Mexico City

In the newer part of the campus:

The Faculty of Political Science, where my daughter studies:



The Faculty of Sciences, where my second son studied:



The statue of Prometheus at "Sciences"

The building of Postgraduate Studies in Economics (did I mention that my wife also studied economics at UNAM?)



The Biomedicine Research Institute



And a long etcetera generically known among students as "Brain Village", with (I copy/pasted, and will let you translate):

Instituto de Ciencias del mar y Limnología
Instituto de Fisiología Celular
Instituto de Geofísica
Instituto de Geografía
Instituto de Ingeniería
Museo de Zoología
Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera
Centro de Información Científica y Humanística
Centro para la Innovación Tecnológica
Coordinación de la Investigación Científica
Instituto de Astronomía
Instituto de Física
Instituto de Geología
Instituto de Matemáticas
Instituto de Química
Museo de Paleontología
Programa Universitario de Alimentos
Programa Universitario del Medio Ambiente
Programa Universitario de Investigación en Salud
Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares
Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiales
Centro de Instrumentos
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas
Programa Universitario de Energía
Programa Universitario de Investigación y Desarrollo Espacial
TV UNAM
Coordinación de Humanidades
Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas
Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas
Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas
Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas
Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas
Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas
Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales
Programa Universitario de Estudios de Género

Past "Brain Village", we arrive to CCU (Centro Cultural Universitario), the University Cultural Center:

It has, among other things:

Universum Museum (science):



Sala Nezahualcóyotl (classical music concerts)



Juan Ruiz de Alarcón Theater:


MUCA arts museum (for modern art, very very good)



And several restaurants and cafeterias.

I'm going to check out the architects (but not this evening). Nag me if I forget.

There are a series of sculptures next and around CCU:





When they were children, my kids loved to walk over the serpent





And the jewel is called Espacio Escultórico, that uses the natural lava landscape and is very hard to photograph as a whole:

So rich, I had no idea.

I guess it's now time to answer osso's several pages old question about university studies in Mexico.

In Mexico City it works as follows.
Every year 320,000 9th grade students take a test, perhaps similar to the old US NEDT, to assign them a public high school (we have a 6 year grade school, a 3 year secondary school and a 3 year "preparatoria"). They choose their priorities, and get into their first, second, third or upteenth choice, according to the result of the exam.
There are roughly, 6 types of high school. And according to demand, they rank like this:
1. UNAM high schools.
2. IPN high schools.
3. Colegio de Bachilleres (Federal High School)
4. State of Mexico High Schools
5. CETIS (Technical schools)
6. Conalep (another kind of technical school)

Practically every one wants to get into UNAM or IPN high schools, because if you make it, and have acceptable grades in high school, you pass directly to the National University or the Politechnical Institute.
About 15% of applicants make it to UNAM high schools, and a similar percentage to those of IPN. The others are doomed to lower level schooling (but even some Conaleps are in high demand, for example the one at the airport, where you become an aircraft maintenance technician) for the next stage.

The kids who made it to UNAM high schools need to have a certain marks average to get automatic pass to the University. The average depends on the outside demand of the career they pursue. If they want to study medicine, they need 92/100, if they choose political science, they need 84/100; if they chose Latin American Studies, only 70/100. A similar method is used for IPN.

In order to get into UNAM, IPN or UAM undergraduate studies, there is another exam for those outside the "system" (or for everyone, in the case of UAM). For UNAM, only 9 % of applicants have a place. For the others, the rank is between 12 and 16%.
If you want to go to the university and don't get a place in either UNAM, IPN or UAM, your choice is:
To apply to UACM, the University of Mexico City, public, but very poorly regarded.
To go to a private university. If you're not rich, there are several cheap quack colleges (a true explosion during the Conservatives tenure 2000-2012). If you are at least middle class, or had a very good average at your high school and can get a scholarship, there are several good, but expensive, private universities. The most reknown are ITAM, Iberoamericana and ITESM. Some others are good only at some careers: (La Salle, medicine; Unitec, dentistry; ELD, law).

UNAM is free (well, the fee is equal to a little more than 1 american cent a year, but usually the students decide to pay the equivalent between 10 and 100 dollars). UAM and IPN are dirt cheap: IPN, about $20, a semester; UAM, about $12 a trimester).

Ok, thank you, fb.
I'll probably read that more than once.

South of Churubusco, there are several middle and lower-middle class neighborhoods. Colonia Educación, Ciudad Jardín, Colonia Avante, Colonia Espartaco... I think you've seen enough middle and lower-middle class neighborhoods for me to keep on posting pictures of them.

Just a bit more down South of the city, but still at Delegación Coyoacán, we arrive at the town of San Pablo Tepetlapa, which has interesting "Day of the Dead" celebrations...



... the Museum of the Automobile (right next to the place you used to make all the car paperwork)



And, most importantly, Museo Anahuacalli:



It was designed by Diego Rivera, and it houses his important collection of pre-columbine art:

And a bit farther south, we find Estadio Azteca, the biggest stadium in the country, with seating capacity of 114,000.



Two World Cup finals have been held there (I don't think there's another stadium in the world with that record).
It is the home of the hated América team.

We move to another delegación, Alvaro Obregón, west of Coyoacán and Benito Juárez.



Alvaro Obregón is perhaps the borough in the city with the starkest income and human development contrasts.

We start at the monument to Alvaro Obregón, at Insurgentes Avenue.

Alvaro Obregón was the true winner of the Mexican Revolution. He defeated revolutionaries to his right (Carranza) and to his left (Zapata and Villa).

The monument is at the site where the restaurant "La Bombilla" stood.

Alvaro Obregón was shot to death in that restaurant by a Catholic fanatic, in 1928, during a meal to celebrate his election as President (he had been President also in 1920-24).



The monument is on a park, appropriately named "Parque de La Bombilla"

Obregón lost his hand in the Battle of Celaya, where he defeated Villa's forces.

For decades, his clutched hand preserved in formaldehyde, was shown inside the monument.



If you think a parent is crazy to take his kids to watch the hand, think twice. He wrote this post.

Very near La Bombilla, we find one of the most characteristic towns inside Mexico City, San Ángel:











It is (you may have guessed) a posh place to live.

At the center of San Angel, famous Plaza San Jacinto:



It has a park, and a bazaar for antiques, and also paintings:

The monument to the Irish Martyrs of the St. Patrick's Batallion is at Plaza San Jacinto.



Six of the men were hung there by the Americans, after the defeat at Churubusco. four others were hung at Mixcoac. Fifty were hung at Chapultepec. The rest were branded a "D", for desertor with iron in their cheeks.

San Angel has a cute handcrafts (and flowers and food) market:





It has a naif mural:

I didn't know Diego Rivera designed buildings, neat.

Hah!

Also at San Angel, the Museum of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
Their twin painting studios.



It is a weird place. Architectonically, I find it very interesting.





The building was designed by Juan O'Gorman, the author of the murals at the Central Library of UNAM.