{"id":637,"date":"2017-11-07T13:53:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-07T18:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/?p=637"},"modified":"2023-09-08T14:25:16","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T18:25:16","slug":"muertos2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/muertos2017\/","title":{"rendered":"D\u00eda de los Muertos, Mexico City – Nov. 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The James Bond 2016 film, Spectre<\/em><\/strong>, opens to an enormous Day of the Dead<\/em> parade in Mexico City. The film\u2019s incredibly rich scenery shows Bond strolling through the crowds, escaping exploding buildings, crashing helicopters, emerging completely unscathed (of course!) as he pursues his targets. However, the most amazing aspect of the scene was that before the film\u2019s release, there was no \u201cDay of the Dead parade\u201d in Mexico City!<\/p>\n

\"\"But who can say no to an enormous celebration like the one in Spectre? Within months, the Mexico City government and thousands of volunteers created their own extravaganza. The parade was a huge success; in the parade\u2019s first year, nearly ten times as many people showed up than were expected. When we read about the \u201cnew tradition,\u201d we decided to go to parade #2, and spend a week in Mexico City enjoying the holiday, culture, and the company of our friends there.<\/p>\n

Mexico is very internet-savvy. Nevertheless, finding the location and even existence of the numerous events and special exhibitions was impressively difficult. We searched countless websites, newspapers, and posters, and put together a list of a few dozen must-see events. We spent hours on crowded subways, plodding up and down streets, and walking by closed museums \u2013 that were supposed to be open. We found amazing exhibitions that weren\u2019t listed, gave up on finding many \u201cscheduled” but non-existent events, visited enormous ofrendas (some on the \u201cmap\u201d but many not, and wonderful art installations, and saw hundreds of costumed people just strolling around the city.<\/p>\n

The September 19th<\/sup> earthquake occurred about 10 weeks before our visit. It killed hundreds, destroyed over 200 buildings, and tested the ability of the Mexican government to respond to a staggering disaster. We\u2019ve seen America\u2019s FEMA crumble when responding to Katrina in New Orleans and Maria in Puerto Rico. In sharp contrast, the city mobilized in a manner that seemed impossible. People from all walks of life worked side by side to dig out victims, often using just their bare hands. Food vendors delivered free meals to the victims. The government issued pleas to stop volunteering \u2013 too many people were flooding the areas – not to gawk – but to help, creating scenes too overwhelming to the professional front-line rescuers. Donations flowed; people opened their doors to those left homeless. This is who Mexicans are.\u00a0 Their response made us cringe at the paucity of the US response to Puerto Rico\u2019s leveling by a hurricane earlier this year.<\/p>\n

A few highlights<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"The parade
\n<\/strong>We had a map of the parade route, and were able to figure out the best vantage point (3 blocks from our hotel). We had NO idea what time the parade would pass by, so we got to the chosen point 3 or 4 hours before the start. This turned out to be a good thing \u2013 it was massively crowded, but we had a front row spot. Our parade viewing neighbors were nice, and the time flew by. The parade started with a dedication to the Volunteers of the 19th<\/sup> of September, the day of the awful earthquake. We took hundreds of photos (see below), and had a great time. The parade volunteers interacted with the viewers much more than in US parades. Maybe because there weren\u2019t a lot of gringos, but it\u2019s more likely because this is simply who Mexicans are.<\/p>\n

\"\"The paper mache monsters (alibrijes) and Mexicraneos on the Reforma<\/strong>
\nThe Reforma is one of the city\u2019s major avenues. The alibrijes event has been going on there for ten years, but was the first time we saw it. The monsters are huge \u2013 many over 10 feet high – and extraordinarily colorful and weird. The detail is amazing, and the quantity was overwhelming. Adjacent to the alibrijes were 5-foot diameter Mexicraneos (calaveras) \u2013 skulls \u2013 richly decorated. It\u2019s an outdoor art show like none we\u2019re ever seen and was along worth the trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"Catrinas on the Alameda
\n<\/strong>The Alameda is pictured in one of Diego Rivera\u2019s most famous murals: https:\/\/www.diegorivera.org\/dream-of-a-sunday-afternoon-in-alameda-park.jsp<\/a>. For Dia de los Muertos, the park became home to over a dozen Catrinas, dressed up for the special occasion. Catrinas are meant to illustrate that class differences don\u2019t transcend death \u2013 or perhaps they do? The painting is loaded with symbolism; studying it is a rewarding look at Mexican art and culture. The Alameda also had a huge display of mobile alibrijes. We viewed them during the day and returned at night for the planned parade. That was somewhat of a bust \u2013 90% of the alibrijes never got going, but it was fun nevertheless.<\/p>\n

The Ofrendas
\n<\/strong>Everywhere we went, we saw ofrendas: tributes to one\u2019s past. If you\u2019ve seen Coco, you know how important heritage and family is in Mexican culture, and the central role of the ofrenda in Dia del los Muertos celebrations. The smallest restaurant, hotel, store, college, performance center, government, – everywhere \u2013has ofrendas of varying size, artistic effort, complexity, and beauty. We didn\u2019t tire of visiting ofrendas!<\/p>\n

Coyocan
\n\"\"<\/strong>We went to the suburb of Coyocan to see an exhibit and fiesta at the Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares, as well as the home of Emilio Fern\u00e1ndez. Coyocan used to be a sleepy suburb, known as the home of Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and other famous Mexicans, as well as Leon Trotsky. It\u2019s become a bit touristy, and the market has moved out of the village square into a market building. Nevertheless, it\u2019s an enjoyable place to spend a day.<\/p>\n

Casa Fortaleza de Emilio Fernandez – Emilio Fern\u00e1ndez is Mexico\u2019s most celebrated film director. His home is a tribute to his work and his life, and is open just a few days a year around Dia de los Muertos. His home is pretty hard to find, but again, if you\u2019re interested in Mexican culture and art, visiting this site vale la pena<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Logistics<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hotel Gillow<\/strong> \u2013 For the second time we stayed at our new favorite Mexico City hotel, Hotel Gillow. We had a slight mix-up when we first arrived (at 5:30am), but the manager fixed everything later that day. The location is great, it\u2019s quiet, and the staff are all wonderful.<\/p>\n

The Metro – <\/strong>I \u201clost\u201d my cellphone on a crowded train \u2013 at almost the exact same time that Rick Steves did in Paris. From Rick Steves\u2019 blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Thieves know where the crowds are \u2014 and where the tourists are \u2014 and they are very, very deft at their work. A petite bump and a slight nudge getting off the Metro in Paris and bam \u2014 wallet gone. OK, I admit, it\u2019s my fault\u2026I wasn\u2019t wearing my money belt. And it cost me. I went back to the hotel, referred to the emergency section in the appendix of our Paris guidebook, and set about canceling my credit cards. I lost my driver\u2019s license, two credit cards, and some money.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Luckily, I only lost my phone. I had my tablet, and Susan had her phone, so it was really only an annoyance. I had installed software to remotely lock the phone and called AT&T to disable the SIM card. I changed a few passwords, and we went on enjoying our vacation. I won\u2019t be so careless in the future.<\/p>\n \n

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<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The James Bond 2016 film, Spectre, opens to an enormous Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. The film\u2019s incredibly rich scenery shows Bond strolling through the crowds, escaping exploding buildings, crashing helicopters, emerging completely unscathed (of course!) as he pursues his targets. However, the most amazing aspect of\u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philsego.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}