MEXICO: COYOACAN PART I--HOMAGE TO COYOTES, ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, AND LEON TROTSKY

March 10, 2018

Victor let us sleep in until 9:00, and then picked us up to take us to one of his favorite breakfast spots, Pattiserie Dominique. In spite of its French name, it had a decidedly Mexican flavor.

I had delicious huevos rancheros.

Bob had a croquette, a sandwich with pork and Gruyere cheese topped with a sunny-side-up egg.

One of us also had the chocolate crepe.  I won't say who.

The plan was to spend the day in Coyoacán, a municipality of Mexico City, which is somewhat like the boroughs of New York City. It happens to be the home of our guides, Arnold and Victor Pedroza. It is also the site of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's famous La Casa Azul, or The Blue House, our main destination. When we got to Coyoacán, however, there was already a long line stretching from the Casa Azul ticket office down the street and around the corner.  Arnold's wife had gotten in line early for us, but there was still going to be over an hour wait, so Arnold directed us towards the center of town where there was a fountain and a church for us to visit--a much better alternative to standing in line. 

The name Coyoacán comes from Nahuatl, a local indigenous language, and means "place of the coyotes." Living on the edge of a canyon in Southern California, we have a love/hate relationship with coyotes. We love the eerie sound of their distinctive yowling in the late evening or early morning hours, but they've also eaten a few of our cats, so it is hard to truly love them.

Coyoacán loves them so much that in 1967 they placed a fountain with two bronze coyotes playing in the water in the main zocolo. Coyotes used to be very common in this part of Mexico, so even though they've been crowded out by urban sprawl, the fountain seems appropriate.

I think my husband would love a coyote statue in our yard.

The main church in Coyoacán is La Iglesia de San Juan Bautista (Church of St. John the Baptist), a beautiful building in the Mexican Baroque style. Victor told us that he was baptized in this church.

Construction began in 1527 and was more or less finished in 1552, making this one of the three oldest Catholic churches in Mexico City. It was built on land "donated" to Cortés by a native chief who was baptized into the Catholic faith. The four-story bell tower was added in the 18th century but sustained significant damage in the 2017 earthquake.

The relatively simple exterior belies the stunning interior, which was significantly remodeled between 1926 and 1947. A delicate rose-colored glow suffuses the space.

Note the lavishly carved columns and the gold-leaf:

Every niche and dome is filled with paintings and ornate carvings.

I like this one of John baptizing Jesus with an angel armed with a sword standing nearby.

Much of the artwork depicts scenes that include Franciscan and Dominican monks:

It is a beautiful church, well worth a visit.

I have in my notes that while waiting for our turn to enter Frida's house, we quickly visited Leon Trotsky's house. Unfortunately, Bob didn't take any photos there and I don't have any on my cell phone. What was a Soviet revolutionary doing in Mexico City? 

It's a long story, but the short version is that he was buddies with Frida's on-again off-again husband Diego Rivera, and when Stalin had a coup in 1929, Trotsky was exiled and he and his wife eventually ended up in Frida and Diego's house--La Casa Azul in Coyoacán--in January 1937.

What came next is crazy.  Both Diego and Frida had had numerous affairs. Diego had even had an affair with Frida's sister in 1935. But when Frida had an affair with Trotsky, Diego asked for a divorce. Trotsky's wife also found out about the affair and was none too happy about it, so in April 1939 Trotsky moved to another house a few blocks away to pacify his wife. In May 1940 Stalin's goons tried and failed to assassinate Trotsky, but later that year, in August, an assassin lodged an ice axe in Trotsky's brain. Trotsky died the following day. Diego and Frida remarried in December 1940.

Yeah, it sounds like a telenovela to me too!

Trotsky's house was preserved and made into a museum.

Photo from here

Photo from here

All right, it is finally time for La Casa Azul!