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Published: August 15th 2006
Mexico City, now one of the world’s largest cities with over 20 million inhabitants, all began because of a random sighting. When the Aztecs happened upon an eagle sitting perched atop of a cactus with a snake in its beak sometime in the 14th century, they believed they had found the center of the universe. Being such, it was only fitting that they build a great monument and a city around it. Never mind that it was in the middle of a vast lake.
Luckily, the Aztecs were able to conceive of a way of building on the lake surface that involved creating islands by driving wooden piles deep into the lake floor and then filling in this area with mud and vegetation. And on top of these islands now lies the traffic, the skyscrapers, the factories and the smog that is Mexico City, but not without a little intervention from the Spaniards first. It turns out that the arrival of Cortes and his men closely resembled the legend of the second-coming of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. Using the warm reception to his advantage, Cortes was able to move in and quash the Aztec empire (of almost 2 million people)
in two years time.
He and his men destroyed Tenochitlan (the name of the Aztecan city of islands) and its glorious temple marking the center of the universe (the Templo Mayor) and built their new civilization smack down on where it once was. Plunk. And from here Mexico City grew and expanded and filled in the lake on which it all began (hence the way many of the buildings are leaning and slowly sinking). In fact, it wasn’t until 1978 when public works crews discovered a massive 8 ton stone disc of an Aztecan goddess, Coyolxauhqui, did they decide to excavate the area and found the impressive ruins of the lost city.
Nowadays, the Templo Mayor has been excavated and the ruins of the ancient temple are opened for the public to enjoy/contemplate. However, most of the old city still lies in crumbles beneath colonial mansions and churches and modern day hotels and shopping centers. In fact, the city’s main plaza (the Zocolo), the National Palace, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and our hostel all sit on top of the sacred Aztec ceremonial site where hundreds of thousands of victims were gruesomely sacrificed in order to appease the insatiable sun
god (20,000 victims were sacrificed in one ceremony lasting four days). Paul says it kinda makes George Bush look alright. I think it’s kind of creepy.
And currently, in this very same spot, Mexico City is in the midst of making some new history. With the controversial presidential election results where the two parties finished neck and neck and Fox’s predecessor, Calderon, just barely coming up on top (we’re talking less than a percent difference), people are raising a stink. Apparently, some folks aren’t so happy with the way Fox has run the country over the last six years and are claiming that the elections were a fraud and that the more liberal candidate, Lopez Obrador, did in fact win. To show their disapproval, thousands of passionate citizens are camped out in the Zocolo across from the National Palace as well as in other prominent plazas and parks in the city. They’ve already been here for weeks and refuse to go home until each vote is recounted by hand. The fact that poor and indigenous Mexicans have been exploited by the richer, mestizo populations for centuries and the fact that historically Mexico’s presidential elections have been fraught with fraud,
Stormy days for Mexico
Election protestors camped out in the zocolomake it easier to understand why thousands of Mexicans lean a little more toward the socialist/communist side of the spectrum and are willing to put up a fight.
And it certainly made for a lot of excitement as we walked to and from our hostel each day. As a matter of fact, going to bed with Vicente Fox sleeping across the street and the ghosts of thousands of ancient peoples with their hearts ripped out milling about in our backyard makes our hostel, Hostal Moneda, a unique piece of real estate. It’s also a really interesting hostel if you’re heading to Mexico City and looking for a place to stay anytime soon. All of the rooms are private rooms (instead of dorms) with their own bathrooms which makes for an older, quieter international clientele. Furthermore, a breakfast and dinner buffet are included in the price and served on the rooftop terrace (from which you can see the palace, cathedral, Templo Mayor, and the tops of the tents of the protestors in the Zocolo). They also offer lots of tours (including a trip to see Lucha Libre wrestling) and a couple of free walking tours around the city.
