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.