After a thoroughly enjoyable caffeine stop, we headed to Museo Frida Kahlo.
It was a nice stroll ad a line soon formed outside "La Casa Azul", the house where Frida Kahlo was born and where she lived with her husband Diego Rivera. We had gotten tickets online which was a good move as folks who came without tickets were out of luck for the day.
I've read that Frida Kahlo produced only about 200 paintings during her lifetime. But it is both her work, some of which are dark, emotional, surreal, and project the constant pain she was in after first contracting polio when she was 6, which caused her right leg to be shorter than her left and then the bus accident when she was 18 when the bus she was riding in hit a trolley causing a metal handrail to impale her. And her somewhat tumultuous marriages to Diego Rivera (they were married twice and Diego had an affair with Frida's younger sister!).
Of her paintings 55 were self portraits.
One of Frida Kahlo's most well known quotes:
"My painting carries with it the message of pain.”
The upstairs portion are fascinating to many as it has her bedroom and studio....where you can see her wheelchair stationed at the easel she used.
And the bedroom and bed where she spent so much time recovering from the accident and then her last years when she was in declining health.
For us, it was the medical portion and the corsets that Frida had to wear that really made an impact.
It really brought home the pain and suffering of Frida.
Walking in the garden area, I was struck by the displays of the tumultuous life of the artist, with the wonderful peaceful tranquility of the garden.
Which I guess just hits home the complexity of the duality of life......
Museo Frida Kahlo is well worth the time.
Frida Kahlo Museum
Londres 247
Coyoacán, 04100 Ciudad de México, CDMX, Mexico
For lunch we headed back down Ignacio Allende to Mercado Coyoacan.
Where it seems that you could get every kind of trinket you could possibly want!
The interior though, was a hustling and bustling market.
I had recommendations and read quite a bit about Tostadas Coyoacan which is located in the Market, so we found the bustling stand.
We ordered three Tostadas which arrived in minutes. Man, they've got quite the system going.
The amount of protein piled on the tostadas is quite admirable for the price.
The best of the bunch was the Camarones which had a nice balance of sour to salt and the shrimp were tender. The chicken in the Pollo Mole was quite tough and dry; the mole really weak in flavor. The pork in the Cochinita was tender, but was quite weak in terms of flavor from the typical aromatics (i.e. oregano/cinnamon/cumin).
Still, the most expensive tostada was the camarones which is about $2.50/US, the other two are about a buck-fifty; so I wasn't going to whine too much about this meal.
Tostadas Coyoacán (In Mercado de Coyoacán)
Ignacio Allende No.49
Coyoacán, 04100 CDMX, Mexico
After lunch we crossed the street to Jardín Allende where there was an arts and crafts market.
We strolled around a bit before calling our Uber and heading back to our hotel.
Where a nice afternoon nap was awaiting us!
Thanks for stopping by!
Nice. I always wanted to go to the Frida’s house.
Posted by: Som Tommy | Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 06:28 PM
CDMX! Glad you guys are traveling again, I’m sure you missed it. We went to the Yucatán and while it was wonderful, it was so hot. Hope you guys enjoy many more travels this year!
Posted by: RedDevil | Thursday, 21 July 2022 at 09:06 PM
That was a cool museum!
Posted by: Soo | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 08:22 AM
Ever since watching the film with Salma Hayek I have been fascinated by Frida and her turbulent life. Hope to visit her museum one day.
Posted by: Junichi | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 10:47 AM
what a wonderful adventure, the garden seemed so peaceful/reflective.
Posted by: kat | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 11:17 AM
Hope you get to visit ST!
Glad you've been able to travel RD! It's something we've really missed.
It was Soo!
It's well worth a visit Junichi!
The garden was so calm and peaceful Kat!
Posted by: Kirk | Friday, 22 July 2022 at 01:29 PM