MUJAM, Where I Can Play With All the Antique Barbies I Want!

MUJAM

Museo Jugete Antiguo

(Antique Toy Museum)

MUJAM website link

MUJAM was one of my favorite places to go in Mexico City. It was right near where I lived and I loved walking there whenever I was bored. Inside the museum there are all kinds of antique toys, things I had never seen before or knew about. I wanted to post this blog since I have some really great photographs of the museum, inside and out. I have been to dozens of museums in DF and MUJAM is the first museum that I recommend to friends who come to Mexico City.

On the outside of the building, there is a huge mural with all kinds of artwork. It is some of the best graffiti  and mural artwork I have seen, and really stands out. The artists are John Grider and Mike Fitzsimmons from Minneapolis in the US. Both artists work together at Minneapolis' Broken Crow, and have done murals all over the world and have done a lot of international artwork. The colors are bright and the characters are so creative. It is something that really grabs your attention when you pass it. 

 Photo by Chanfle Cerqueda

 Photo by Alyssa Denne 

 Photo by Alyssa Denne 

 Photo by Alyssa Denne 

Photo by Alyssa Denne 

Inside the museum, you can find antique toys from the 19th and 20th centuries. Roberto Shimizu is the founder and owner of MUJAM, a well known Mexican artist and architect, of Japanese descent. He is the founder of MUJAM, and over a million pieces that are a part of the collection, are from his own personal collection of antique toys. The toys inside the museum are from all over the world. Many of the toys were collected by Shimizu from the past 50 years. Shimizu has been collecting toys since his childhood, when his parents sold toys and food that were brought in from Japan. He collected many from other antique stores and as gifts.

MUJAM also hosts artwork and art shows from other artists in Mexico and from all over the world. I also went to a concert that was held there after the museum was closed. MUJAM also participates in Mexico City's 'Noche de Museos' (Night of Museums), where many museums around the city open their doors after hours and allow visitors inside, and often have an event. Admission to the museums for Noche de Museos is free as well. Here is a link to the blog of Noche de Museos.

  Photo by Alyssa Denne

  Photo by Alyssa Denne

  Photo by Alyssa Denne

 Photo by Alyssa Denne

 Photo by Alyssa Denne

One of my favorite parts of the museum, were the barbies. The collection of Barbies in MUJAM is massive and as a Barbie fan, when I was a kid, it was really awesome to see all the different kinds they had. There were alien Barbies, zombies, mermaids, pretty much anything you could think of. If I would have know they had dead zombie Barbies, I would have been playing with those when I was younger, not the original Barbie and Ken. Besides the Barbie collection, I loved all of the Star Wars collections! 

 Photo by Alyssa Denne 

 Photo by Alyssa Denne

Photo by Alyssa Denne 

MUJAM is a great place to visit if you are visiting DF and even if you live there and have not been there yet, you definitely need to make a trip. They have all kinds of events and showings, and even if you are just going to look at the toys, you will find something you never thought you would find. 

Here is a video of MUJAM that was directed and produced by Alba Mora Roca. This video is about MUJAM and the owner Roberto Shimizu.

This is a Swimming Pool?!

I have always been accustomed to swimming in pools during the long, hot and humid summers that I am used to having in Nebraska. Living in Akumal wasy amazing because the beaches were right at my front door. Living in Mexico City was not bad either because it only takes 4 hours to get to the beaches of Acapulco. But, sometimes you just want to drive down the street to a pool, take off your clothes and lay in the sun all day. I have never had a summer without the pool, so this summer was a little different.

I was searching all over Mexico City and Cuernavaca for a decent and nice place to swim. Apparently, in Mexico it is considered 'naco' to go swimming at a public swimming pool, but in the US it's totally normal. So a friend and I decided one day to drive about one hour to a place with pools, we had never been there before and had no idea what it was going to be like. For those of you who know this place, I just want to say before hand, that we had NO idea what this place was like and nobody told us what it would be like or warned us! The drive there was awesome, but when we got to the pool, I started to become suspicious. The name of the place we went to was called Palo Bolero.

