Chapultepec Park is big. No, its huge. No, it is massive!
We spent the day walking around the park, and we are exhausted. And we only saw a small portion of it!
We entered the park through the main gates off Paseo de la Reforma. We had entered many times through this gate, and we know the front area of the park well.
Instead of turning right at the monument, we turned left and found an entirely new park. We love this area! There are meandering paved paths, a main roadway that goes through the park, many quiet lawn areas, massive trees, historical monuments, a 'quiet' zone with classical music, hungry (and friendly) squirrels, and some very cool historic sights along the way.
We found the ancient baths of Moctezuma, and a totem pole from Canada (a gift to celebrate the anniversary of Mexico's independence). In one section of the grassy park, there are a bunch of poles with hooks on them. I joked that they look like they hold hammocks. And looking further into the park, we saw a hammock hanging from two poles - so I was right!
On the western end of the main park area (there are three massive sections of the park), we were amazed at the Monumental Fuente de Nezahualcoyotl. This is a MASSIVE fountain that seems to go on forever. Super impressive.
We struggled to get across the street to find the second section of the park. It was a long, hot, sunny walk across two major roads (over pedestrian bridges), and involved lots of stairs. When we finally made it to section two, we discovered there was a ton of work being done to improve this area. There were hundreds of workers in the lawns, redoing streets, working on monuments. This is a bustling place. There are hardly any visitors to this small section we visited, but when it is finished, this place will be a masterpiece.
There is a long walkway with bust statues of important Mexicans. Along the way, we saw Fuente Xochipilli, a tribute to ancient societies, and a cool water feature/fountain. We then walked down to Fuente de Tlaloc, a modern-art fountain project done by Diego Rivera. Again, lots of construction around but we were able to see quite a bit.
We gave up on seeing more of section 2 as it is just way too massive. It would take weeks to see all of it - and never mind section 3!
We walked back towards section 1 and found a modern food court near a new Butterfly museum. We grabbed a fast food Torta and had a chance to sit in the shade for a while.
After our brief lunch break, we found a walkway that went over a main road, and walked towards the old Presidential museum complex in the park. Along the way, we found a masked Frida.
This area of the park is called Los Pines. It is home to where the president of Mexico used to live, first in a very nice home, then in a lavish, massive mansion that was later turned into a museum after politicians decided it was a bit too much. The buildings in the area are great, and there was some amazing art featured in many of the buildings.
One thing that was really cool was that there was a girl having her photos taken for her Quinceanera. She was in a beautiful gown, and had several photographers and handlers. The background for her photos was stunning, and a security guard told me that this was a very popular location for Quinceanera photos.
On the way out of this section of the park, we saw some Presidential cars. On the way out of the park, absolutely exhausted and ready for a beer, we saw a Jose Marti monument, and one of our favorite public art projects - a park bench with a lovely couple.
There is so much more to see in this amazing urban park. But after today, we need a bit of a break. We walked so much, saw so many cool things, and realized that it is much bigger than we ever thought.
We will be back.
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