Kahlo, Trotsky, and fried grasshoppers

Frida Kahlo’s house gives a real insight into her life and times. There’s a little hand drawn plan of the place near the start on which she wrote something like “my house isn’t comfortable, but it is pretty” which sums the place up nicely. The house is lovely and the courtyard in particular is a haven of calm, but it doesn’t seem like a nice place to live. It could also be taken as a metaphor for her life – this huge, wonderful personality trapped in an uncomfortable body.

The house was the site of numerous interesting events including the fact that Leon Trotsky took refuge there when he went into exile in Mexico. After his affair with Frida, Trotsky moved around the corner onto a fortified house of his own. That house is also fascinating – bullet holes in the wall stand testament to the first, failed, assassination attempt. You can stand in the study where the Soviet agent successfully killed Trotsky with an ice axe.

After lunch we went further South to the Museo Anahuacalli. This is a building purpose built by Diego Rivera to house his and Frida Kahlo’s collection of artefacts. It was interesting enough but a bit too full of itself (weird sounds as background noise in the rooms) and lacking much explanation.

The Coyoacan Markets were our final stop and something completely different. A vibrant market full of colour and action, it was fun to just wander about and watch everything. I bought a bag of fried grasshoppers, but didn’t get much beyond a taste. More chewy than expected and tasting mostly of the chili they are fried in.