Christmas in Mexico December 23, 2009 A fun whirlwind tour of Mexico City and environs. View fullsize Surprised and impressed by the bulkhead row on the way to Tokyo. View fullsize At the Narita airport, a store devoted to Origami offers lessons to waiting travelers. View fullsize Real Japanese sushi! View fullsize An assortment of mochi for the road, questionably titled "mochi competition" on the box. View fullsize The next morning in Toronto, finally riding the express moving sidewalk! Look as the windows zoom by! View fullsize Ah! After 11,300 miles of flying, we finally make it to Mexico and are greeted by tasty homemade sandwiches! View fullsize This grey winter sky loomed over for must of our trip, but it remained a nice balance between warm and cool anyway. View fullsize Mum and Dad's apartment, all dressed up for Christmas: an abundance of poinsettias. View fullsize One such plant. View fullsize One of the traditional Mexican ornaments hanging from their pine-less Christmas tree. View fullsize Deliciously appetizing fresh breads from the neighborhood's French bakery. View fullsize But alas, we left with four birthday pastries instead. View fullsize Fresh Mexican cheese, wrapped up like balls of twine! View fullsize The fruit and vegetables store has its festive piñatas up for Christmas. View fullsize This store specializes in piñata stuffings. A whole store of goodies for filling the whack-a-moles! View fullsize Posing with the pastries, piñatas and parent. View fullsize A Rudolph car! View fullsize Mum, inspecting her apartment. View fullsize The Christmasized apartment and the money earner after a hard day's work. View fullsize Sharing a laugh over a Pepper picture. View fullsize Yay! A giant grilled cheese! View fullsize Ah! Ooh! Fireworks -- what a view! View fullsize Opening the first Advent Calendar door of his life! Deprived boy. View fullsize Fresh and extremely flaky croissants from the French bakery. Melt-in-your-mouth perfection. View fullsize Many miles of Mexican countryside while driving 3 hours to see the winter home of the Monarch Butterflies. View fullsize Hillside farmlands that look like they'll slide off. View fullsize At the base of the hike up the last bit of the mountain -- not tired yet! View fullsize Vendors selling crafts of all varieties lined the walkway. Tourist trap! View fullsize Mid-way up and already pooped! View fullsize Kids, what did we say? Don't play with your walking sticks! View fullsize Taking a break, to huff and puff while seated. View fullsize Finally at the altitude of the butterflies. Each cluster that look likes dead leaves are hundreds of resting monarchs. View fullsize Although most were up in the trees, this monarch was at eye level. View fullsize Our guide, who probably hikes the mountain twice a day. View fullsize Clinging on for dear life. View fullsize Mum stares down two butterflies who are just trying to rest. View fullsize Waiting for the sun to come out, so the butterflies will start to flutter. View fullsize Another close-up of one guy kind enough to stay near the ground. View fullsize Many tall trees, all decked with sleeping butterflies. View fullsize After a while, our necks were in pain from looking up. View fullsize Even though you can't tell, those are happy butterflies celebrating the sun's emergence. View fullsize Made it back down, all in three pieces. View fullsize Stopping to look at -- and succumbing to the evil forces of -- more baskets! View fullsize A fruit stand at the side of the road, from which we bought 4 kg of mandarinas. View fullsize A holiday piñata, being taken home for the first time. View fullsize A delicious assortment of mochi, straight from Narita (via Toronto). View fullsize A real Kodak Moment: looking through the photos from the butterfly expedition. View fullsize Dinner at a local restaurant: cactus!!! View fullsize Enjoying a delicious dinner, despite a slightly distracting backdrop! View fullsize Posing with my huge lump of pasta! And my father. View fullsize A little park near the apartment was all decked up for Christmas, courtesy of Coca Cola. View fullsize A dog walker and his remarkably well-behaved underlings. View fullsize Really psyched to be adding a new subway system to my portfolio! View fullsize Our resident train expert explains the route of the day. View fullsize The Zócalo's Christmas decorations were prominently displayed. The giant ice rink was up and running, too. View fullsize Diego Rivera's famous mural depicting the entirety of Mexico's history. View fullsize