But
enough free advertising, you’re probably wondering what the heck we did in Mexico City besides gawk at protestors and walk around the ruins in the middle of the city. Well, we also visited the fascinating and overwhelming Museum of Anthropology where we filled our heads with all sorts of interesting facts about the many and varied ancient indigenous groups of Mexico, including the Olmecs, Mixtecs, Zapotecs, Toltecs, Aztecs, and Mayans, just to name a handful. But the truth of the matter is that all of them overlapped and mixed together through wars and trade that it became exceedingly difficult to remember specifics about any of the groups. And this is only the 12 exhibition halls of the first floor.
On the top floor, the museum displays how Mexico’s indigenous groups live today. Here we learned a bit about modern Mayans in Chiapas and the Yucatan and the Tarahumara in the Copper Canyon as well as a couple of dozen of other groups scattered around Mexico about whom I’ve already forgotten so much. One such people, the Totonacs put on a fantastic show in front of the museum. Five men climb 50 or so meters up a pole to a
The Voladores
Now it makes sense, right? small frame which is mounted on the top. One of the men sits on top and plays a drum and flute while the four others slowly descend upside down while rotating around the pole by a rope tied to their wastes. I know that this probably makes very little sense, but bear with me. Besides, that’s why we have Paul’s great photos. They call these acrobats ‘voladores’ or ‘flyers’ for you non-Spanish-speaking folks and they are beautiful to watch and were friendly enough to let me pose with them for a blog shot.
The next day we ventured 50 kilometers north to Teotihuacan to wander the ruins and pyramids of one of the largest empires (and first planned cities) of ancient Latin America. The city began in the 1st century and grew to a size of nearly 250,000 before its mysterious decline around 800 AD. In fact, very little is known about these early ancient predecessor to the Aztecs, but it is thought that they were a little less barbaric and more peace-loving (which really isn’t a major feat if you’re comparing them to the gruesome Aztecs). They are also famous for the enormous pyramids they built. One of
which, the Temple of the Sun (which was completed around 200 AD), is the third largest pyramid in the world with a 213 square meter base and 64 meters in height using 3 million tons of rock and other materials without the use of the wheel or domesticated animals. The Aztecs later revered Teotihuacan as a sacred ceremonial center and made pilgrimages here to honor the gods and giants who they believed sacrificed themselves so that their world could begin. They named the vast road on which the site is centered “The Avenue of the Dead” believing that the dozens of pyramids that were constructed alongside it were tombs for their giant predecessors.
For us, visiting Teotihuacan was nearly as impressive as it must have been for the Aztecs. While I had been here before, I was no less awed by the workmanship and beautiful murals still preserved in some of the more protected surfaces of the temples. It’s so much fun to explore the ruins and climb the great pyramids imagining them as they were in their glory, brightly painted in red, green, yellow, and blue with details of glistening gold mica and shiny black obsidian. It is
also quite a workout as the site is at an altitude of 2300 meters (about 7000 feet) and the many steps (240 on the Temple of the Sun alone)are unbelievably steep.
We also visited lots of murals by Diego Rivera, Mexico’s controversial communist muralist and Frida Kahlo’s lecherous husband. While I don’t think so highly of the man’s personal life, I have been enamored by his massive murals since the first time I laid my eyes on them and felt utterly obligated to drag Paul around to see as many of his murals as we could. The fact that Rivera believed that art should be for all of people and not just the bourgeoisie makes it pretty easy. Most of his work is on public buildings and spaces and can be seen for free or close to it.
We visited his museum in the Alameda Central (sort of like Central Park) where rich folk in Diego’s day would go for a stroll. There we admired his famous mural which depicts all sorts of colorful historical figures (as well as a couple of his wives) taking a stroll in the Alameda. It’s sort of déjà vu-like. We also visited
the elegant art nouveau Palace of Fine Art (Palacio de las Bellas Artes) where Diego recreated one of his most famous murals. This mural was originally commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller to grace one of the walls in Rockefeller Center. Apparently Nelson didn’t have a clue about the leftist leanings of the artist and promptly destroyed Diego’s mural when he noticed the anti-capitalist messages. The president of Mexico, recognizing the opportunity, quickly asked Diego to recreate the now famous mural for the new national arts center.
