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Published: November 11th 2006
after a day in acapulco, we headed to mexico city and have spent two days exploring. we are staying in the historical center, which houses some of the most beautiful buildings i have ever seen. our hostel is a block away from the zocalo, the heart of the city, which is surrounded by the national palace and the cathedral. using actual building materials from aztec ruins, the cathedral was built on top of these ruins. a small chunk of excavated ruins, which survived the spaniard destruction, are less than 50 meters away from the cathedral. construction of the cathedral started in the 1500s and took 300 years to complete...wow!
the first day we did our own walking tour and noticed that all of the buildings are crooked...doorways and windows vividly lopsided. (pictures to come) the second day we did an organized tour and learned the reason for this....the city was built on a lake bed. as a result of the people of mexico city extracting water to use for living, the clay upon which the city is built is drying up and the city is sinking. the cathedral was beginning to split in two, so engineers were brought in and they used metal rods plunged deep into the earth to save the building. the fact that the city is built on a lake bed, over aztec ruins, makes the existence of their metro seem impossible. mexico city has an impressive, underground metro system....in one of the underground stations you can see the remains of some aztec ruins...instead of destroying them, the engineers built around them.
as part of the walking tour we visited the national palace which houses the presidents office and is home to many of diego riveras murals. (again, pictures to come) a huge mural is painted over the steps leading to the second floor...it depicts the origins of mexico and the struggle for independence. it was great to have a guide point out the scenes and explain their meanings.
last night we went to a mexican wrestling match...lucha libre. apparently mexico has the largest wrestling fan population and lucha libre is a big part of mexican culture...including the colorful masks. it was SOOOOO fun to watch the matches. viva luca libre!!!
today we are going to the floating gardens of xochimilco and to the city of coyoacan (frida kahlo museum and the home of trotsky).
well, i should get going...people are waiting for the computer. hope you are all well and smiling.
love,
me
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JLU
non-member comment
Cool
Sounds very cool and now I know what that Jack Black movie is supposed to be about! Everytime I would see a commercial for it, I would think to my self "what the heck!" and "why". LOL