The Atrio Cross at Acolman

Today was the first day of my fellowship at Dumbarton Oaks, a research institute run by Harvard University in Georgetown ‘dedicated to supporting scholarship internationally in Byzantine, Garden and Landscape, and Pre-Columbian studies.’ (I’m in the Pre-Columbian Studies group!) Spending my day with other fellows discussing our research topics has had me reminiscing intensely about…

Lucha Libre

I must confess that I’ve never seen Nacho Libre, the comedy where Jack Black plays a Catholic priest by day, masked luchador by night, in a story loosely based on true life, but that film and some Lonely Planet guidebook back in 2011 got me first interested in the spectacle. I never made it to…

Fish tacos in Tulum

About 45 minutes south of Playa del Carmen is the town of Tulum, home to one of the most famous archaeological sites in the Yucatan. Tulum was once a trading post for the Post-Classic (13th-15th century) Maya, and it boasts a breathtaking location, situated on the edge of a 40 ft. cliff that overlooks the Caribbean Sea. I’ve…

Playa del Carmen (plus, the best budget airlines in Mexico)

Before I bade adieu to life in Mexico (tear), my parents and I took a trip to Playa del Carmen in Quintana Roo in the Yucatán Peninsula. To get to Playa, you fly to Cancun (about a 2 hr. flight). We flew Volaris for an amazing $125 round trip. If you’re flying throughout Mexico, I highly…

Street Art Renaissance

The internet has been abuzz with stories regarding Mexico City’s thriving street art scene. (BBC news recently ran a story, but it seems like the video has been taken down from the Internet.) I had long known about Street Art Chilango because I had happened upon their stunning Instagram account. When my friend Aneesha came…

Oaxaca City in photos

I had the great opportunity to attend the Coloquio Internacional held jointly by the Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas at UNAM and Villa i Tatti, the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. The theme of the conference was El Renacimiento italiano desde América Latina (The Italian Renaissance in Latin America) — a topic close to my heart…

Dispatch Oaxaca: Museo Textil de Oaxaca

I’m a huge fan of small museums. They tend to be more tightly focused and thematically coherent. I’m really detail oriented (well…particularly, when it comes to research or learning a new subject), so it’s satisfying to dig into a subject and feel like you’ve really grasped something substantial about it after a relatively short amount…

Dispatch Oaxaca: Monte Albán

Situated just 6 miles east of Oaxaca City, Monté Alban is an archaeological site constructed on a flattened ridge about 6,400 feet above sea level. My sister Sylvia and I took a 25 min. (50 peso) bus ride from Calle Mina in downtown Oaxaca City up a steep and winding road to the site. When…

View from the Top

Mexico City is immense. In 2009, the estimated population of the city proper was close to 9 million people, with a land area of about 573 sq. mi. The greater Mexico City population numbers to a soaring 21.2 million people, making the city the largest metropolitan area in the Western Hemisphere and the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world….

Microteatro

When I first got to Mexico City, I had  yet to find a place to live, so I stayed with my dear friends Ximena, Roberto, and their giant Akita Lev (short for Leviathan) in up-and-coming neighborhood Santa María la Ribera. The colonía’s hallmark attraction is the Kiosko Morisco, a structure built as Mexico’s submission to the World’s…

Museo Experimental El Eco

Around 5pm I decided I needed a break from the computer, and I went outside for an evening stroll. I headed towards the Jardin del Arte, a peaceful and colorful park nearby in San Rafael. I decided to walk the perimeter of the park, having never done so, and I stumbled upon the Museo Experimental El…

The Sounds of the Streets of Mexico City

DING-DING-DING-DING-DING-DING!!! Every morning I am jolted from my sleep by the sound of the loudest, clanging handbell, bouncing from wall to wall of our neighborhood, sounding off from the street below my window. It’s one of the garbage men, alerting the neighborhood that they are parked at the top of our hill, ready to take our…