Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Basí­lica de Santa Marí­a de Guadalupe is an incredible display that reminded me somewhat of visiting Vatican City. Guadalupe is the saint of the Americas and even if you have only a passing familiarity with Catholic culture, you will at least recognize the iconography:

A moving walkway keeps things humming along:

The modern basilica dates to the 1970s:

The sprawling site contains beautiful works of architecture from previous eras:

…and even if you are oblivious to what is clearly a spiritual experience for those around you, you will at least appreciate the stunning views of the city from the perch of Iglesia del Cerrito on the hill above:

Back To The Bosque For The Botanical Garden

I misread the Museo Tamayo website and didn’t realize it was closed for renovations, so we shifted gears and visited the Jardí­n Botánico in Bosque de Chapultepec. Was beautiful, and we especially loved the OCD-level rows of cacti . . .

Also had some strong echeveria game:

Succulents!

And this is where your tequila and sotol (respectively) come from:

Caracals, Tigrillos y Pandas, Oh My!

Started exploring the Bosque de Chapultepec, Mexico City’s Central Park, by spending a couple of hours at the zoo, Zoológico de Chapultepec, which apparently is one of the few places outside of Asia that has successfully bred giant pandas:

We saw a couple of new (to us) animals — the caracal, with its crazy tufted ears:

. . . and the tigrillo, which looks exactly like a cross between a leopard and a housecat:

Also never seen a capybara IRL:

Panda!

And even the animals in Mexico City know what to do should an earthquake occur:

Bosque de Chapultepec is alternately epic, lovely and scrappy — a tough thing for a park to pull off (and that’s only scratching the surface of part one — the 1600-acre park has three distinct sections):