Ciudad de Mexico
Trip Start
Jun 13, 2006
1
48
177
Trip End
Jun 12, 2007
Mexico City, Mexico
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Our second day was taken over visiting an archeological site. Teotihuacán is 49 km north of Mexico city and is about 2000 years old and in its heyday housed 80,000+ people and it also contains the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. Not much is known about the people who built it or why they left it but it has been seen as a sacred place by all the peoples who followed, in fact all the names for the buildings were given by the Aztecs. It is all based around one main thoroughfare the Avenue of the Dead, which is about 2 km and runs roughly north to south. On the south east side is the Ciudadela, which is a huge square with a small pyramid temple. Next is the biggest pyramid, the pyramid of the Sun, and it is massive. We climbed the steps to the top which gave a good view of the surrounding area, you can also spot the unexcavated sites, little green hills or mounds on the otherwise flat valley floor, fortunately we are finally getting used to the altitude but the climb still left us pretty breathless, it is very steep in places. At the top of the Avenue of the Dead is the Pyramid of the Moon, which is surrounded by another square with more platforms which previously held temples. Although this pyramid is smaller you get even better views from the top as you look straight down the Avenue of the Dead and really get a feeling for the size of the place and how impressive it must have been when it was first built. There are other ruins on the avenue but not half of what there would have been originally, it is very impressive. What was less impressive were the street sellers who did not give you a moments peace as you wandered around, fortunately we got there quite early and before the organised tours so we weren't inundated as soon as we entered the gates, that said we did end up buying some nice Obsidian (black volcanic glass) statuettes, although we may not have done had we realised how much they would cost to post home! Altogether it was a good day and we got a disproportionate sense of satisfaction from the fact we did it all via public transport, which means our Spanish must be improving!
On the way back we stopped at the most amazing bakery just off the Zocola, the place was piled high with cakes and you just grabbed a tray helped yourself took it to the counter, we got a couple of cakes each but the Mexicans were going mad, some of them had a couple of trays piled high with cakes and watching the ladies wrap them up mesmerized me, they were so quick.
We got a bit of a shock when we came out of the hostel on our final day, the street which had previously been full of market stalls was now chock full of armed police barricading the way to the Zocola, argh! We finally managed to find our way to a subway and went to Merced Market which is claimed to be the biggest in the Americas. It was pretty crazy, but interesting (I do have an odd obsession with Markets) there was one bit that was disgusting where they we selling sweets and the place was just swarming with wasps - yuck. After that we took a trip to the Zona Rosa which we had been told was really nice but as with a lot of these things we left disappointed, it was pleasant enough but nothing to write home about (although I just kind of have!)
All in all I liked Mexico City, I'm not sure I could live there but it is interesting to visit. On every corner there is somebody selling something, from little Mexican Flags (its independence day here on 16th Sep) to food of any kind, to shoe shines and there is just so much life happening on the streets, its just different in a way I can't quite explain.
Dean: Alex can explain these things so much better than me (although she does get carried away at times - and yes she is sat next to me right now!). Mexico City for me was: big, loud, busy, smoggy, exciting! The cake shop made me think of the guys at work and what a field-day they would have had there. Sorry guys, I didn't buy you any cakes - but they were very good!!! Teotihuacán was really good - the old ruins are one of the reasons I wanted to tour through Central and South America. I think we are both feeling better about Mexico and our South American adventure now.
