I spent the month of October 2023 on a VWI trip in Mexico City and it was an absolutely incredible experience. It was amazing how much I saw, did, learned, and lived during my short time in the city and I was only able to capture a small fraction of it below. Here are some of my favorite memories.
Art!!
Highlights include the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a jaw-dropping architectural wonder, neo-classical on the outside, art deco inside, uniquely infused with Aztec imagery. My favorite mural there was Diego Rivera’s incredibly detailed Man Controller of the Universe, whose communist subject matter was so controversial that its original version was destroyed by the Rockefeller family in New York City.
I also became obsessed with the late Mexican painter Rodrigo Pimentel, whose vibrant works glow with primordial wisdom. And of course, the great Frida Kahlo, whose life was her art as much as her paintings were, and who owned and transmuted her pain into beauty like no one else.
Below: Frida Kahlo’s decorated plaster corset, the exterior of Palacio de Bellas Artes, Pimentel’s El agua Tsunami, Rivera’s Man Controller of the Universe
Culture!!
I saw two incredible nights of lucha libre, the rich and beautiful professional wrestling tradition, where masked characters execute incredible acrobatic stunts encouraged by an audience-full of beer-drunk fans screaming Spanish obscenities. I even got to meet a real luchador, Doctor Karonte, brother of the contemporary legend Místico!
Other highlights include partying on the trajinera boats of Xochimilco and putting up a Día de Muertos ofrenda in our apartment under the direction of our amazing local coordinator, Pau.
Below: Me and Doctor Karonte, our apartment ofrenda, the trajineras of Xochimilco
Work!!
Throughout the month I worked remotely as a software engineer. I enjoyed plugging in for coding sessions from many of the delightful coffee shops short walks away from our apartment in the gorgeous neighborhood of Condesa. My awesome roommates would often join and made for excellent company.
Below: Snapshots from two of the many amazing coffee shops I frequented in Condesa
Food!!
I ate a ton of incredible food!! To my pleasant surprise, it was very easy to maintain a mostly vegan, occasionally vegetarian diet in CDMX. Some of my favorite dishes were quesadillas con huitlacoche (“infected” maize with indigenous roots), vegan al pastor tacos, and a hearty bowl of vegetarian pozole.
Below: Vegan tacos from Gracias Madre, churros from El Moro, chopping up huitlacoche as part of Chef Pau’s cooking class, tacos al carbón
Impact!!
My volunteer match was Yo Restauro Patrimonio, an organization dedicated towards the restoration and preservation of historic buildings and sites throughout Mexico. These sites are invaluable pieces of Mexico’s cultural heritage and are often in danger of deterioration due to earthquakes and other environmental factors.
My job was to help upgrade their website, which had some broken links and other UX issues. The biggest problem, which was that there was no way to make a donation from the website, I was able to fix pretty easily. I continued to make improvements to the site throughout the month and hope I was able to help the organization in however small a way.
Below: the updated front page of Yo Restauro Patrimonio’s website. I hope it looks nice.