When we got inside the door there were several pools, it looked pretty normal from far away but when we kept walking we realized it wasn't. So many people still had on their socks, shorts, tshirts, hats. There were not a lot of people in actual swim suits. It reminded me of when I was a lifeguard at a waterpark in Omaha and there would be a company party every year which the lifeguards would dread since people would swim in their clothes, babies in their diapers and nastier things. Look, if you are in your own pool, or in a lake, swim in whatever you want, hell swim naked! But if you are going to a public pool, what do you not understand about the word 'public'! If you are going swimming, the first that that comes to mind should be a swim suit!

The pools were not well maintained at all and the paint was chipping off everywhere. Ther was a slide that you had to climb a few floors to get on, but it was no longer running. Basically, this place looked like it would have been amazing when it opened, but then it shut down and people just came back and reopened it on their own. The pools I always went to at home were definitely not this type. They were a lot nicer and people actually used swim suits.

There were some stairs there that went down to where a stream used to run and there was a pool of water with a waterfall. That was definitely the best part there. The water was cool and probably cleaner than the water in the pools. There was a place where you could swim back into a cave and swim out. It definitely made up for the gross pools that were up on the hill.

When we were finished swimming and ready to leave we went back to the main area where the pools were. We laid out for a while in the sun and then I had the urge to jump off the diving board. This was a huge mistake. I went to the high dive and the kids that were jumping off this thing were doing whatever the hell they wanted. They were jumping at the same time, landing on top of eachother and all kinds of other crazy and dangerous stuff. As a former lifeguard, it was really pissing me off, but I couldn't do anything about it so I just watched and waited for these kids to finish up so I could jump. One thing never occured to me before I dove, to check how deep the pool was. Usually if there is a high dive, the pools have regulations for how deep the pool has to be for the diving board. Well apparently not in Mexico. So I dove into the pool and right after I hit the water the first thing I heard was the sound of my skull cracking on the cement of the bottom of the pool. Needless to say, I came up from the pool pretty disoriented and I was freaking out. I had heard all of those horror stories about people getting concussions and hitting their heads and thinking they were okay. Later they would go to sleep and never wake up because it was a lot more serious than what they thought. So thanks to mass media, I was genuinely freaking out and worried that I had done a lot of damage. Luckily, I was okay, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here telling you about it.

However, there is one place that I can recommend to go swimming. Las Estacas is about an hour and a half away from Cuernavaca and it is beautiful. There is an area for outdoor camping, the park is beautiful and very eco-friendly. There are also several pools there for kids that have jungle gyms in them and they are very clean and looked really fun! You can rent canoes, rafts, snorkeling gear and other things for the water. The water is crystal clear and beautiful. Some people do diving trips there as well. There are lifeguards there and several places along the river where you can swing out over the water and jump in. You can bring in food, drinks and snacks and enjoy the sun, weather and company of whoever you are with. It was one of the best places I have been to in that area of Mexico. Here is a link to the website for Las Estacas in Morelos.

Here are some photos from my trip to Las Estacas.

These photos were taken with my Ipod Touch using the Instagram application.

So I just have a little advice for people traveling in Mexico and want to swim or lay out and are not by the beach : Do NOT go to Palo Bolero, just don't. There are plenty of nicer places to go and places that are more clean where people actually wear swim suits. I definitely learned that sometimes being spontaneous is not always the best and I should look into some things before I go out and do it, that way I won't be so disappointed. Oh, and before you jump into a pool, make sure you know how deep it is.

I am Back Online Putitas!

 I am back ladies and gentlemen, muchachitos y muchachitas! Unfortunately, I am back in the good ol' U.S. of A, and it's really not that good. You mexicans really got to this gringas heart.

I have been gone from DF for one week and one day, and I am heartbroken and devastated. I have got to get back soon, otherwise I am in danger of becoming too 'gringa'. There are a lot of things I miss about Mexico, DF and Roma, mi colonia.

When I first got on the place to go home, the one thing I realized was how rude Americans on the plane were, and most of them happened to be from the south. I was stuck between two huge Army guys, their arms were the size of my head, I felt so small. I kept falling asleep on the plane and waking up everytime my head bumped into one of the guys giant arms. And of course these guys were 'war buddies' so they were chit chatting across me the whole way and taking up the seat space with their abnormally huge, torpedo sized arms.