But my favorite Diego building is the Secretary of Public Education building which is a beautiful colonial structure with three floors and two enormous interior patios. Every single wall on the inside of the building is awash in Rivera’s murals. It is a wonder how he had time to cavort with his many girlfriends and to produce so much wonderful art. The guy must have never slept.
Perhaps, our favorite things about Mexico City though were all the unexpected surprises we stumbled upon. For instance, I had heard from a fellow student that it was possible to climb up the bell towers of the cathedral. What we didn’t know was how fantastic the
climb and tour would be. Not only did we get to see all the enormous bells (some weighing in at 13 tons), but we also got to climb around the roof of the cathedral admiring the breathtaking view in all directions. Best of all was the fifteen minute bell performance we were treated to by four very talented (and strong) men who, like octopuses, somehow managed to ring almost all of the 56 bells of the cathedral while we enjoyed the show sitting on the roof. It was thrilling.
We also saw the Virgin of the Metro (a water stain in the shape of the Virgin Mary found on the floor of one of the metro stations and now enshrined on a busy street corner) and ate at a diner owned by a famous ex-Lucha Libre wrestler. Here the walls are covered with various wrestlers’ many masks, and you can get a sandwich that weighs in at a hefty 1.3 kilos (about 3 pounds). We opted for normal sized sandwiches but they were still massive. And the most exciting thing of all in Mexico City was that I was able to pick up my temporary residence visa from the
Australian Embassy. It feels good to know that Australia will for sure let me come to stay for awhile.
All in all it was a great four days with none of the muggings and little of the smog that Mexico City has been famous for in the past. In fact, the city and the country as a whole seems a lot cleaner, friendlier, and tamer than I remember. Maybe I’m just getting older and attract less attention or maybe it’s because Paul is with me, but for me these have been very welcome changes.
And then we were off on an excruciating 11 hour night bus to a sweaty oil city in the gulf called Villahermosa. I was dreading it. I remembered the city as being ugly and dirty and hot as hell when a friend and I stopped over here when we were backpacking several years ago. In fact, the only reason we decided to stop here at all was to see my good friend, Darwing, whom I met when I was teaching nearby six years ago. But holy mackanoly, talk about change. The city is gorgeous now with so many new places to see and fun
things to do. It was such a great time catching up with Darwing and exploring the place.
First we went to La Venta, a zoo/archaeological park where you can see some artifacts and carvings from the one of the oldest civilizations in the Americas about whom we still know very little. The Olmecs are thought to have lived in the southern gulf area since around 2000 BC and are most famous for their enormous carved basalt heads a few of which we got to see at La Venta. These heads are so impressive not only for being large (the largest found to date weighs over 24 tons and is over 2 meters across), but also because they are carved from single rocks which had to have been hauled from over a hundred kilometers away (again without the use of the wheel or domesticated animals). The park is beautiful too with the extraordinary carvings nestled into the gorgeous green jungle with exotic birds and furry little creatures with long snouts roaming around. One of the pretty, exotic birds decided to relieve himself on Darwing and I—not so pretty after that.
Darwing, Paul, and I also rented a little rowboat
and paddled around the lake (admittedly Paul did most of it) admiring the storks and beautiful old mansions and sipped a few beers with lime on the lakeside patio of a chic bistro. The evening was spent strolling along Villahermosa’s new riverfront boardwalk where we caught a bit of “The Naked Gun” at the city’s groovy open air cinema (with a massive inflatable screen) and tried out a few of the open air bars (one even served Spanish-style tapas and good wine) while being treated to some live music and fire juggling. It was such a fantastic day and so good to see you again, Darwing!!
Now we’re in San Cristobal de la Casas high in the mountains of Chiapas one of the states with the highest populations of indigenous people and lowest standards of livings. Paul and I are looking forward to spending several relaxing days here learning more about how the Mayans live today and exploring the beautiful countryside before heading off to Palenque to see us some more ancient ruins.
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rebecca
non-member comment
hi
hey case and paul! i love following along on your journey. you are seeing such amazing and beautiful places. dana and i miss you both! lots of hugs and love from tennessee.