I don’t normally focus a blog on a specific museum, but fair warning – this blog focuses heavily on the Museo Nacional de Antropología since (as I’ll describe momentarily) our first day and a half in Mexico City have been… not to plan. However, as a friend who was born and raised here said, “You can spend 5 hours in the museum, so plan accordingly” (she also proceeded to say she doesn’t get all the fuss, which is a classic local perspective).

So, to fill you in on the less exciting part, it turns out our little self-guided food tour in Oaxaca was a poor choice as I woke up yesterday the epitome of the meme “screaming, crying, throwing up” (except, literally). Curled in the fetal position until pharmacies opened in Oaxaca at 8:30am (blessedly early, given their party culture), things were not looking up for our flight to Mexico City at 1pm. I proceeded to chug the 118ml of Pepto Bismol we retrieved (don’t worry, I spaced the doses appropriately and was under the dosage limit), had a bottle of Mexico’s most delicious electrolyte replenishment drink (truly, they should market this stuff as a hangover cure in the US), and… proceeded to cancel our flight. About 15 minutes before we needed to leave for the airport if we wanted to make the next flight, I decided to push through – the agony of languishing in an 80+ degree hotel room for another night simply wasn’t worth it. Thanks to AeroMexico (truly, would recommend to anyone), we were able to book seats, check-in and get through security with time to spare for the next flight out.

Thankfully the Oaxaca airport was WELL air conditioned (!), so I took a little nap sandwiched among the chairs and felt more refreshed than I had in days when we went to board the flight. Of course, I was armed: my backpack included three (3) types of liquid hydration, a partially-used roll of toilet paper in the other bottle holder (I’m sure our luxury hotel in Mexico City thought that was a classy move), a giant bag of pretzels, and a box of (new) Pepto Bismol. The flight was only 45 minutes, blessedly.

Everything started to take a turn for the better upon arrival into Mexico City (CDMX – Ciudad Mexico – as locals call it). First, the city is HUGE (largest in North America!) and absolutely beautiful from above on a clear day (this photo is from our layover en route to Oaxaca as our flight yesterday was pretty cloudy).

Upon arrival, we stuck close to the hotel and ended up getting wonderful sushi for dinner (one of my friends said I’m ‘built different’ thinking this was a good choice while combating food poisoning, but then again, Asian food is my comfort food and I have to say, I feel great today!). We opted for Sushi Tatsugoro, which was a fantastic choice.

Today, I woke up feeling truly refreshed (sleeping with working AC is a blessing I will not take for granted!). Sadly, my husband seems to have succumbed to a (thankfully much more minor) version of the food poisoning I experienced yesterday. Since we also have functioning wifi for the first time since we left Cabo, we spent the morning in bed and catching up on emails and other tasks respectively. Our hotel overlooks a major roundabout and the Fuente de la Diana Cazadora (famous fountain) on the Avenida de la Reforma, and over the course of the morning a protest by Antorcha (and anti-poverty organization) passed twice.

After a lunch at the hotel, I decided to head to the Museo Nacional de Antropología solo since I was much more excited about it.

The museum is a ~5 minute drive from our hotel, located in Mexico City’s equivalent of Central Park. It’s absolutely massive – my friend wasn’t kidding that you could spend five hours easy. Unfortunately, the ‘anthropology’ section of the museum was closed as they’re undergoing reconstruction, but the ‘archeology’ section still took me about 2.5 hours and I was making good speed. That being said, this is the single best resource I’ve personally encountered to learn about and see Mesoamerican artifacts and culture in one place. Not only was it informative, but the curation was fantastic (if overwhelming with the magnitude of artifacts!). It’s essentially arranged chronologically and then by region of Mexico (and includes areas that would have historically been part of or adjacent to Mexico, such as Colorado and Arizona). The museum is centered around a plaza, which has a lovely waterwork.

Upon arrival in the museum, there was a large snaking line for tickets. After waiting a bit, I asked a guard if there was a way to purchase online and, thankfully, she pointed me to a kiosk down a hallway at the complete other end of the building where you could easily purchase a ticket in two minutes flat. I’m extremely unclear on why there are not more kiosks (and why they aren’t displayed more prominently), but I flew by the line and started my adventure. The first exhibit focuses on early human settlement and migration from Africa, which I skimmed through for the most part. I will say, the dioramas were… explicit, yet engaging and educational. I personally enjoyed the graphic depictions of early man getting mauled by a sabertooth tiger and early woman giving birth in a… natural (?) position.

From there, I moved to the first exhibit, which is about the Toltec culture and focuses on Teotihuacán, the major settlement just northeast of current day Mexico City. The artifacts are absolutely amazing (as was true of the whole museum). The Toltec exhibit included a variety of items (both original and replica) from Teotihuacán, primarily focused on religious / cult objects, architecture, and representations of various deities both in sculpture and painting.

I loved one of the displays, which showed a reconstruction of (I believe), a priest’s vestment made of beautiful stones and shells.

There were also a variety of vessels shaped like animals, which were lovely (the turkey was especially cute).

The exhibit also included works from the Mexica (commonly known as the Aztecs, although the museum refers to them by their self-identified name; left photo below). The below pieces were standouts for me (both ritual vessels, the right being an offering vessel used by the Toltecs).

Next up was one of those rare items you see in a museum that just brightens your day. As we physically transitioned from the Toltec to the Mexica (Aztec) exhibit, the museum moved us through a “juego de pelota” court (scaled down for us commoners, of course). To jog your memory, this is the famous Mesoamerican sport where you effectively have to move a ball down the court (keeping in the direction of the sun) and get it through a tiny hoop, or face sacrifice. Not only do the hoops still exist but a ball still exists! I was so tickled to see this – and even more amused by the description, which clarified that Europeans were absolutely flabbergasted by the accuracy of the ball given they’d never encountered rubber before and therefore couldn’t understand the precision of the bounce.

