D.F. is about a 5-hour bus ride from Guanajuato. The route we took in offered fantastic views of one strip mall after another chock full of Applebees, Chilis, Rainforest Café, Home Depot, Hooters, and anything else you can think of that screams suburban USA. The outskirts of the city also have some amazing graffiti that seems to change weekly because mostly I saw painted advertisements for shows and clubs – very colorful and original.
We stayed in Hostel Catedral Mexico City, right on the Zócalo on República de Guatemala No. 4. I highly recommend this hostel, which is really clean, cheap and fun. Everything is modern, with good food and drink on site. It can be a little loud at night because all of the rooms in this colonial building have inner windows that look out onto the inner patio. But there are tours that leave from the hostel every day and it’s in the heart of the historic center.
Friday afternoon we toured the Templo Mayor, Catedral, Zócalo and Palacio Nacional. What struck me the most was the proximity of these incredibly old spaces with the bustling commercial district of the center; a chain link fence separates souvenir shops and restaurants from one of the main temples of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The excavation of the Templo Mayor didn’t fully start until 1978, and it’s assumed that if more colonial buildings in the center were knocked down, more Aztec constructions would be found underneath.
I had learned about the 240-year construction of the Catedral but nothing can really prepare you for the sheer size of this church. Like many of the buildings in Mexico City, the foundation is shifting over time. A pendulum hangs in the center of the building that shows the changes in elevation over the last decade.
Later we admired the murals of Diego Rivera inside the Palacio Nacional. I had seen these before, but I could stare at them every day and still be amazed. I can’t fathom the planning that went into their execution, or how all of the different historic figures appear together.
At the end of our tour of the centro histórico, our guide gave us a good tip. To avoid the 40-peso ticket up to the top of the Torre Latino, tell the elevator attendant that you’re going to grab a beer on the top floor. I sipped a jamaica martini while taking in a spectacular view of México City from the 47th floor. This vantage point offers a little help in understanding the sheer magnitude of the city. On the ground it’s impossible to fathom just how far everything extends. We arrived at dusk, just in time to orient ourselves spatially, watch the clouds and night descend and then follow the traffic patterns of neon lights stretch out in all directions.
Saturday morning we set out early for a long day of sight seeing. The day started at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas, Tlatelolco. This is the site where the last Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc defended his empire against Hernán Cortes in 1521. It’s also the site of the October 1968 massacre of Mexican university students who were protesting the government’s oppression and involvement in the Olympic games. The monument I photographed lists the names of the 30 or so officially recognized deaths from this massacre, but thousands remain missing. The day after the massacre the plaza was swept clean of any traces of dissent.
We moved on to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe: it’s more than just one church, however. There’s the old basilica, the new basilica, the church that Saint Juan Diego first went to announcing her appearance, huge sculptures of crosses, approximately 1 thousand vendors selling every last plastic knick knack with her image. Oh and about 20,000 people on a normal day. On “her day,” aka December 12, more than 16 MILLION people come here. Unfortunately I accidentally deleted the mini movie I took while standing on the conveyer belt to witness the very shroud her image first appeared on in 1531. It’s quite the experience: seeing people make the pilgrimage all the way from the parking lot to the basilica on their knees, or groups of 20 and more girls in their white confirmation dresses dancing together. We’ve been to more churches than I can count, and each one feels a little different. (Fun fact! jaja – During the colonial period, the Spaniards built on average one church a week. That’s a whole lotta Catholicism.)
leftover from pilgrimages to the Basilica
We’ve also had quite a few discussions in the Prope session about Mexican religious identity. Is everyone as Catholic as they seem? Answer: no. Many of the elements that are visible in Mexican Catholicism are cultural, like the obsession with Guadalupe. Like in America, many of the faithful aren’t in agreement with certain tenants of the Church. Then there are others who are extremely faithful, like my host mom. She attends mass every day, is part of an apostolic group, does a ton of volunteer work, and occasionally talks to me about how fetuses try to dodge forceps during abortions. Yes it was an awkward moment. But she’s also very loving and reasonable in other regards. Her 35-year-old daughter is divorced and moved back in with her parents so they could help her take care of the two children.
After the Basilica, we drove to Teotihuacan, but were stuck in quintessential D.F. traffic for a very long time in a hot, hot van. Finally we got to the outskirts of the national park and lunched at one of many spots that is combination onyx store/silver jewelry/all souvenirs Mexican and buffet luncheon. I had been to a similar spot on my first Teotihuacan trip but I still enjoyed the demonstration of the different uses of the maguey plant. We were shown how the outer layer was used as paper, how the pointy end of the plant is a pre-threaded needle, and how different flower petals were natural dyes. After we were given samples of pulque, a 24-hour ferment of the liquid that’s sucked out of the maguey, tequila and mescal. After we were all liquored up, they ushered us into the onyx store to buy figurines that no college student could afford. However, in the back room we lunched at an incredible buffet that offered lots of traditional dishes (mole, nopal ‘salad,’ etc) but also some really interesting choices like spinach with pecans and raisins, or the classic elbow macaroni with mayonnaise and ham. Yecch.
We were definitely fortified, maybe too stuffed, for the excursions up the pyramids of the Sun and Moon. The ascent is physically straining but the descent is way more terrifying, as the steps are incredibly narrow and steep. But the view, oh the view. And knowledge that you are standing atop these incredibly important and old temples. Both trips to the top, I kept wondering why were allowed to climb up these incredible archeological ruins. Aren’t we destroying something that should be preserved? Our guide for the day, Umberco (?), an unlikely archeologist, made lots of crude remarks about getting 200 points if we ran over Japanese people. Later we learned the source of his resentment was because a team of Japanese archeologists had “shoddily” excavated the interior of the Pyramid of the Moon and caused large sections to crumble. End result: you can’t scale the whole pyramid. He was entertaining, if nothing else.
Saturday night I explored a little more of the Centro Histórico and found an amazing bookstore, Gandhi – huge amounts of foreign films, music and books, mostly at really low prices. I bought a copy of Saramago’s newest book, Cain, translated into Spanish. Later I ate a mediocre vegetarian restaurant.
Sunday we woke up a bit later, packed our bags and had a really lovely day at two much more low-key destinations. First we went to the Coyoacan neighborhood of DF to tour the Casa Azul, Frida Kahlo museum. This is the house Diego and Frida lived in from 1929 and 1954. It houses a small percentage of their original artwork and rotating exhibitions. At the time of our visit a collection of personal photographs was on exhibit, including many photos that Frida’s father, a German photographer, took of her family. I know, I know... who isn't intrigued by Frida Kahlo, but I couldn't help myself. Walking through her spaces was bittersweet and almost magical.
We finished the weekend lunching on a trajinera (human powered raft) on the canals of Lake Xochimilco. Lake Xochimilco was part of the other lake systems that were home to the Aztecs, Teotihaucanos and Toltecs. Since this is the only place in Mexico City that has access to fresh water, many people live on man made islands and raise bonsais, flowers and vegetables to sell. We had lunch called in ahead of time, so we just relaxed and nibbled as we floated through some intense canal traffic. All kinds of vendors will float up to your trajinera trying to sell their wares. You can buy: a mariachi band for 3+ songs, beers, bonsais, elote (the supremely delicious corn on the cob slathered in mayo, crema, chili, lime and cheese), marimba songs… if you want it, it’s probably for sale.
A totally relaxing way to end the weekend.
