On the 16th of September we went to El Pueblo de Los Angeles, aka Olvera street. We LOVE to go there, and go there often, but today we went for an official tour which we have never done before. This was part of the local history and geography that we are working on. I was AMAZED at the history of LA that I only knew a little bit about. We toured the Avila adobe house, which is right on Olvera Street and is the first house built in LA. (Built in 1818!) We also toured LA's first firehouse, saw "The Pico House," ( LA's first grand hotel) and learned about the Leo Politi mural-- "The Blessing of the Animals." All of these are in the plaza right next to Olvera Street. We also learned about the 11 families that traveled from Mexico to settle the Los Angeles area in 1781 under the rule of Juan Carlos III. We picked September 16th to come because it is Mexico's day of Independence from Spain. On this day in 1810 Father Hidalgo led the indigenous peasants of Mexico in a revolt against Spain. It took 11 years, and a few wars, but Mexico finally won their independence in 1821. The blue and yellow mural is a depiction of the revolt, by Eduardo Carillo. It was fun to be at Olvera Street for the celebrating! I love Mexico's history and culture which I proudly claim as my own.
By the way, an exchange student came to live with us on Sept. 14th. She is all the way from Korea. Her name is Bokyung, but her nickname is Alex. She came with us to Olvera Street. She is awesome, we love her!
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