From there, I was firmly in Mexica (Aztec) territory. These exhibits focused again on depictions of deities, items related to daily life and ritual worship, and lots of beautiful pottery. The below are highlights – the left is a representation of Tizoc, who was a Mexica ruler famous for rebuilding the empire to its former glory (the stone is also perceived as a pro-Tizoc propaganda). The right is the famous Mexica (Aztec) “sunstone” – perhaps the most famous piece in the entire museum. Carved in ~1200-1500 CE, it is a fantastic representation of the Mexica calendar / celestial orientation. It’s also huge – probably ~12 feet by ~12 feet.

Other interesting items in this exhibit included a variety of representations of deities, including a snake deity and multiple deities related to maize (corn).

I also enjoyed seeing the vessels that would have been traditionally used for the production and consumption of pulque – the fermented pineapple drink that we tried in Oaxaca. Interestingly, it was apparently very strong back in the day!

Also amazing was the Mexica codex – all of the codexes in the collection were stunning.

Concluding the Mexica exhibit was a representation of a “reused” alter from the period of Spanish conquest, in which Christianity was being introduced. Basically, they’d use existing religious structures to introduce Christian ideology (and you can see the cross here coexisting with the former religious elements, such as the serpent themes).

This concluded the “chronological” exhibits and the remainder of the “archeological” part of the museum was focused on cultures by geography. First up was Oaxaca, which I perused quickly given our exploration the past couple days. Unsurprisingly, the museum had an incredible addition to the collection in Oaxaca itself, with a couple unique pieces. These included:

• Statues representing the “old gods”
• A “bone scraper” aka a common instrument constructed from a whale’s rib bones
• Other instruments made of bone and wood
• A codex explaining Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the Americas

Also interesting were the representations of the “love god” (I suppose love is in the eye of the beholder) and a beautiful breastplate.

Lastly, the exhibit included ritual objects related to funerary practices, including burials in a “seated” position and ritual vessels.

Lastly, I was fascinated by the exhibit showcasing the emerging inclusion of Christian elements on traditional clothing / cloths. It’s a bit difficult to see (I initially thought these were marked with blood), but the artifacts in the back have relatively clear crosses stitched into them with black fabric.

Up next, we move to the Olmec civilization, one that is famed for its mysterious origins and large “heads”. I will admit, the heads are large and imposing!

The head itself was probably ~6 feet tall. Additionally interesting in this exhibit of “ancient faces” (essentially masks of ancient people’s faces) and the “old god”. They also included interesting ritual vessels, including this one designed after seashells. The “chest” was also particularly interesting.

Lastly, they had a fascinating display of the “elongated” skulls that we saw referenced in the Oaxacan museum of prehispanic cultures. You can definitely see both the wider skulls from that difficult birthing position (!) and the elongated skulls as well.

Then, it was on to the Maya. This exhibit was fascinating for a number of reasons and the curation was beautiful. It too focused on religious figurines, detailed reliefs, and depictions of the juego de pelota stones markers.

The Maya codexes are also beautiful.

One part of the exhibit leads you to the “underworld” (an extremely important concept for the Maya – seemingly more so than life, in some ways), which included a variety of fascinating exhibits. Most interestingly was the burial garment of Pakal the Great. Apparently the red cloth (cinnabar) would have been extremely toxic (and the proportions are apparently true to his body measurements). Next to the items rediscovered is a depiction of what the burial would have looked like.

In addition to this display, there was a sobering recreation of an infant burial and some beautiful jade artifacts.

Above ground, the exhibit finished with some amazing temple architecture and a beautiful turquoise breastplates.

Rounding out the archeology section were exhibits on various regional cultures (none of which was an “empire” in the way that the Mexica or Maya were. You could see differences between the cultures, from the emphasis on the sea with the “Occidental” (western Mexico) cultures to the beautiful pottery of the northern peoples (including the Anasazi, in Colorado / Arizona, USA).

The museum ends with a lovely exhibit on the various textiles and “celebrations” held in Mexico by various groups. The documentation / explanations were a bit more sparse in this section, but it was still beautiful to explore. Amusingly, I’d been hearing what sounded like small rockets or firecrackers for a while and was getting worried about my walk home from the museum – turns out it was a soundtrack to the exhibit (firecrackers as part of the celebrations showcased) I’d been hearing from the floor below!

The textiles / clothing were absolutely beautiful.

I especially enjoyed the costumes for various “danzas” – of which there were many! I especially enjoyed the costume depicting an overthrown conquistador (bottom).

There were also pieces depicting a variety of religious and other ceremonial rituals – these included masks, pipes for tobacco and hallucinogens, and other beautiful cloths. The middle photo below appeared to be an original, but it was disheartening seeing how many similar artifacts (especially ‘fragile’ ones like that) reside in Paris, Vienna, etc. and can’t be repatriated “because they’re fragile” (overheard a guide happily telling a group of guests that a beautiful headdress that was too fragile to display was in Vienna and everyone was like… uh, too fragile yet carried thousands of miles away?).

I also loved the exhibit of art pieces / figurines.

I’ll cut myself off here since this museum was truly so comprehensive and beautiful. I decided I’d try my luck walking back to the hotel and discovered that Google Maps is in fact wrong about the directions, and it was a super easy, straight-shot back to the hotel. Mexico does seem to really value its sustainability practices, and the path was filled with bikers and a few occasional walkers like myself (at one point I doubted my choice as I watched folks run across the highway, but thankfully there was a crosswalk near the hotel!).

Overall, a great first day in CDMX and a wonderful afternoon getting up to speed about the beautiful Mesoamerican cultures that shaped this country!