MEXICO CITY - pt1

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Sunday 26th September

Mexico city (pop 9 million!) 21 million people in the Mexican city metro area make it the third largest city in the world!!!
We realised the sheer size of the city as we reached the outskirts as it took us over a hour just to get to the town center and another half hour to our hotel on 5th Mayo Avenue. We could see the city sprawling out before us and up the sides of neighbouring mountains, shadowed by a few extinct volcanoes and one still active volcano. It was busy with traffic but not as bad as we expected as its never at a standstill and we were always moving along slowly.
There are the customary car horns blaring every opportunity and street hustlers walk the road approaching stationary cars trying to sell water, sweets and fruit!!

We approached Avenue 5th Mayo where our holiday inn was and its a very nice and clean street. The 5th of is a famous date for mexicans as the date they defeated the French and drove them out of Mexico.
Our holiday inn is right beside the Zocalo square which is one of the biggest squares in the world and is in the heart of the historic center. It has been a gathering place for Mexicans since Aztec times, having been the site of Mexica ceremonies, the swearing in of viceroys, royal proclamations and military parades.
It is bordered by the Cathedral to the north, the National Palace to the east, the Federal District buildings to the south and the Old Portal de Mercaderes to the west, the Nacional Monte de Piedad building at the north-west corner, with the Templo Mayor site to the northeast, just outside of view. In the center is a flagpole with an enormous Mexican flag ceremoniously raised and lowered each day and carried into the National Palace.

The bicenteinery celebrations have added a new feel to it judging by the lights and decorations that cover the buildings and churches surrounding the square. There must have been some party here on the 15th and 16th for the 200 years independence!!

To be honest Mexico city center is not what we expected as its very clean and has lots of excellent shops, bars and restaurants. Street performers are every ten paces ranging from clowns, still performers, musicians, comedians and dancers most of which are great to see.

We feel really safe too as there is a large police presence here because on every street you'll see about 4 policemen and women patrolling about and most are friendly enough to smile or help give directions.
Its a peice of mind that all cash machines have a guard outside them as do all banks and most jewellers.

We walked to the other side of the Zocalo square as something was happening to the crowds as people were being ushered away from the center of the square by soldiers in uniforms. We then realised that they were about to lower the massive 40ft Mexican flag flying from a pole in the center of the square. This was all done in a grand ceremony with about 100 Mexican soldiers in full regalia doing trumpet guided maneuvers. Very impressive indeed!

There are about three or four quarter mile streets that house all the main shops and they are pedestrianised so we walked around in sheer
awe at some of the buildings that can be seen in and around the city center. We got our bearings and located the tube stations and taxi stops for future reference then headed back to the hotel as it was getting dark.

Back at the hotel we got freshened up and headed up to the rooftop restaurant for dinner. It was a totally amazing experience as the views from the top of the building looked over the Zocalo Square which was now lit up with thousands of green, red and white lights; the mexican colours of the flag!!

We quickly booked our tours for tomorrow and got a good nights sleep as we have a lot on tomorrow.

Monday 27th September

We had yogurt and granola for breakfast and then a 5 minute walk to our bus stop to meet Pepe our tour guide from la bamba tours.

On the bus journey Pepe explains that Mexico city was built on a large lake hundreds of years ago so therefore a lot of buildings in the city are actually lop sided and are sinking back into the ground. We noticed some on these buildings over the next few days.

First stop was "Square of the Three Cultures" - The Plaza de las Tres Culturas. The name "Three Cultures" is in recognition of the three periods of Mexican history reflected by those buildings pre-Columbian, Spanish colonial, and the independent "mestizo" nation.
When the spanish conquered this city they destroyed the temples and built the cathedral here with the blocks from the ruins. The church was nice inside and it has a very large roof and has lots of interesting features inside and out such as art and stonework.

Next stop the much anticipated Basilica's of Our Lady of Guadalupe which is is a Roman Catholic church and National Shrine of Mexico in the north of Mexico City.
Situated here is the Old and New basilica, Capuchin nuns' Temple, Indians' Chapel, Pocito Chapel, Saint Michael chapel and finally the baptistry.
The new Basilica houses the original tilma (or apron) of Juan Diego that shows the icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is one of the most important pilgrimage site of Catholicism and is visited by several million people every year.

The old basilica (built 1531 finished 1709!) was sinking as a result of the weakness of the ground so they built a new one.
The modern basilica was built between 1974 and 1976 and the structure is supported by a major pylon that prevents the shrine from sinking in the unstable subsoil. Its a very nice building indeed and can house up to 10,000 worshippers. Temporary seats are often placed in the atrium that allow up to 40,000 people to take part of the Mass and other ritual celebrations.

