On February 11th I went with the Club Rotario Plateros Centro Histórico on a guided visit of Los Pinos, the official residence and offices of Mexico's president (currently Felipe Calderón).
Los Pinos used to be a Ranch called Rancho de los Hormigas (Ranch of the Ants). The Mexican government purchased it and when President Lázaro Cárdenas took office in 1934 he decided to live there. He changed the name (really? Ranch of the Ants?) to Los Pinos (the pines) -- not because there were Pine Trees, but because the huerta (garden? orchard?) in Michoacán where he met his wife was called Los Pinos.
Unlike the White House in the United States,
Los Pinos includes seven different houses, of various sizes and designs. They were built over the years and their purposes have changed -- four have been used as the presidential residence. Unfortunately we didn't get to go in to any of the buildings, but we walked by them and through the gardens and statues of all the presidents that have lived there.
We were only allowed to take photos at the very beginning and end of tour-- hence the limited photos.
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Club Rotario Plateros Centro Histórico and guests
on the guided tour of Los Pinos |
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| Fellow Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, Billy, and I |
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if you look closely (or zoom in) you can see some of the
statues of the former presidents, which line the path |
