July 10, Anthropology Museum & Modern Art Museum

Morning Activities:

I got up around 7 to shower and get ready to go to breakfast by 8. I had a delicious breakfast of bacon, yogurt, fruit, and orange juice. After breakfast, I had some downtime in my room before the group met up at 9am to begin walking to the subway 🚇 Luckily, the metro was only about a 10 minute walk from our hotel. The weather was also moderate which I enjoyed. At the Metro Station, we hopped the first car on the blue line. We rode 9 stops to Tacuba where we transferred to the orange line. 3 more stops then we got off at Auditorio to begin our walk to Museo Nacional de Anthropología.

 Video of the Metro

Entrance to the Museum of Anthropology

 Art when you first enter the museum

Museo Nacional de Antropologia:

We walked as a group to Museo Nacional de Antropologia in time for our 10:00 AM admission time. Our groups joined free tours in Spanish and English. I did the tour in Spanish to continue to better my Spanish. Although the tour only lasted an hour, I learned so much about Mexican history. Because the museum is huge, I didn't have time to walk the entire thing. I really enjoyed seeing original and restored pieces from both the Mishika (Aztec) and Mayan eras. 

 Beautiful mural

Ancient weaponry

 This caste made me think this person was of African descent

Resource map

 Ancient figures

Assortment of bones

I used Google Translate to live translate while my tour guide was speaking. Some highlights are:

She mentioned things like understanding how fashion and beauty practices insist that facial features are developing and unique but this does not apply to all Mexicans. 

From google translate: "And there's Mayan, like Palenque, like Tikal in Guatemala, like Yaxchilan in Mexico, it would be formed if the bulk of the population is the working social class. No we don't openly talk about slaves"

The museum also had a delicious cafe where I indulged in cheese soup and churros!

 

Museo de Arte Moderno: 

After concluding at Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Kianna and I walked through the park near the museum, picking up a few souvenirs. We then found a spot to sit and watch the World Cup on my phone until we were ready to meet up with other group members as the Museum of Modern Art. I absolutely loved this museum. It was unreal to see The Two Frida's up close. I was able to see all of the Modern Art Museum but I would happily return. 

 

Watching the World Cup while we wait to go to the Modern Art Museum.

 Interesting sculptures

Two Fridas

Alyssa Johnson

July 13th-Chapultepec Park and Lucha Libre

Three words to describe the day: historic, peaceful, and exciting. We walked through Chapultepec Park, explored Chapultepec Castle, and ended the evening cheering at a Lucha Libre match.

We had an early start on July 13, meeting at 7:30 a.m. before walking to the Isabel la Católica Metro Station. After a few stops, we arrived at Chapultepec Station and made our way through the beautiful Chapultepec Park. The park was full of people enjoying the morning—runners filled the trails, and a lively Zumba class. We were a little jealous and wanted to join in!

We met our guide, Fernando, who shared fascinating stories throughout our three-hour tour. We learned that Chapultepec Park is three times larger than New York City's Central Park. The name Chapultepec comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Mexica people, and means "Grasshopper Hill."

To reach Chapultepec Castle, we walked uphill for about 20 minutes. After gasping for breath and a restroom break, we toured the castle. The castle once served as the residence of Emperor Maximilian before becoming the National Museum of History. Inside, we explored paintings, historical documents, clothing, and furniture that tell the story of Mexico's past. Fernando also shared a fun fact: FIFA hosted an exclusive dinner at the castle before the 2026 World Cup. You can spend hours in the museum taking photographs of beautiful staircases, murals, stained glass windows, gardens and incredible views of the city. After the tour, we had a few hours to grab lunch and recharge before our evening adventure.

At 4:50 p.m., we met back at the hotel and headed to Roma Norte for Lucha Libre Night. Before the matches, we learned about the traditions behind this uniquely Mexican sport. Wrestlers play distinct roles: “técnicos” are the heroic, rule-following fan favorites, while “rudos” are the rule-breaking villains. Many luchadores wear colorful masks that represent their secret identities, and protecting those identities is an important part of the tradition. As a souvenir, we each received our Lucha Libre mask. 

The energy in the arena was contagious. The crowd cheered, booed, laughed, and celebrated every dramatic moment. It was the perfect way to end a day that was equal parts history, culture, and entertainment.