Mum's only been here 98 times in the past 3 years. View fullsize The National Palace's minimalist Christmas decorations. View fullsize Its fountain in the mid-day sun. View fullsize A tastefully-decorated tree (complete with spiked crown) celebrating the centennial and bicentennial. View fullsize Help, help, he's being swallowed by a giant cactus-like organism. View fullsize No goofball in this family. View fullsize More crowds visit the city's Metropolitan Cathedral on this hopping Sunday afternoon. View fullsize Is it just me, or is this room spinning a bit? View fullsize A traditional street performance? View fullsize A pro street-chalker. View fullsize Which way to the entrance? View fullsize A pit-stop at the Spanish Cultural Centre. (Yes, Spanish, not Mexican.) View fullsize Holy Smokes! Haagen-Dazs! View fullsize An awesome sculpture exhibit by Brit Antony Gormley. View fullsize Guess who? View fullsize Tee hee! View fullsize Blowing bubbles? View fullsize So cool. Pixelated steel. View fullsize The museum's beautiful courtyard. View fullsize About to tumble off the balcony. View fullsize Part of another exhibit incorporating car parts into funky art. View fullsize Exhibit A: Christmas tree on car roof. View fullsize Exhibit B: Christmas tree on car roof! View fullsize The famous blue-tiled building. View fullsize A crowded Sunday afternoon? Not at all! View fullsize On the count of 3 -- charge the enemy! View fullsize Taking a quick nap in front of the Palacio de Bellas Artes. View fullsize Deep fried food? Buy yours here! View fullsize Riding home after an exhausting day of walking. View fullsize Using her trusty verb conjugating cheat-sheet to write a note to the cleaning lady. View fullsize The neighborhood's clock tower, also its symbol on the metro map. View fullsize A group self-portrait. Sad looking souls we are. View fullsize Another trip to the temples for mum! Ahh! View fullsize At the bottom: smiles and sweaters still on. View fullsize Too steep for some! View fullsize Admiring the view from the half-way point. Must we continue? View fullsize So steep it vanishes from view. View fullsize King of the World! Just have to dethrone that couple. View fullsize Can't believe they made it all the way up. But, this is nothing compared to the butterfly hike! View fullsize Enjoying the peace of being above it all. Above all the hawkers, that is. View fullsize And boom, we've transported from the Temple of the Sun (background) to the Temple of the Moon. Magic! View fullsize Posing with the top portion of the Moon, which is off-limits to climbers. View fullsize A very telling picture. The steps are the height of his mid-shins! View fullsize Asparagus. View fullsize The city is expanding up the sides of the mountain peaks. View fullsize Yummy yum yum! A home-made gorilla cheese sandwich. Sandwich-maker perfect! View fullsize Pinocchio's friends from South of the Border. View fullsize No limit to the colors at the Ciudadela craft market. View fullsize Welcoming the newest member of our family by giving him a birds-eye tour of the market. View fullsize Many traditional Christmas ornaments. Recognize them from the apartment? View fullsize Funky pewter cacti! View fullsize Nanaimo Bars!?! View fullsize Cheers! A real Middle-Eastern dinner! View fullsize Enough Middle Eastern food to feed a small Middle Eastern army. View fullsize The giant tree of lights in the center of The Reforma. Street celebrations abound! View fullsize Ooh. Aah. Look at all the lights! View fullsize A neighbor's wrinkly orange tree. View fullsize Hello. I see you. View fullsize My cactus leaves, at a weekly traveling market. View fullsize Oh my. Why did we just buy half a kilo of cookies? View fullsize Prickly pears?? Whatever the are, they require gloves to handle! View fullsize Two kinds of green tomatoes -- each with a thin organic wrapper. View fullsize A food court lunch results in some pretty decent pasta. Huh! View fullsize Uh oh! Way too much ice cream. Good thing it was delicious. View fullsize Home-made sweet potato fries. Couldn't be tastier. View fullsize Having lapped up the last of a Mum's Cooking. View fullsize Using her gym-enhanced arms to squeeze every drop of juice from the remaining 3.9 kg of mandarinas. View fullsize A queue to get into the pastry shop! View fullsize Mum's super-neat globe flower. View fullsize Why, our annual guest is at the door. It must be the 24th! View fullsize Really psyched about his McD airport lunch. View fullsize Bummed about being stuck with fresh French pastries.
