Images from Tepoztlan, a small village outside Mexico City

From top to bottom:

Shadows at the museum housing a collection of pre-hispanic art;

an old church (which when the locals walk past it, they turn to the open door, bow their heads and cross themselves before walking on);

a most wonderful restaurant called Botuan we found down a side-street run by super attentive and fantastic Spanish chefs (the meal featured here is Vietnamese Spring Rolls in a spicy tangy peanut sauce, not very Mexican, but it was vegan and exquisite);

the mountains in the background surrounding the town; the pyramid built on top of the mountains for the god Tepoztecatl.

Images from Tepoztlan, a small village outside of Mexico City

From top to bottom:

Arched doorway of the entrance to the old convent, decorated with an elaborate seed mural;

Details from the seed mural;

Images from the old convent and church

From the Sculpture Garden at the Museum of Modern Art, Chapultepec, Mexico City

From top to bottom:

The dove of peace by Armando Ortega Orozco;

The End or The Fallen Man by Armando Ortega Orozco;

La Familia by Black Kyle Frank;


For the last three images I don't have the names of the sculptor, sorry.

Woman with Raised Head, Seated Woman and not sure of title.

Visiting La Casa Azul, Frida's Blue House (or the Frida Kahlo Museum)

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house but if you've seen the film Frida, you'll feel like you've been there before. It has a special atmosphere.

We also visited the adjoining houses where Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera lived and worked, and saw numerous Diego Rivera murals. However, very few of Frida's paintings seem to be in galleries in Mexico. We went to loads of galleries and only saw one of her works, the painting The Two Fridas at the Museum of Modern Art in Chapultepec, Mexico City. I'm not sure where most of her paintings are, but we were lucky enough to catch the Tate Modern exhibition of her work last year and visiting Mexico and seeing Mexican culture and other Mexican artists' work helps to put it into context and see where she got her inspiration from.

Some images from Mexico City

From top to bottom:

Sunday afternoon in the Zocalo (people of all ages and backgrounds watch or take part in a peaceful protest against the government's violent repression of demonstrations in Oaxaca);

A woman walks her pet duck down the street; one of many colourful juice bars;

licuados (smoothies made with water and fresh fruit juice) of guanabana and fresa (guanabana and strawberry respectively), and by the way, in Mexico, potatoes are called Papas (rather than patatas) so that's chips that's on sale there, not Dads, it was a little perplexing at first, I can tell you;

a pointsettia tree (they grow everywhere in Mexico!);

a poinsettia bloom and maroon truck on a Coyoacan suburb street corner; skeletons on sale outside the Frida Kahlo museum (not real ones I should add), and I've never seen so many old-style VW Beetles in any other country as I did in Mexico, there are even cute green ones that are Taxis in Mexico City;

a street in the suburb of San Angel.

Caesar, grief and life

A week ago today, we lost our Caesar to kidney failure. It's been an emotional week, and continues to be emotional. Grief does strange and unexpected things to you.

Yesterday, Ellen left a comment on my other blog, sending her sympathy. She also said that Caesar was "probably lining up another kitty to send your way!"

A few hours later, I received an email via a friend of a friend of a friend who has two cats that need rehoming. A black and white female and a ginger tom. When I opened the photo of the black and white female (Lotty), I felt as if I'd been shocked with a cotton ball of lightning, it felt soft yet hard at the same time and I felt it in my entire body. Just take a look at the photos below. The top one is Caesar, the bottom one is Lotty. It felt like something momentous was happening, and the whole day I went around with a huge lump in my chest. When I talked to Paul though, he gently told me that he thought it would be too soon to take on two new cats, especially one that looked so much like Caesar. And he's probably right. But we're going to leave it to fate. If they still haven't found homes after we come back from our holiday in February, then we might just be meant to be in each other's lives after all.

Happy New Year

A day in Southend with Vicky

our xmas lights