One of my favorite parts about making the journey to and from Mexico, is customs. The officers who check my passport are always assholes and ask about a thousand questions as to why I was in Mexico and with who. I just keep it simple now and tell them that I was in Mexico living with my fiance, and they always seem baffled that a white girl like me would want to be living in Mexico with a Mexican, which always makes me laugh.

I am not sure what it is, but people who work in airports have to be some of the rudest people I have ever met. They really are a different breed of people. And traveling without an Ipod makes it even worse! There was a woman behind me on my second flight who would not stop complaining about everything! And her poor husband, he had to sit there and listen to her. Then, at that moment, I imagined my and my boyfriend when we are older and hoped that we would never be like that!!! It was dreadful listening to this old woman complain.. 'ugh I hate the taste of this coffee!' 'I hate how the air comes out in the plane from the vents!' 'I hate how small these chairs are!' 'I hate this I hate that, fix this, fix that!' OH MY GOD! I went insane! I wanted to turn around and wring her neck and tell her 'Woman, you are on a plane not Starbucks, obviously the coffee is going to suck! The seats are small because  you are on a damn airplane! How can you complain about AIR!' I was missing my Mexicans right away.

There are a lot of things I miss about Mexico. I miss the tortas, tacos, juice stands, street food, esquite and pozole. I miss Colonia Roma and the market, the cafes, restaurants, people, shops and parks there. I think I definitely lived in one of the best and most beautiful areas of Mexico City. I miss the museums, Lagunilla, Chapultepec, Condessa, Zocalo, and Coyoacan. I miss the drives to Cuernavaca and Tepoztlan. I miss random, creepy, old me on the street whispering disgusting things to me. I miss the performers at the stop lights, even the ones who were mimes and didn't even wash the cars but pretended to. I can say, I even miss people trying to put their fingers in my ass on the Metro!

Zocalo in DF

by Alyssa Denne

 Tepoztlan
By Chanfle Cerqueda

Cuernavaca

By Alyssa Denne

Here comes the cheesy part, most of all I miss Chanfle :)

I had a going away party with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. We had a small Akumal Reunion with the people I worked with during my internship in Akumal one year ago. We had a really good time and things got kind of crazy. We ended up taking friends back to our apartment in Roma and drinking and enjoying eachothers company until about 6am. The bad idea was, I had to wake up at 9am to leave for my flight. I told myself I would not go to the airport hungover, and I didn't! I ended up going drunk still!!! But we had a really amazing night and I can't wait to see my friends again when I return.

Here are some photos from my last night there with friends

Mexico, this gringa isn't going anywhere! I am coming back but until then, I will be posting about all of my experiences from the past couple of months.

Until next time,

Your Pinche Gringa Loca

Follow me on Twitter @LaTortuturtle

Add me on Facebook at Pepe 'La Tortuga' Perez

Hooker Hotels

Look, I am not rich, but I love to travel. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the luxuries of an expensive and fancy hotel... sometimes you have to sacrifice the luxuries of a normal, cozy hotel. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your dignity and pride.. and stay in a hooker hotel.

One trip I took to Morelia, Michoacan turned out to be a lot more interesting than I expected. We stayed there for the weekend and went to see the Monarch Butterfiles that migrate to the forests in Michoacan during the winter. I am the kind of person that would rather spend my money on the road than on an expensive hotel just to sleep in, I would almost prefer to just sleep in the car and wake up and drive!

So, the first night we were in Morelia, we stayed at a decent hotel, and I thought that was a hooker hotel. Right next door was a Sex Cinema and there were hookers all over the street that the hotel was on, and plenty of sex shops. Don't get me wrong, I don't have problems with hookers, sex, or porn, but it's different sleeping in a bed someone just had sex in. So the first night, the hotel we stayed in was cheap and normal, and was definitely not a hooker hotel. I realized this after seeing the hotel we were about to stay in the next night.

The second night in Morelia, we wanted an even cheaper hotel so we could save money for the plans we had for the following day. We checked a lot of hostels, hotels and other places. Surprisingly, the hostels in Mexico are fairly expensive compared to hostels in other countries. The hostels here are 'fashionable' and 'cool', and besides that it is an awesome way to meet other travelers and make friends, but that was not what we were looking for that particular night. We wanted extremely cheap, and that is just what we got.

