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Published: March 18th 2008
Hola from Mexico City--the epicenter of action packed adventure! As I send you this virtual postcard of sorts, the weather is just perfect...lovely in every way. The entire city is in full bloom, as the trees, called jacarandas, are dotted with small purple flowers. They are so pretty, I have remarked on them daily since we arrived two days ago. They are a fond remembrance of the time spent in Tokyo during cherry blossom season with my dear cousin! 😊
Where to begin? Well, both Brenda (of Brazil fame) and I had a rough spell due to the altitude, but alas, all is fine and well in that area. So Marina, we are not able to attribute all woes to the altitude as was the case in Peru. 😊 Although, I may be able to attribute the altitude as a factor into my own poor judgement, for on Sunday morning, bright and early we began our adventure to Teotihuacan. En route to Teotihuacan, we made a stop at La Villa de Guadalupe, the sight where an Aztec named Juan Diego saw a vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12, 1531. This sight is supposedly the holiest shrine in all of Mexico. Post our viewing and ingesting of the flurry of activity on Palm Sunday (which interestingly enough, both of our guides in the past two days only have attributed to Catholicism), We continued our trek toward Teotihuacan, approximately 30 miles west of Mexico City.
Teotihuacan is quite a spectacular sight. Teotihuacan, pronounced (teh-oh-tee-wa-can), was one of the first planned urban centers in the Americas. Estimates place the empire around 600 AD with a population of approximately 200,000 people, thus making it one of the largest cities in the world at that time. The complex contains two ginormous pyramids, the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun. The Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest in all of the world. Following in the footsteps of so many spectators of this awesome structure, we climbed the Pyramid of the Sun to take in the remains of the planned community of Teotihuacan. And perhaps this was my mistake...perhaps I upset the sun gods, as later in the day I realized, much to my dismay, that I had acquired a rather unpleasant and unsightly sunburn. 😞 Surprisingly my pathetically pale white skin never burns...with the exception of two other scenarios. Once after swimming in the ocean when I was in college, and another time when my family went on a month long vacation, stopping in Aspen, when I was twelve. The altitude was the culprit then as seems to be the case now. So unfortunately I have a rather unbecoming farmer-like tan in a radiant shade of red...well perhaps lobster Wendy is a more apt description. Cést la vie.
Post our travels to Teotihuacan, returning back to Mexico City circa 4 pm, we went directly past go and straight to the Museum of Anthropology. This museum is renowned worldwide...and it seems that you can take a vicarious tour of all the other historically significant areas in Mexico walking through this amazing museum. It was incredible, and that is definitely an understatement! But after experiencing over 2000 years of history, my was my brain tired (and my feet too). So post closing of the museum at 7 pm we took a taxi from Chapultepec Park to the Palacio de Belles Artes, a beautiful art deco building in Alameda Central, and saw a performance of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, which was spectacular! Needless to say we crashed immediately upon our return to our hotel!
Today was busy, but slightly more leisurely than yesterday! We had a city tour of the Zocalo, which is the largest square in Latin America. Within this square, the Palacio Nacional, the building where the president of Mexico and other government is housed. Also painted on the walls of this structure are numerous murals by the infamous (and often controversial) Diego Rivera. His frescos cover an impressive span of time in Mexican history, and it was fun to see some of the images I have seen in art history text books come to life. So many other incredible buildings and tales were shared with us, but alas my brain is growing tired. For after our city tour, we undertook quite the walking adventure. Through the neighborhoods of Roma and Condesa (which seem to be most closely aligned with Soho in NYC), stopping for a late lunch a yummy restaurant called Contramar (where delicious shrimp tacos were consumed by moi and non-swimmer nutrients by Brenda) we continued our meandering walking. Hours and hours later, we were stuck in a quagmire of sorts, as we were trapped amidst a closed park and roadways that were impossible to cross, so we were forced to take the subway, the only option before us, in the direction of a restaurant that was recommended by three of my co-workers. Nearly four hours later, after a lot of foot mileage, we located the Hacienda de los Morales, in the Polanco neighborhood (deemed the Beverly Hills of Mexico City) only to find, woefully, that it was closed for Holy Week. But alas, all is fine and well, and the weather is lovely. Tomorrow, our last full day in Mexico City will be spent visiting some of the sights where Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera lived and worked and the University (one of the largest in the world). And I am sure more adventures await!
Post Mexico City we are off to Oaxaca for a few days, and I am hoping and planning to bring some warm weather home with me!!
Hope all is splendid and well with you & that your green day was both fun & festive!
Adios!
Wendy
P.S. Fitch, thanks for looking after my furry creatures and taking us to the airport (and correcting my grammar, I think 😊!!
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Cousin Michael
non-member comment
aw shucks
Thanks for the Tokyo memories. I'd love to see Mexico City some day.