Lost In Translation

It is a little known fact, at this point, that the KC Matchgirl was once fluent in Spanish.  Once, as in, when I studied the language in my formative years, to the extent that I was awarded "membership" in the Spanish Honor Society.  While I would hardly consider myself fluent today, I could read the name on this matchbook that hails from Mexico.

Featuring a scenic view with a reflection of a building, palm trees, festive colored lights, the spray of a fountain, I surmised that Del Lago (The Lake) must be a resort.  In this age of search engines, all I have to do is type in "Del Lago resort" and it takes me to a resort of the same name- in Maine. (What?)

Looking inside this deluxe matchbook (40 matches) the next clue is "nuevo bosque de Chapultepec", of which I can only translate 2 out of 4 words.  But I know Chapultepec is a place name, so I type that into the search engine and Bing! (I actually used Yahoo)  After some scrolling and clicking, I found an image that matches the lake, the fountain, and a building.

Bosque de Chapultepec is a huge park in Mexico City that dates back to the early 1900's. The nuevo (new) Chapultepec was created in 1964, with a larger lake, the Monumental Fountain, and several lakeside restaurants.  

Did I mention that Chapultepec was huge?  There are 3 lakes, a zoo, museums, an amusement park- and Del Lago!  Which is actually a restaurant, not a resort.

But, somehow the building was not exactly the one pictured on the matchbook, even though the phone number is the same.  Current photos seemed to show a larger, more modern building- could it be that Del Lago had been remodeled?

Alas, one can not find everything on the internet, or in English either.  But a Flickr search turned up a photo merely captioned "Mexico City 1968" that showed a blurry Del Lago in the background behind some canoers on the lake, matching the building on the matchbook.

Since the change in its overall appearance, the restaurant is now named El Lago and is known for its international cuisine.  There is a lovely view of the lake and fountain from the tall, angled windows.