexico City. April, 2019

Centro Habana, Cuba. February, 2012

Just hanging out here in the less gussied-up section of Havana. There’s more poverty here in Centro than in Old Havana (see yesterday's entry). All through this downtown neighborhood and all along the sea at the Malecón, the buildings were in various levels of disrepair (some were crumbling into the street as I passed), but they still suggested an affluent past with their stained glass, their architectural details, their wrought iron fancies. 

Oaxaca, Mexico. April, 2019