Walking downhill --- very downhill --- to the pyramid allowed me to act like the old hand, even though I was pointing out stuff I had seen once. But by now the Mi Gusto Es restaurant (just opening, I think it was), and the extremely large modern church, and then this cute little public park were familiar to me and I could say what I knew about them. Which wasn't much. I could just confirm that yes, that's where they were. But like I say, we passed this little public park that was a bit of a concrete monster --- the center had this tall pillar and some stairs around the center that didn't lead to anything particular --- but that looked like a good spot to pause if you needed to walk along the highway.
We also stopped to admire a strange structure. By one off-ramp was a spot that looked like a garden area, with local plants. In the midst was this white-painted, blocky structure that looked like a very abstract bird, with red and green vertical stripes along the sides. There was a small metal walkway leading to it. But this was all closed off, locked away from the public. Something for utility workers? A bit of public green space that people can't actually go in? No idea.
So we went in to the Cuicuilco Pyramid area. It was Monday, so there were fewer people just hanging around or picnicking and nobody was shooting bow and arrow this time around. ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunny_hugger was no less enchanted by ``cacomixtle'' than I was. And she was much better at reading the Spanish-language signs. This would make the biggest difference inside the small museum, where there were monolingual signs and where my translation app had stumbled repeatedly. I had to promise her that yes, ``tejon'' does too mean ``coati'' in Mexican Spanish. (But in fairness, there isn't any reason that badgers wouldn't be in the Mexico City area so there is an unavoidable ambiguity in describing the animals of the area.)
Walking around the nature trail with bunny_hugger's eyes was great as where I saw ``plants'' she saw actual things, specific things. ... Also we noticed graffiti, names carved into the leaves of aloe plants, something I hadn't noticed on Saturday and that still seems bizarre. Some of the leaves were as full of names as an old school desk might be. We walked the long way around the whole nature trail, deep enough into the park it seemed hard to believe there was so much city around us. I could point to where Six Flags Mexico was --- still visible, but I think closed for the day, and with Christmas in the Park closed --- and try to share the weird feeling that inspired in me. Also I spotted some of the cats from Saturday, hiding in the taller plants, one grooming.
We figured to walk back the way I had Saturday, stopping first at that shopping mall for a snack and maybe something cool to drink. bunny_hugger poked, curious, into the Sanborns store that I thought was just a boring little clothing shop. Turns out it was a substantial department store, your classic style where there's a restaurant and toys and candy and clothes and electronics and greeting cards and telescopes and so on. She'd end up getting some candy, and looking long and hard at some of the tchotchkes. There were some great dragons and birds and such that were pricey, yes, but which ... if we were just confident we could get them back home intact we might have gone for after all.
But that was our last stop there. We nosed into the bookstore, for example, with bunny_hugger having a chance at actually reading anything and wondering at the great number of vinyl records the shop had. The store had a fair Philosophy section and it got us wondering whether there were any Great Philosophers, ones of historic import, who'd written natively in Spanish. Between us we could only think of maybe Spinoza, who apparently didn't write anything noteworthy in the vernacular. Aw well.
We did get around to the food court, where the restaurant that had all the kids and the clown tying balloon animals was nearly deserted. We just got sodas from the McDonald's, and bunny_hugger was tempted by but didn't get the apple pie, fried the way it was in our childhood, there. (I don't have the nostalgic attraction to fried McDonald's apple pies. We didn't get them much, if at all, when we were kids, probably because there were four of us kids and prices add up, the story of all our childhood activities.) We also saw that Coco was still playing, several times a day, pretty good considering the movie came out much closer to the Day of the Dead in Mexico.
We got some ice cream, and walked slowly back uphill. It took longer than you might expect. It's hard work walking steadily uphill, and the air was thinner than we maybe realized. Afterwards we recuperated in the hotel room, at least until dinner time. For this we realized we probably would have been better off eating at the mall, but we weren't hungry then. So we went back to the smaller mall, the one with the Best Buy. Rather than the IHOP we went back to the Crepes Corner, where bunny_hugger tried something new and I tried the same four-cheese crepe we'd had the other day. As I say, a day of retrenchment, of settling in to what was familiar, but not a mistake for doing that.
Trivia: By the early 1930s the Stern Brothers department store in New York City had the nickname of ``the show business store'', as around a hundred celebrities made appearances at its fashion shows and special events each year. Source: The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America's Great Department Stores, Robert Hendrickson.
Currently Reading: The League of Regrettable Superheroes, Jon Morris. I kinda know where this is all going but I'm curious how long it will take to get to The Whizzer.
PS: Reading the Comics, April 14, 2018: Friday the 13th Edition? Some comic strip talk.
PPS: And now to close out our trip to the Columbus Zoo where we actually stopped to observe like three animals.
Bad news! We hoped to get one last ride on Sea Dragon and what did we find?
Ah, but we just needed to be a bit patient. Here a test train's sent out; the ride would soon be open again and we could get a backseat ride.
And the Sea Dragon launch station, with the release lever on the left side, and a ride operator with the measuring-stick for kids to be allowed on off on the right.