Tour of the City of Puebla!

 

Puebla, Mexico 

Today we explored the beautiful city of Puebla, wandering through its stunning cathedrals, browsing the vibrant local markets, and visiting the historic City Hall in the heart of the city. It was a great way to experience Puebla's rich history, impressive architecture, and lively culture, with every stop offering something unique to discover. To the left you will see the Basilica Cathedral of Puebla where we started our tour of the city! Gabby, our wonderful tour guide took us through the importance and history of this cathedral and how it has helped shaped the culture. Below will be more photos as we journeyed through the city of Puebla! 

Take the Tour with us! 

      
These are images from inside the cathedral that display some art, architecture, and the organs!

Here was our next stop on the tour, which was the Zocalo or town center where they have this three dimensional map of the city of Puebla! 

Here are a of the smaller stops on the way through the city! 

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We eventually made our way to the Palacio de Gobierno, The Government Palace. We were able to complete short tour of the spaces in which the politicians of Puebla meet and make decisions for the city.  

                                      

For our last stop, Gabby took us to the location of the El Parian Market in Puebla. This was such a beautiful city to visit and learn from!

-Kianna Johnson 

Cholula: School Visit and the Pyramid

 When we arrived at the Centro Escolar Presidente Miguel Aleman, a public school in Cholula, Puebla for students in pre-k through 12th grade, we were greeted by Hector, who we soon learned is the heart and soul of the school.. The school has 2,700 students that attend over two shifts - one from 8am-1pm and one from 1pm-6pm.  Hector enthusiastically shared about the Education Reform movements over the past 20 years in Mexico and the new National Curriculum, and then toured the elementary and pre-schools.

Hector was quite the evangelist for the new National Curriculum, which is meant to be more inclusive and based in universal design for learning. The interdisciplinary curriculum is project-based and interdisciplinary within 4 formative fields - Scientific Thinking (math, natural science), Social Thinking (history, social science), Language (Spanish, English, Art), and From Human to Community (indigenous cultures). Each field seeks to expand students' cultural knowledge in connection to the basic subjects.

During the school tour, we talked to teachers about how they have implemented the new project-based curriculum in classes of 35-50 students. Teachers have a significant amount of autonomy after the reform and seem to combine more traditional methods to ensure students have mastered the basics before implementing around 15 interdisciplinary projects each year, depending on the students mastery and the depth of the projects.

The school clearly emphasized care for the environment in its physical aspects, and teachers mentioned environmentalism as a theme in project-based learning. Having learned more about the importance of the land to the indigenous groups in Mexico, this theme ties in with the reform movement's goals of more directly teaching about and honoring Mexico’s indigenous history.

After a quick stop for lunch at the UDLAP cafeteria, we headed to el Cerrito or Tlachihualtepetl (Nahuatl for "made-by-hand mountain"), which is the largest pyramid by volume in the world. It’s also where we met Gabby, our tour guide, who won our hearts with her deep knowledge of history and cheerful and patient manner. We started in a small museum and learned some of the history of the pyramid before starting our climb to the top. The pyramid was built by the Olmec-Xicalanca, Toltecs, and Cholutecs. They started with smaller pyramids and then built new, larger pyramids directly on top of older ones, like russian nesting dolls, as Gabby put it. By the time the Spaniards arrived to Cholula, the pyramid had been abandoned and was covered with grass. The Spaniards built a cathedral to the virgin of los remedios on top of the pyramid, apparently unaware of what was underneath the vegetation (doubtful since they made a habit of building cathedrals on top of ancient temples).

religious temples). 

After learning some basic history, we headed outside, where Gabby basically skipped up the long incline to the top of the pyramid, continuing to share her wealth of information without a second to catch her breath. Our group on the other hand, just having arrived the night before to the altitude of 7,000 feet, struggled, until we were cheered on by a group of middle school students on a field trip. 

Their chants of “Si se puede” propelled us to the top, where we were rewarded with a view of the ornate cathedral as well as of the surrounding city.

As a treat for all of our efforts, Gabby even ordered the group a taste of Pulque, a drink fermented from the Agave or Maguey plant that originated with the indigenous groups here in Cholula.