31 de mayo 2010 - Secretary of Education - Diego Rivera Murals #2 / Templo Mayor / Long Walk Home

On our third day we went back to downtown historic district to visit the Department of Education building which is home to an even larger collection of Diego Rivera murals than the National Palace. The man had so much intent when he painted. There is so much information in each mural about the state of the country and the culture that it would take days to analyze and internalize each one.

Self-portrait of Diego Rivera

We then had lunch at Casa de Tecuba. This restaurant had been there since 1912. We had the most amazingly tasty agua fresco, like a limeade. The one thing that I noted was how inexpensive the food is compared with America. One could eat like a king and only spend 10 dollars on the whole meal.

The whole group...minus the photographer...

After lunch we ventured back to Plaza de las Constitucion to visit Templo Mayor. This was one of the most amazing archeological sites that we have visited. Templo Mayor was an ancient temple that was discovered just off of the Plaza next to the National Palace and behind the Cathedral. The temple itself was build on layers. Each layer had its own amazing amount of detail. Inside the museum they had model of the temple as it would have appeared in its glory day. This find would be compared to finding a native American temple in the middle of Manhattan. Similar to the Museum of Anthropology, the Templo Mayor contained countless numbers of artifacts restored and put on display.

Templo Mayor facing the Cathedral

After Templo Mayor we were given the afternoon to explore should we so desire. A group of us wanted to go into the Cathedral which was absolutely amazing! This cathedral was literally built within a couple hundred feet of Templo Mayor. We explored for a little bit and then decided to walk back to Casa Gonzalez. We began walking a few blocks before we realized that we were going in the wrong direction. We were redirected and in the process got the scenic tour of Mexico City.

View of the front of the Cathedral

After over two hours of walking we returned to Casa Gonzalez and enjoyed some cerveza and a nice bottle of tequila. I don’t think that I can say enough nice things about the people that I have met with our group. We have all become fast friends and enjoy each other’s company very much.

30 de mayo 2010 - National Museum of Anthropoloy - Xochimilco (so-chee-mil-ko)

I got up pretty early ready to go to the museum of anthropology in downtown Mexico City. I ate huevos rancheros for the first time, it was really good! I have been struggling still with the altitude, shortness of breath and headaches.
At breakfast I got to meet Carlos, an anthropologist, who was our tour guide extraordinaire for the Anthropology Museum. We learned that the president of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, was going to be in town today to remove the remains of the heros within the Independence Monument for analyzing. This we found was a challenge in getting to the museum as there were many streets blocked due to his arrival. We arrived, albeit, with a short walk from where the taxi dropped us off.
The museum was absolutely enormous! It has twenty-three exhibit halls encompassing twenty acres. There were so many Aztec and Mayan artifacts that it would take days to see and learn about every piece. The most interesting was the remains found within the Pyramids at Teotihuacan. They were the first discovered after scientists used x-ray machines to see inside the pyramids themselves. They were excavated and put on display the same exact way that they were found.

The remains from the pyramid exactly as they were discovered.

After that we entered the Aztec part of the museum we saw the biggest and most iconic, the Aztec calendar (really known in Mexico as the Stone of the Sun). We took a group photo in front of this artifact...you will really get a feeling of it's sheer size!

The group at the Museum of Anthropology

After the museum we headed out to Xochimilco (so-chee-mil-ko) in one of the fereal districts of Mexico City. It located about 17 miles from the center of Mexico City. It really shows the sheer size of the city when you have to drive 17 miles and you still have not left the city. Xochimilco is know for their canals which gives tourists an idea of what Mexico City looked like many moons ago. Mexico City is actually constructed on an ancient lake bed and many of the buildings are noticeably sinking. Anyways, at Xochimilco visitors are treated to a Venitian-stlye gondola ride on boats called trajineras. As you are floated down the slightly crowded canals, vendors and artisans sell their wares. I spoke with a very nice young woman named Alba on my trajinera. I spoke what little Spanish I knew and felt like I could get along better than I originally thought. We were joined by a smaller trajinera for two which was where our food was prepared. We ate, enjoyed cerveza, and soaked in the sights and sounds. There were even trajineras with mariachi bands aboard. In the picture below you will also see my new friend, Alba, seated on the right.

The trajuneras of Xochimilco

We came back from Xochimilco and walked around the downtown area looking for a place to eat, but all I really wanted to do was get a dusk picture of the Independence Monument and I did...then we ate more tacos at El Camineros...mmm!

The Independence Monument at dusk.

Tomorrow we will visit the Temple Mayor located in Plaza de la Constitución (El Zócalo)which is in the same square as the National Palace. Good night for now...

