Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
On Wednesday February 5th we went to the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) where Jorge Ize had invited me to give a talk in his department. Next to the talk and an excellent lunch we had the time to visit a few interesting places on the enormous campus of UNAM. This "Ciudad Universitaria" was built in the 1950s on a large area of volcanic soil in
Coyoacán, a borough in the southern part of Mexico City. The campus houses
about 300.000 students and has a number of interesting buildings, such as the
very modern "Hemeroteca Nacional", the Rectorate Tower and the Central Library.
This library is decorated at the outside by the largest mural in the world,
designed by Juan O'Gorman. Clicking on the picture at the left gives you a few
impressions of that day at UNAM.
Xochimilco
On Sunday February 11 we went together with Ernesto Pérez-Chavela
(from UAM Iztapalapa) and his wife Arely to Xochimilco, a so-called
"delegación" south of Mexico City. Xochimilco is best known for its
extended series of canals, the remainders of the ancient Lake Xochimilco.
These canals are (certainly in the weekends and when the weather is nice)
full of "trajineras", a special local type of boats painted in very lively
colors. One can rent these boats to have a drink or picnic on the water.
Click the picture at the left to see some photo's of the boat trip we made.
Carnaval at Puebla
The spent the last week of our stay in Mexico in Puebla, a large colonial
town about 120 kilometer southeast of Mexico City. The place has a very colorful
and very lively "zocalo" (central place), with lots of trees, surrounded
by old buildings with arcades which house restaurants, pubs and shops.
There is always some animation on the zocalo, certainly during the weekend.
On Sunday February 18th the place was invaded by carnaval groups from the
surrounding villages. Clicking on the picture at the left gives you
an impression of this colorful event which went on for a large part
of the day.
