October 2024

Where I’ve been: Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula, California, grateful for every minute of silence and isolation.

I came to revise a novel, one I’m not ready to talk about, except to say it’s set at the Jersey shore circa 1987. Oh, and partially set in NYC. My old stomping grounds.

Thank you to Dorland for that elusive and cherished “room of one’s own.” #DMAC#dorland#writerslife#writing#amwritingfiction

We spent a day roaming among the mighty pyramids of Teotihuacán, built around the first and second centuries and sacked and burned (possibly from in-fighting) circa 650 to 750 AD. Although the name Teotihuacán was given to the city by the Aztecs—it means the “place of those who have the road to the gods”—the civilization predates the Aztecs by many centuries. (Treasures from Teotihuacán are housed in the great Anthropology Museum.)

Speaking of museums: Mexico City’s Folk Art Museum (Museo de Arte Popular) boasts an impressive, encyclopedic collection of pottery, textiles, papier-mâché, and furniture from every state in the country. Side note: the museum shop is fabulous; the best in town in my opinion.

The Mural Museum of Diego Rivera contains only one mural, but it’s “Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in the Alameda,” Diego Rivera’s most famous, and worth the trip. At the end of a long day—can’t remember which one —we popped into Chapultepec Castle, now the national history museum.

Finally, we attended mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Some 20 million pilgrims visit the Basilica every year, making it the world’s most visited Marian shrine.

Viva Mexico!

We visited Casa Azul, the blue house of painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) in the municipality of Coyoacan, Mexico City. The house is now a museum dedicated to Frida’s life and work, filled with art supplies, favorite objects, photographs and dresses. Museum materials describe Casa Azul as Frida’s “private universe,” which you feel the minute you enter. The space is a sanctuary—specific and personal to the woman whose likeness is arguably one of the most recognizable in modern times, whose paintings are unforgettable.

Close by Casa Azul is the home of Leon Trotsky, personal friend of Frida and Diego Rivera, who was exiled by Stalin from Russia, moved with his wife Natalia to Mexico City, and ultimately assassinated in his study in Coyoacan. After an informative stop there, we lunched on tostadas at the local market and snapped photos of the coyote fountain in the town square. Coyoacan in Nahuatl translates as “place of coyotes.”

In September, I took my first visit to Mexico City and wow! The museums, the food, the people, the history, the cultural pride. I love a place that closes Sunday streets for cyclists and pedestrians, offers salsa classes in its verdant parks, and grows papayas the size of footballs.

I went with Tim and our travel buddy Susan, logging upwards of 17,000 steps a day as we trekked through the Zocalo or main plaza with its spectacular cathedral; the Palacio de Belles Artes, with monumental murals by Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco; the impressive and educational Anthropology and Templo Mayor museums; the tile stores and neighborhood streets.

We also explored the pyramids at Teotihuacan, the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the famous blue house of Frida Kahlo, Casa Azul. Onward!