July 17 - Mexico City

We set out west towards Chapultepec park, a huge public area with several museums, a free zoo, and endless sidewalk vendors mostly selling things you would find in a dollar store. We missed the turn to the main entrance near the Ninos Heroes, so we had to walk for what seemed like miles around the southern border, which was entirely fenced, until we found an entrance. Eventually entering the park, we went to the world famous Museum of Anthropology. It was huge, documenting the history of Mexico, and contained tons of prehispanic pottery, building fragments, and art. A museum lover could easily spend an entire day here and still not see everything.

The cafe served up lunch, where I unfortunately confused the word 'pata' with the word 'papa,' or potato. Much to our amusement, the waitress came back after putting in our order for 'tostadas de pata' to ask if we really wanted to eat "the foot of a cow." I agreed with her that "chicken is better." Our pocket dictionary lacks many of the Mexico-specific food words, of which there are many. Generally the words we don't recognize end up being cow or swine related, which we wouldn't eat anyway, but it would be nice to have the words... especially if chicken and cheese are going by some kind of code names.

After the muesum, we returned to the hostel in the light rain (which happens daily in the afternoon or evening in the late summer throughout most of Mexico). After resting for a few hours, we finally made it to the Empanadas Argentinas joint where I found vegetables. I had delicious empanadas of spinach and mushrooms with cheese. It was a very delicious meal - unfortunately Frank felt sick afterward, but we're hoping it was something else because this place was yummy!