So we arrived at a hotel, not far from were we stayed before. We went inside and it looked clean and nice, and cheap. We asked how much it was for one night... it was 90 pesos, for 2 people. We looked at eachother astonished and could not believe it was true, 90 PESOS A NIGHT? You have to be kidding me right, I have never stayed anywhere so cheap. 90 pesos a person, okay but for both, no way. We should have known right then and there what we were getting ourselves into. So, we asked the receptionist, who was a creepy old man with dark eyes and a hunched back, if the 90 pesos was for one whole night of just one hour. He looked at us like we were ridiculous, but we just could not believe it was so cheap. At this point it was obvious the hotel was for one night stands and for prostitutes and their clients.

There was one problem, all the rooms were full. So he told us to come back in one hour and he would save the room for us. Really he mean, just wait until this couple is done fucking, and you can have the room. We decided it was okay, but I had to be sure, so I checked the rooms in the front first. The rooms were big and had nothing in them but a bed, but they didn't look dirty or diseased so I said okay. We went our for some drinks in downtown in Morelia and waited a while to go back to the hotel.

When we finally arrived back, I saw a tranny walk out from the rooms in the back and a scared looking older man. Look, I like trannys, I have nothing against them at all but sometimes enough is too much and this guy was just horrible. This guy that paid for him must have been desperate, I mean I would rather just be celebit than go anywhere near this hooker. My first thought in that moment was, 'please, Please, PLEASE don't let this be the couple that was in the room we are getting!!!'.

Well, guess who has good luck, NOT ME! The guy at the front desk ran to the back where the couple came out of and was back there about 2 minutes maximum. He came running back out and gave us the keys. Walking back to the room felt like it took decades, I knew that the room was the same as the hooker and I did not want to go.While we were walking down the hall, it was filled with the sound of, no not music, sex. I mean, people were literally screwing in every room there!

We got to the room, and it was obvious that the desk guy had not changed the sheets. He simply put them back gently on the bed and turned on the shower in the bathroom to rinse away whatever was there before, and I don't want to image it. The room was not dirty, the bed was very small but the bathroom was aweful. The room smelled musty an sweaty, like dirty sex. We knew it was the room that the tranny had just came out of.

Across the hall from us was a 3 some going on, two prostitutes and a guy. We were forced to listen to them while we got ready to go out for the rest of the night. And, to be honest, we wanted to listen I mean, come on who wouldn't be curious, it's funny!

Later on that night, we left and went out. Chanfle had forgotten something in the room so I waited outside the hotel on the street, bad idea. Everyone that walked by gave me the dirtiest looks and laughed and whispered things in Spanish as they walked by. I have never been mistaken for a hooker in my life, so this was a first. I suppose if you are standing in front of a prostitute hotel alone, what are people supposed to think. If I was them, I would be wondering what a gringa hooker was doing in Mexico.

I saw the two girls and one guy in the room across from us leave, and they made me want to barf! I mean I have seen the hookers in Mexico City and some of them could be models, they are gorgeous. In Morelia, it was the opposite not one was pretty, or had a nice body, I mean they were all horrible. So if you are looking for a night with a prostitute, do not head to Morelia!

The rest of the night all I could think about was how I was not going to sleep on that bed, and that is exactly what I did. I slept on my jacket in the freezing night with no blankets on, and that is the way I liked it. After a night out until 3am, I usually don't get up so early, but when I woke up at 7am that morning, I got out the bed as fast as I could and got out of there.

It was one of the weirdest and funniest experiences I have had in Mexico, it almost makes me want to go stay in more hooker hotels so I can write about them and my experiences there. You should try it too!

XOXO,

A Curious and Lost Gringa
Follow me on Twitter @LaTortuturtle
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Pumas Campeon!

As most of us already know, the Pumas won the Mexican Title this past Sunday. I have not been a Pumas fan for very long, but I will tell you that they have grown on me and they are my favorite futbol team from Mexico, and overall. I have watched all of their games this season leading up to the Finals and they blew me away. 

For those of you who don't know, the Pumas are a professional futbol team that are based in Mexico City. The Pumas represent UNAM, the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Olimpico Universtario Stadium is the Pumas home staduim in Mexico City near the UNAM campus. 

Part of the UNAM campus in D.F.