We walked pass these two basilica's around to the Pocito Chapel, which means chapel of the little well, and then we walked around the offering monuments. The gardens here are in pristine condition and its very peaceful walking around and up the hundred odd steps to the Saint Michael chapel on top of the hill. We spent a good hour here before moving on to our next destination which was a hour drive out of the city to the Teotihuacan ruins.

The Teotihuacan ruins are an enormous archaeological site 25 miles NE of Mexico city, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas.
We arrived at the the Obsidian glass factory and got a guided tour of the place and shown how ancient Mexican tribes used this volcanic rock in various ways such as hunting, cooking and building. We were also shown how they made fabrics and knitted using cactus, (some similarities to the zapotec rug makers as mentioned before) and we were given a tour of the Obsidian shop. We bought a Obsidian figure we've had our eye on since Chichen Itza.

The Mexican tribes all used this hard and sharp rock for cutting the stones for building structures as well as making arrow heads and various household tools. Next to the factory was the entrance to the Teotihuacan ruins and after a quick buffet lunch we all headed inside the site and it was breathtaking seeing the enormous pyramids.

This site is a tad controversial as some of the buildings were rebuilt too much where they shouldve been left as they were but as ill explain later there was a reason for this.

We had a short guide around where the residential areas once stood and explored the insides of tombs which were very interesting in the way they were constructed. Then we proceeded to climb both the large pyramids, (the sun and the moon pyramid) which was exhausting as they are very high indeed and steep!! Its a lot harder coming down as the steps are easily 8 inch high and to think the Mexican tribes were just little niaffs aswell!!

The city was thought to have been established around 200 BC, lasting until its fall sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries, within this time it may have had more than 200,000 inhabitants.
The site covers a total surface area of 83km². You get a great view from the top of the main pyramid of the sun. its completed size of 225 meters across and 75 meters high, makes it the third largest pyramid in the world, being slightly smaller than Great Pyramid of Giza (230 meters).
Across from here you can see the equally impressive pyramid of the moon. We also climbed up this pyramid and took in the views and photo opportunities!
So much too see here!!!

We then all walked down the Avenue of the Dead which is the center walkway. Further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent.
There are structures, reservoirs along this avenue that were designed to change the flow of the nearby river and to stop floodings. They were ahead of their time as there is evidence of toilets and showers with running water and proper sanitation. Sounds better than some of the hostel we've stayed in recently!

Interesting story.....The Pyramid of the Sun was restored to celebrate the centennial of Mexican War of Independence in 1910 by the president of that time. He spent a lot of time and money getting it ready for the 1910 celebrations so he could parade himself on top of the pyramid in an act of power. 1 month later the Famous Mexican Revolution started..😊

Finally we reached the bottom of the waterways after a hour of exploring and were glad to see the bus waiting for us with refreshments at the end of a gruelling day!! we'll sleep well tonight.

Tuesday 28th September

Today we thought we would be smart and walk to the 'Condesa'. This is the trendy part of
Mexico city where the cool shops and boutiques are. Colonia Condesa and this area of the city is considered to be one of the most fashionable, especially among young business people, artists, students and others.
One full hour in a frenzied like walk we realised we were only halfway there, and being commited to the cause, we carried on another 40 minutes. We finally arrive at a very nice
cafe and had a long seat in the sun and some soda's to cool down as it was scorching hot today.

Once our feet had come back to normal temperature we toddled off through the streets that resembled soho in New York and did some window shopping all the time wishing we had a third rucksack to carry all the nice clothes we couldve bought!!!
We walked down Amsterdam Street which was cool as the Condesa has a number
of examples of older Art Deco and Art Nouveau architecture, as well as innovative modern designs, which give it an overall European touch blended with Bohemian styles. Chapultepec street is the main street to visit along with nuevo Leon street....with a name like that you cannae go wrong!! 😊

We caught a taxi back to the historic center. It turned out we walked three miles and couldve caught a underground tube for a pound each which would taken 5 minutes!!

We arrived at the Financial district and from here we walked about a bit more just to remind us we had blisters in the places we didn't know we had places!
Before heading home we gingerly hopped into a local bar and had a few beers whilst watching reruns of the football we had missed the night before....The delicious organic ice cream we had on the way home helped erase the aches and pain...We have a historic city tour in the morning which involves a hefty 4 hour walkabout, i feel a sickie coming on!! 😊

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Photos

Plaza de las Tres Culturas
"Square of the Three Cultures"

Plaza de las Tres Culturas
"Square of the Three Cultures"