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Published: March 31st 2008
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Mexico City - Roundabout
With cars going both ways around it So my mum and dad finally got here. After various dramas theyve arrived and brought with them a whole load of luggage and things to moan about but its good to finally see them. I met them at the airport in Mexico City and we headed for our hotel, our base for the next three days as we attmepted to see as much of this giant of world cities as we could. As youd expect three days in nowhere near enough for a place this big, however based on the crowded scenes everywhere you look i think a good part of the cities 20 million residents may have walked, driven or shoved past me duirng those three days.
On the first day we headed to the cities parks and the world famous anthropology museum (famous if your an anthropologist anyway). I learnt a lot more than your average school trip (apparently it did all begin in Afirka ka ka ka) and saw loads of ruins and mummies. In the evening we went for a meal in the trendy part of town and saw some papparazzi taking pictures of someone getting into a car from the restaurant next door. The meal
was nice too, i think i had steak.
The next day we went round the cities centre and varius plazas, the largest being the Zocalo, which is indeed very large and home to yes another church. Infact its a cathedral and its massive. Theres also an ancient Indian temple but aptly this sits as ruins, probably destroyed by the spanish who for good measure and just incase there was any lingering doubt stuck the bloody great cathedral pretty much ontop of it. The spanish havnt been completely forgiven for past discrepencies in this part of the world. My dad on admitting to spanish parentage has been singled out for blame (particulalrly in areas of indiginous decendance) for much of the struggles that mexico has faced in the last 300 odd years of its history. In the afternoon we went to a restaurant for lunch which served amongst other things, worms, fried ants and grasshoppers. I opted for the chicken (i wasnt too keen on the side salad the ants came with and i draw the line at worms. Guinea pig, cows intestines thats all very well but worms is something else).
On the third and last full day
in Mexico City we had booked to go on a trip to an ancient pyramid. Said pyramid turned out ot be a lot bigger than i had imagined and with more people crawling up it, walking round it and generally getting in the way than any of us had predicted. But then we consulted our religious Calenders and remembered it was Good Friday and we were in proper religious Mexico. You may ask, if ur at all bothered why lots of people were not at church but celebrating Easter at a pyramid which is thought to predate both the birth of old Mr Chrust and obviously therefore his death/rebirth/death thing an all. Well........
Apprarently in amonst all the slaughter and religious remodelling when the spanish invaded (which in case you have forgotten are all my dads fault) a couple of the indigenous people were visited by the Virgin Mary and other biblical types in their dreams. Whilst all their friends were slaughtered or enslaved for not conforming these guys were herelded as saints of the new world (now you can call me a cynic if you want but in their situation i think i mite have started seeing the
People and cars
Apparently the week we went to Mexico City was the best time to visit as there is "no-one in the city cos everyones on holiday" virgin mary and jesus and the whole of noahs ark if it meant i wasnt gonna have my head removed and put on a spike in some spanish guys living room). Anyway as a result, the cultures of the Indigenous Mexicans and the catholic church have to a certain extent merged here in Mexcio resulting in the vast pilgramidge to the Pyrmaids of Teotihuacan on Good Friday. Also if you look at the picture of the Native Indian looking people dancing very closely one of them is holding an image of Jesus. All very weird but for Mexicans i think it gives them a sort of unified modern national identity allowing them to celebrate both their catholic and indigenous native backgrounds. All turned out nice again.
The following day we returned to Celaya for my parents final week here in Mexico. During this time my uncle and auntie had organised various day trips to the towns and cities of Guanajuato (the state which Celaya is in). These included a return to San Miguel and a day in the state capital of Guanajuato also know as Guanajuato. Its a pretty weird place where the cities roads run underground through a
View for the Pyramid of the Moon at Teotihuacan
To the left is the bigger Pyramid of the Sun but the line to go up that was three hours long and its like 250 steps complicated network of dimly lit tunnels with links to large carparks above. This leaves the cities streets above empty of vehicles and pedestrianised. The city is very colourful with orders from the local authorities stating that it is forbidden for a house to be painted the same colour as any of the houses which immediatley surround it.
As im finishing this my mum and dad have just left for Mexico City and their flight back home. I only have a couple more days left before i head to Cuba. Ive put up pictures of the family. Theyve have been stupidly nice to me feeding me and ferrying me around. Il have to buy them some chocolates or something to cover my four weeks rent. Hopefully il get a chance to write my last installment before the long flight home.
Not long now
Ta ta
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