Olimpico Universitario Staduim

I have been to UNAM several times and it is one of the biggest campuses I have ever been to, between the US and Mexico. The campus is beatiful and has a lot to offer, good restarutants, amazing museums, beautiful parks and a lot more. If you are stopping in D.F. it is certainly somewhere you should check out.

Now, back to the Pumas! They won, they won, they won! Even though the win was two days ago, the celebrations are still going on. We went to the staduim the night before the game and everyone was camping out, playing music, dancing and partying. I think the Pumas have some of the most loyal fans in Mexican futbol.

I am definitely happy to say I am a Pumas fan and I am so glad I was in Mexico to help celebrate the victory. We were in Cuernavaca for the final game and for the celebration. When we arrived downtown after the game the streets were filled with Puma fans, everyone had on their Puma attire, flags, banners, and more. We all walked through the streets yelling Puma chants, honking obnoxiously at those passing by. Everyone was smiling and having an awesome time. It was really fun for me because in the US I have never been to a celebration that took over the entire downtown of a city just for the vicotory of a sport, not even the crazy Husker fans of American Football. The energy of the fans was astounding and really made way for a great day and night. It was a great victory and I am glad I got to experience it. I met a lot of die hard fans and they were some of the nicest and funniest people I have met in Cuernavaca. With crazy, fun fans like the Pumas, no wonder the Monarcas were hiding inside all day!! 

The end of the night got a little crazy, as I am sure you can imagine. It was a lot of fun and I cannot wait until the games begin again! GO PUMAS!

Goya! Goya! Cachun cachun ra ra! Cachun cachun ra ra! Goya! Universidad!!

Here are some photographs taken after the vicorty! Pumas Campeon! 

XOXO, 

A Pinche Puma Gringa

Follow me on Twitter @LaTortuturtle 

Facebook Pepe 'La Tortuga' Perez

How Many Steps Does It Take?!

In all the buildings, houses, banks, churches, schools, clubs, bars, everywhere in Mexico there are Emergency signs. This is pretty common in the US too, but the signs are drastically different. When I saw the sign in my apartment, I noticed it had over 5 steps for different kinds of emergencies. Call me old fashioned, but I would rather stick to the 'Stop, Drop and Roll' step you learn in kindergarden and save myself some time. Or just the simple, 'Get the fuck out' step. I think that works the best. The first time I saw one of these signs I could not stop laughing, I mean I have a terrible memory, so there is no way I could remember all the steps. If there was an emergency I would die just while I was reading them and trying to figure out what to do! One of the best parts about the signs are the illustrations, I mean I can't even tell what is going on in them. So I made up a coulpe of my own steps, according to the illustrations.

Gringa Emergency Manual

By A Pinche Lost Gringa

Sismos - Earthquake

Stand and read the sign, stand very calm and very still. Don't move at all or the emergency may get worse. Just stand there and pretend like you know what to do.

 Beware of the snakes coming out of the walls. They only want the pizza in the oven. Walk past them quietly and be very sneaky.

Make your way through the magical door in the wall. Once through the door, shut it behind you and pose underneath the drawing of a window.

Get into the elevator, it is much faster than the stairs.

Make your way to the kitchen and hide underneath the table. Wait there to scare the next person walking by, in the meantime your friend will be hiding, trying to blend in with the wall. Do not let yourself be fooled.

Beware of the Mexican Indians attacking you from behind.

Incendios - Fire

Pretend you are a statue.

Start a fire to gain everyones attention.

Take the hand of the person closest to you and do the Cumbia together.

Blow dry your hair.

Don't let the police poke you with their handless arms.

Watch out for the Devil's evil tail that is about to whip you in the back of your head.

Again, use the elevator. It's not dangerous at all. You will be able to laugh at everyone when you are the first one down and they never come out.

Sing Opera as loud as you can.

Duck and cover, look out for the flock of deadly birds.

There are many different styles of these signs, here are a few. Try and make up your own emergency steps, it's pretty amusing.

This is the same sign I have in my apartment.

This one is my favorite, it's obviously a joke but it looks like someone else had a similair idea.

So, if you ever have an emergency just follow my easy Gringa Emergency Manual and you should make it out okay.

XOXO

An Emergency Concerned Gringa

Follow me on Twitter @LaTortuturtle

And on Facebook at Pepe 'La Tortuga' Perez