29 de mayo 2010 - National Palace - Diego Rivera Murals - Aztec Pyramids

Today was a long day! We started quite early on a tour of Mexico City. We stopped briefly at the Independence monument and learned that all the hero's ashes of the Mexican independence are entombed within the base of the spire. It had a beautiful golden angel atop the spire.

Independence Monument, downtown Mexico City

Our next stop was the National Palace in Plaza de la Constitución (El Zócalo). There we received a thorough tour of the Diego Rivera murals. The first one, from 1928, in the stairwell contains approximately 900 faces encompassing an incredible amount of Mexican history.

Diego Rivera mural in the stairwell of the National Palace

There were several other murals through the hall which depicted various iconic Mexican cultural themes. The last painting was done in 1952. Diego Rivera was the husband of famed Mexican artist, Frida Kahlo.
After the palace, we continued on to the pyramids of the Aztecs. This was what I was waiting for the entire trip! We arrived and I was amazed at the sheer size of the archeological site. It had to have been a good mile to mile and a half until we reached the base of the Pyramid of the Sun. The site has two pyramids: Pyramid of the Moon and Pyramid of the Sun. The Pyramid of the Moon was the first built but it was closed due to work being done on the site. Apparently they found evidence that there were sacrificial ceremonies done on the pyramids by using x-ray devices. These revealed bodies buried within the pyramids themselves.

The base of the Pyramid of the Sun

When the long walk to the pyramid was over, the long hike to the top began. It is 254 steps to the top, not to mention the countless number of steps we took on the journey to the base. The first ten or fifteen steps were not that bad, but the altitude (7,400 feet) starts to get to you when you are not used to it. The first level about killed me, but I continued as it would be a waste to go all that way to stop there. After another 10 minutes of climbing stairs in utter respiratory pain, I reached the top in victory. I had conquered the Aztec pyramid! What a beautiful sight from the top, it was so tranquil.

From the top of the Pyramid of the Sun (with my good friend Mallory)

We then ate at an authentic Mexican restaurant not far from the pyramids themselves. The food was AMAZING and the mariachi band was fantastic! I tried a new cervesa called Victoria...I don't know if you can get it in the states but I am definitely going to look. You have to drink it 'michelada' style, salt rimmed with lime juice. It is worth a try!
After lunch, we stopped at a store which sold hand-crafted obsidian sculpture. Although the artisans were producing absolute works of art, it was quite pricy...
We arrived back at Casa Gonzalez in time to go out for another bite to eat and some more cervesa...
Tomorrow is the museum of anthropology...until then...hasta luego!

28 de mayo 2010 - First day in Mexico - First Impressions

WOW!!!! Mexico is amazing! I can't believe I am actually here!!

I spent all night last night packing and just restless as to what to expect. I didn't think that I would ever be so nervous about going to another country. It had always been a desire and something that I thought I could do with relative ease. Boy was I greatly misleading myself!

The flights from Tampa to Atlanta and Atlanta to Mexico City were relatively short and went by very quick. When over the Gulf of Mexico I looked for the oil in the water, but it was quite cloudy and the visibility that high was not very good. The landing in Mexico City was interesting, the city is very densely populated and very poverty stricken. It appears, in some areas, that huts are built upon buildings and huts are built upon those huts. The city is incredibly smoggy; pollution is definitely a problem. I thought a dust storm had come throguh the city.
I arrived ahead of the rest of the group so I had a couple hours to kill in the airport. The first thing I noticed was the presence of federal police they were everywhere! I exchanged out some of my cash as American money doesn't work here. The exchange rate at the time was about $1 American to $12.78 Mexican peso.

The group waited for some time for the taxis to arrive. We learned that Paul McCartney was playing in town tonight and that was the reason for a lot of the traffic and delay. After about 45 minutes, we left for Casa Gonzalez, our home for the next few days in Mexico City. The driver was commanding a Suburban like it was a Mini Cooper through the dense traffic. The lanes on the highway would take up the room of two lanes in America. I could have handed something to the cars that were in the next lane. The taxi ride was about an hour and we still hadn't left the city limits of Mexico City. Apparently, it is one of the largest cities, in terms of area, in the world.
We arrived at Casa Gonzalez and checked in and then settled into the room. Within a half an hour we were off to a small restaurant, called Tacos el Caminero, that served....tacos.

Tacos el Camineros

It was a great meal, it only cost $93 pesos (about $7.25) for six tacos and a beer... They had wonderfully spicy salsa and guacamole. After that we retired back to our rooms and decided to start this blog. Hopefully, I can continue to contribute...we'll see! I will post pictures as I get them uploaded... Until next time... hasta luego!