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DAY ONE: FRIDAY
We left at 5:30 AM from Morelia and arrived at 10AM (good time, since we took a small van- 14 seats for 12 people!!) I slept nearly the whole way there. We got to the hotel, and had an hour to rest and change- I used it to nap! Then it was time to start the day.
We started at Templo Mayor. Mexico City is built on top of Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the ancient Aztecs, and before them was the outskirts of the previous ancient civilization. The Aztecs were a nomadic clan wandering from place to place until they found the fulfillment of their legend Huitzilopochtli (the sun and war god) set for them- an eagle on top of a cactus with a snake in its talon. They supposedly found that in the middle of the lake in Tenochtitlan, and that is where they built their city, and eventually became one of the most powerful societies of the time- its now the Zocalo, a large plaza. It is also the reason why Mexico City is sinking,much like Venice. In fact, the Aztecs used canoes to get around, like the Italians use gandolas.
The templo mayor was
Catedral
Measuring movement left in ruins after the Spaniards, but has been rebuilt somewhat by archeologists. Mexicans never knew it existed until a building was demolished on it and they discovered the old ruins. Templo Mayor had the two temples of the Eagle and Jaguar warriors, as well as having two large temples devtoed to the Sun and Moon gods. Huitzilopochtli and Coyolxauhqui came first, and when they found out their mother was pregnant, decided to murder her. She gave birth before they could kill her, and the son who came out was fully clothed in armor and threw Coyolaxuahqui down onto the earth and she was killed and dismembered on the way down. This was mimicked in their ritual sacrifices- after cutting the heart out of the sacrificed, they would throw him or her down the steep temple steps until their body was dismembered as well. Then the skin was worn as a costume or mask, and the meat eaten. This sounds horribly barbaric and awful, but for the Aztecs (and much of the societies of the time) death was not a scary or unwelcome thing, and it just meant you were going back into the life cycle- plus, the person being
DF
Mexico City is sinking! You can see it in the building here sacrificed was treated as a God for the day, and was so drunk and drugged likely felt no pain. Also, one important honor is to be remembered after your death, and no one was remembered better than kings and the sacrificed.
The temples were fascinating because each king wanted to build it bigger and better, until there were layers and layers of rock on top of each other.
Next we went to a small museum about the temple mayor where we saw where artifacts were found- imagine realizing that under every large building in a city like, New York, are artifacts from your heritage just waiting to be discovered! That is what is happening in Mexico. They found statues under skyscrapers, huge stone planks under churches, etc. There is one giant stone of the Aztec calendar that is just amazing.
Next was the main cathedral, which was so big it was hard to know where to look. Everything was gold plated with paintings and statues of saints and the Virgin. It was so big! I didn't know what half the things were for. There is a large golden pencil-type thing hanging from the ceiling that measures how much the church
Zocalo
the original city of tenochtitlan is moving by marking it on the ground. It was swaying while we were there.
After cathedral was the palacio del gobierno, where three famous muralists painted. The murals were huge and focused on the usual themes of the pre-colonial period, the conquest, the revolution, communism, and progress. They were beautiful and interesting and its incredible thinking about how the government encourages this type of art, and how the identity of a nation was created through art- socialist art at that!
Next was a HUGE tower... we went to the 42 floor to look out at the city from above. Its so huge, but I wasn't as overwhelmed as I thought. The whole time, I never felt scared or in danger, and often I would forget that I was in the second largest city in the world. It felt like another neighborhood.
We all ate lunch together at a small restaurant- enchiladas suizas, yummm. A quick visit to the post office, and then Aurora, Hayley and I went to the Basilica. A Basilica is any church devoted to the Virgin of Guadalupe, but the one in Mexico City is the one with original tilma from when the virgin
appeared to Juan Diego in the 16th century. They were having mass at the time, right behind the priest, in the largest golden frame I've ever seen, behind glass, was the tilma! We walked down some stairs below the mass and there was a short moving sidewalk, where you stand and look up at it. It was beautiful!! I feel so lucky to have seen it. We went to the store of course and through a complicated system bought some souvenirs.
Back to the hotel, where I was exhausted- we had left 14 hours before, so I slept for two hours while the other girls went out to find food. I woke up when they came back and we watched some tv in Spanish (Family Guy, Malcom in the Middle, and House). It was nice to just relax, and then an earlyish bedtime at 11.
OK more tomorrow!
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