DAYS AND DAYS AND DAYS that’s what you need here<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe MNDA, former name of MDMA, from here on in referred to as the Anthropology Museum because I’m realizing what a horrible acronym that makes, is the largest and most visited museum in Mexico. It’s in Chapultepec Park, a giant, lovely park to stroll around with lots of other important sites: the Castillo de Chapultepec (a castle on a hilltop with a history museum), a modern art museum, several fountains and monuments, a lake, a zoo (don’t go to zoos!), a Canadian Totem…? LOTS. We meandered through the park on the walk from our hotel so it took about an hour to get there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe also, obvs, were stopping to try every awesome bit of street food we saw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIIII WILLLLL FIND A TREE ALL COVERED WITH MANGO, JUICY MANGO FAT! and well fed…and then cover it all with chili!!!! the best!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nI will also find all the cool root veg chips and cover all THAT biz in chili sauce ALSO! HOORAY FOR MEXICO!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nthis was a spicy meataball at the bottom!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe museum costs 75 pesos to enter (about $4), so one of the highest values in all of museuming considering the quality and quantity of what’s inside (“everyone wants to know what’s insiiiiide”). The only bad thing is they do not let you bring liquids – even water – in, and Mexico City isssss hot. Because “I promised” not to drink what was left (not that much!) from my giant bottle, the security guards let me in with it, and I drank when I was in between rooms and near bathrooms, but I didn’t have nearly enough. After a few hours of rationing when I really could not afford to be rationing, I ran to the cafe at the end of the first floor only to find they had CLOSED FOR THE DAY. I mean, WTF. Guess who else closed for the day? The fancy restaurant! I was like please please I need water I’m literally dying, and they said they could fill my bottle from the tap. Well. If you know anything about traveling to Mexico, not drinking tap water is like rule numero uno. I knew that, and my face conveyed that I knew it to the guy who offered, because he quickly added “the water is filtered from this tap.” And honestly, I didn’t know if filtered meant safe for my weak ass tumnus, but I was going to find out because I needed water. Luckily, I am happy to report I did not get sick. PROCEED WITH VISIT! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, a museum of anthropology is not full of cute dresses that are supes overpriced until they go on sale and you have to root through those overstuffed racks and honestly in the past few years it’s not even worth it anymore; whoever is doing their buying should be working at Free People because the aesthetic is off. ANYWAY, no, anthropology is the scientific study of humans, human behavior, and past and present societies. (The study of (near-) future societies is called Idiocracy by Mike Judge.) The museum is packed with archaeological and anthropological artifacts from Mexico’s pre-Columbian heritage, with lots of Aztec finds. Even if you don’t think you are interested in anthropology, you gotta see the big f-ing thing, okay?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Considering the extent of what we saw on our first day literally fills four years’ worth of college anthro courses (I took one and it was too cold in the hall so I did not learn SHITE), I’m going to just share my highlights from the museum instead of like, leading you through it. There are tons of good highlight guides online if you need guidance for when you are there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Considering my line of work (you can ask if you want), I loved that my visit began with a sign calling humans chumps for trying to feel superior to chimps. I am so going to throw the phrase “nothing but an evidence of anthropocentric arrogance” at some bitches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“No Australopithecus was never fully erect!” “well maybe he was nervous.”<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThe museum is laid out like a big rectangle, with each room opening to the inner courtyard on the inside and having outdoor exhibit extensions on the perimeter. I was grateful for these outdoor sections because no one can yell at you for drinking water outside! It rains! <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\n\nBelow is the Aztec sun stone, maybe the most famous Aztec sculpture. Its complexity has attracted tons of interpretations from scholars but I bet none of them are right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
