Reforma

Mexico City is great.  Today I saw the Eiffel Tower, the Sphinx, the Taj Majal, and the Statue of Liberty.  All without leaving the city.  Yesterday when I went downtown to the Old Christ Church for the Friday service and lunch I saw something that intrigued me, and I thought, I have to return to have a closer look. 

But first about Reforma.  Properly, it is Paseo de la Reforma.  Paseo used in this way doesn't quite translate into English -- un paseo  is a walk, so Paseo de la Reforma means something like "Promenade of the Reform."  It is a wide boulevard that streches the length of the city from East to West.  There are three lanes in each direction, plus a kind of access road on the side in each direction, and a median in each direction.  The medians are just as wide as the 3 lanes of road, and each median is planted with flowers and shurbs.  The whole is shaded by palm trees and other sub-tropical vegetation.  This is the month when the jacarandas are in bloom, and they are a quite stunning vivid shade of lavender.  Seen against the backdrop of the dark greenery, they are quite dramatic. 

All along the medians of Reforma are all kinds of statuary and sculpture.  Some are unique works of modern art -- some serious, some funy and tongue-in-cheek.  For example, I saw and oversized sofa and easy chair made of metal -- I'm not sure if anyone sits on them.  There was also a huge set of playing cards.  But there are also abstract sculptures as well.  But most important, to the Mexicans, anyway, are the many stuatues of local heroes.  The most significant of them are at the ejes, which are the traffic circles at the intersection of the most important Avenues. 

Above is the Angel of Independence, who watches over the city from one of those important intersections.  Everybody calls her el ángel --  I don't know why the angel is a woman, but that seems to be commonly accepted.  She is the symbol of the city in the way the Satue of Liberty is the symbol of New York City or the Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris.  Below are a couple of other pictures to show the area, which is a busy commercial district of hotels, offices, and government buildings. 

In the large picture just above you can barely make out the lavender of the jacarandas against the green of the other trees. 

Reforma is a 'public space' in the very best sense of that word.  There was a kind of craft fair set up along the median for a couple of blocks.  In addition to the typical stuff that might be found at any craft fair anywhere -- beaded jewelry, handmade soaps, dolls, etc -- there were also the locally made embroidered blouses, silver jewelry, and these startling mosaic pictures made with very thin and fine colored stems of plants

It was also along Reforma that I found the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, The Statue of Liberty and the Sphinx.  These sculpures are on temporary exhibit, put together by various artists, and all using recycled water bottles!