Mexico City, Week 4, part 1

This was a big week mostly due to festivities leading up to El Día de Los Muertos.

We had a “cooking class” at school and our task was to make hot chocolate to be served with store-bought pan del muerdo, a popular sweet bread served for the holiday. 

Ofrendas, or offerings in the courtyard of my school.  Many of these have patterns designed from colored sawdust on the ground.  Marigolds are universally popular and many of the ofrendas have favorite foods of their deceased loved ones.

There is a giant park near my apartment with some clever landscaping. I was there at 2:07.

I visited the Castillo de Chapultepec on Thursday with a friend from class.  There is a lovely garden overlooking the city.

In Chapultepec park, we stumbled on an army band playing to commemorate the holiday. 

A Juan O’Gorman mural in the palace. 

The facade of the Castillo. 

I went to a big parade last weekend and the people watching was perhaps better than the actual parade. Adults and children alike were all painted up for the day of the dead. 

Muy lindo!

Diablo!

It was a crowded parade...this photo is about as good as I could get four deep in the crowd. 

My last photo before I got completely drenched in a late afternoon thunderstorm