literally every single bit of it is symbolically important <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\ndoesn’t he look like someone from The Emperor’s New Groove<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nthis is the face I made when I learned this was YET ANOTHER structure for ritual sacrifice<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nthis poor guy’s cold because NONE OF YOU CARVED HIM ANY CLOTHING<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nOkay so when you see stairs leading from the main rooms down into the basement level, you need to follow them (I know it sounds like a trap) because there’s amazing light-sensitive stuff down there, like this mausoleum of the ruler K’inich Janaab’ Pakal (yes it’s a reproduction of the mausoleum — this museum wasn’t built around ROYAL BURIAL GROUNDS — but that’s still cray). This tomb was the subject of ancient astronaut hypotheses because of Erich Von Daniken’s 1968 book Chariots of the Gods? in which he was like ‘the pictures on the sarcophagus show rockets and aliens! the Maya were friends with aliens!” totes credible<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nthis is Pakal’s mortuary mask, made of jade, obviously, as important people in any culture were always buried in jade to protect them…from…death…?<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nIt me! This is the featured headress of Moctezuma II (not a typo although I think Moctezuma is the same as Montezuma??). This is also a replica but THIS one we can be mad about because the original is in Vienna, which is some real wypipo bullshit<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nthis is…a giant head. HEEEEEED. MOOOOOOVE. NOWWWWW.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nThsi is the central courtyard of the museum, a huge totem fountain that was HEAVEN to stand under!! <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSo that was a quick and dirty tour through…the things I took pictures of, so if you are in CDMX, know that you must go and you must devote lots of time to a proper visit. (And let me know what’s on the second floor; we never made it!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After all that learning, we all deserve a delicious reward:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMOAR TACOS! We treated our time in CDMX as any wise person should: as a chance to do the taco cleanse and to do it right. La Pitahaya was on my list because it’s hundo p vegan and had great reviews on trusty old HappyCow. Also, it was a 20 minute walk from our hotel, which is pretty much as close as anything could be in this city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We enjoyed delicious tamales, a special from Mama that day (I’m assuming), and AMAZ tacos. They have six or so taco kinds, so we thought it would be normal to have 3 each, but fork being normal – if you go just get one of each. WHY NOT. They also have INCREDIBLE sounding mains like enchiladas and enfrijoladas, and if we weren’t committed to our cleanse\/if we had more time, I would have been back for all of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
a very good tamale. Also, a ginger kombucha!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nliterally INCROYABLE tacos and they do PINK TORTILLASSSSS <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWe got a ‘carnitas michoacanas’ which is meaty mushrooms, with raw nopales; we got my FAVE the scrambled tofu with black salt and guacamole (I mean, a perfect food circle); and I think the masala curry potatoes? Just get them all. Man alive, these were great. I definitely recommend a visit. And the staff was SO super amazing and nice and I wanted to be friends and not only because they gave me tacos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The last thing I’ll share from this neighborhood is our visit to a pulcheria, a thing we had to do because culture. Pulcherias sell pulque, a Mexican alcoholic drink made by fermenting sap from the maguey plant, which is a kind of large agave plant. Cool! I thought. It’s like an agave nectar drink! No, pulque is like the initial, unfiltered substance that can be distilled into mezcal (which can be tequila). I was told this was like kombucha, like a low-alcohol drink that I’d be fine with, which was FALSE. The kind we tried at L’Nuclear Pulcheria (about 20 minutes from our hotel) (I mean honestly the name should have given it away) was 20% alcohol! That’s like A LOT. It wasn’t an unpleasant drink though, which is a huge thing considering it’s famous for its OKRA-LIKE VISCOSITY. It really is…quite viscous. But if you can consume alcohol, it’s worth a try. I didn’t hate it but I will be sticking with kombucha. <\/p>\n\n\n\nit’s like a gumbo but cold and for drinking <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nSo that’s our first look into Mexico City! Next time – Coyoac\u00e1n! And more tacos of course. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
“Hey, do you guys know a good place where I can get Mexican food?…Oh, Mexico, duhh!” Just like Judge Gen on The Good Place, my love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-d1"],"yoast_head":"\n
Traveling While Vegan in: Mexico City (Part 1: Hipodromo, La Condesa, Roma) - Laughfrodisiac<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n