D.F.

D.F. equals Distrito Federal

One of the biggest perks of this job is all the friends we make who disperse around the world.  Last January, we got to spend a few days in Paris with a friend from my orientation class who was posted there.  And this January, we got to spend a few days in Mexico City with friends from Belize who now work there.  Our friends were kind enough to let us stay with them in their fantastic Polanco apartment and explore their new city for a few days.  Neither Andrew nor I had previously visited Mexico City so it was all new to us.  And after a year in little ol’ Belmopan, it was a wonder to all our senses.  Museums!  Theaters!  Grocery stores with aisles and aisles of CHEESE!  Oh, the civilization!

So many jello molds!

So many flowers!

So many wheels of cheese bigger than my head!

We were only there for a long weekend, but we covered a lot of ground to try to take in as much civilization as we could.  We started with taking in some ancient civilization by visiting the National Museum of Anthropology.  It was an impressive – and huge! – collection of artifacts that could have kept us busy for a full day.  But we hit the highlights and moved on to another national museum, Chapultepec Castle.  It was a Sunday, when all the national museums have free entry for Mexican nationals and residents, and they came out in droves.  I think the entire population of Belize equaled the number of people we encountered in the museums we visited that day.

Aztec artifacts at the National Museum of Anthropology.

A beautiful iron gate at Chapultepec Castle.

Oh the humanity!

We spent our second day walking through some of the artisan markets and neighborhoods around Zócalo plaza, where the Metropolitan Cathedral is located.  It was hard to find a right angle or straight line on the cathedral or any of the old buildings surrounding the plaza – a sign of the earthquakes and shifting ground in this part of the world.  The markets surrounding the plaza were fascinating too.  Do you need a part to repair some small electronic device?  There’s a street that has nothing but parts and wires and anything you might need for your job.  What about fabric?  Want to make a dress?  The next block over from the electrical repair street is storefront-after-storefront of fabrics. 

Checking out an artisan market.

And I do mean artisan.  These guys were making guitars on the spot.

Zócalo plaza and the Metropolitan Cathedral.

An amazing pipe organ inside the cathedral.

Two full days in Mexico City and we barely made a dent in all there is to do there.  But we had some amazing meals, got to visit with good friends, and had a full dose of big city life to hold us over until we’re back in a city with more than 15,000 people again.

D.F. also equals Dense Forest

Less than a month after visiting Mexico City, I visited a village on the complete opposite end of the spectrum called Red Bank.  It’s a Mayan community about 2 hours south of Belmopan, and from January-March every year, flocks of scarlet macaws call the forest around Red Bank home.  I went down for the weekend with a few other friends to check out the show.  I’d happened upon a flock of macaws last May when I spent the weekend at an Audubon Society camp in the Cockscomb forest, but when a friend was organizing this trip, I wasn’t going to pass up an opportunity to see them again.  And I wasn’t disappointed.  After spending the night in a thatch hut “bed and breakfast,” we got up early to meet our guide and take an hour-ish hike into the forest.  As we neared a clearing we could hear squawking, and then, right on cue, there they were.  Flying rainbows above the forest canopy.  We watched them from a few viewpoints for a couple hours and then headed back.  Some days in Belize are magical, and seeing scarlet macaws flying free was one of those days.

First bird spotted on the hike was... a toucan.

You don't see flocks of macaws flying around like this every day!

Their colors are spectacular against the green forest.

 

Looking out over the village.