January 6, 2019 - Mexico City to Teotihacan

Yep, it’s another early morning!  I manage to get all the morning stuff soon enough to work on the photos from yesterday.  When Marilyn is ready we go down to breakfast early; but it’s too early, so we sit in the lobby and I work some more.  Everyone shows up and we go into the restaurant to find that there are new wonder things on the buffet, as well as European style breakfast foods a little further down.

Ginger orders some hot chocolate for me while I’m at the buffet and it’s every bit as good as I remember from my last visit!  I sample all the new stuff and realize that I’m starting the day with way too much new stuff in my tummy!  The good news is that when we go back up to the room to fetch our luggage, I’m able to post the photos to finish yesterday’s blog!

Out to the van and into new seats, just for variety!  We are driving out of Mexico City and Juan point out the statue of “The Little Horse”.  It is really a statue of King Carolos of Spain astride his horse;  but the people of Mexico City don’t like Carolos, so they just refer to his horse!  (Notes for when I have wifi again - the meteorites are at the School of Mining and the busy street we were on is Madera). He also tells us that mariachi music is a mixture of Spanish and Mexican music and dates from the time of Maximillion.  We pass Garibaldi Park, which is a good place to mariachi music and you can pay to have your requests played.  The park is called the Plaza of the Three Cultures, or, sometimes the three disgraces:  when the Aztecs surrendered to Cortez, when the government killed as many as 600 students in 1968, and the recent earthquake which killed 3,000 people because of shoddy construction.  He tells us about the South American Highway which goes all the way from Mexico City to Guatemala!

We’re heading to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalope and along the way Juan tells us her story. There are actually three churches there, each one having been built when the previous one was outgrown.  The current, modern basilica was designed by the same architect to designed the gorgeous museum we saw yesterday.  Juan tells us that it is similar to Mecca in that pious Mexican Catholics promise to make a pilgrimage to it at least once in their lifetimes.  Many people walk there if they live within 300 kilometers.  Others rent busses or ride bikes.  He says that ten million people visited this holiday season, arriving on or before December 12th.

That date is significant because of the origin story of the basilica.  It is said that on December 9th Juan Diego saw a vision of the Virgin and she told him to tell the bishop that she needed a church built on that spot.  The bishop wasn’t impressed.  She appeared again on the 10th and the bishop still wasn’t impressed.  And again on the 11th.  It happened that Juan Diego had a very sick uncle and on the 11th he was miraculously cured.  The bishop didn’t believe it.  On December 12th, the Virgin told Juan Diego to gather a lot of roses in his cloak and take them to the bishop.  When he arrived, the roses had turned into a picture of the Virgin!  The bishop was finally convinced.

The photos of the campus will speak for themselves.  This is magnificent!  And the other two versions are pretty wonderful, too!  There is also a small, simple church for the native people.  After we’ve been thoroughly impressed we split into two groups.  Ginger, Marilyn, Barbara, Elizabeth, and Kathleen go to look at the gardens.  Marissa, Ben, Fred, and I climb to a vantage point to see a view of the city.  Mostly you can see how bad the air pollution is.  The kids are so sweet and give me a chance to catch up to them. There are a lot of steps!  We come back down a really steep ramp, do a bit of shopping  and eventually manage to meet up with the rest of the crew.

The houses are all so colorful and Mexico City is huge!  (taken from the bus)

Back in the van Juan tells us a bit about Teotihuacan’s history and we watch a Nat Geo film called the Pyramids of Death.  Ben says he no longer wants to climb them!  Teotihuacan isn’t the name used by the people who build the eight square mile city.  It was named by the Aztecs who discovered it several hundred years after the original people disappeared.  There is no written record of their activities;  but there is lots of archeological evidence.  There is a long causeway called the Avenue of Death that runs directly east-west.  At one end is the Pyramid of the Moon.  There are actually seven pyramids built one atop another.  There are also 260 skeletons buried underneath it.  The Pyramid of the Sun is much larger, since the sun defeated his siblings (as you may recall).  There are many groups of houses built around a central courtyard, and they were not just for the nobility!

The Pyramid of the Moon is slightly less intimidating to climb, and seven of us take the challenge!  I make it to the top!  Life is good!  We climb back down and head down the Avenue to the Pyramid of the Sun.  Along the way we watch a man show how vegetable dyes are used to make paint and each opus gets a small pointing!

Only the three hardiest of the young folk tackle the Pyramid of the Sun, although most of us climb to the platform in front of it.

The rest of us wait patiently, enjoying the respite, until the kids make it back. 

We drive back to the other end of the archeological site to visit the Pyramid of ….  About half of us climb up the newer pyramid so as to get a look at the original one, which is still decorated with snakes and rain goods!

Then we’re off to a late lunch at an open-air restaurant near by, Mi Mexico Lindo.  The portions are enormous!  Barbara and I split one and still leave a good bit on the plate!  But the Victoria beer is all gone!  They also have two of the hairless dogs which were raised by the earlier cultures for food.  

After lunch there is a demonstration of the many uses of the agave plant, not just for making tequila but also for washing clothes, making a paper-like product similar to papyrus, and even for thread!  Susanna, or Susie, also shows us rainbow and gold obsidian!  The gold one is amazing in the sunlight.  Then she takes us to the next station in her demonstration where we get to sample pulque, tequila, mescal, and a honey-like liqueur.  They are all delicious, smooth, with no bite at all!  Now that we’re all snockered, she takes us into the shop!!  Good plan!  My suitcase is going to be a lot heavier!  And my wallet a lot lighter!

Our hotel is quite close by and we get checked in and climb one flight to our room.  Ben and Fred help with suitcases and Marissa has my jacket!  I’ve got that heavy bag from the restaurant!  In about fifteen minutes we all meet down by the pool and check out the bar, where the barstools are actually saddles!!  Most people have sangria, but Ginger is treating her throat which isn’t happy about the bad air we’ve been breathing.

Juan's in charge of the Three Kings Cake

We adjourn to the pool once again to share our Three Kings Cake, since this is January 6th!  Juan thinks he’s spotted the baby and Barbara generously selects that piece.  We all think we’re safe until Juan says sometimes there are twins!  We laugh until Ginger gets a second baby!  Then Marissa gets a third!!  Wha…..?

We aren’t really hungry, surprise, surprise, but probably ought to have something. Mostly people order soup, although Marilyn just gets coffee.  My soup is squash blossom!

Marilyn and I are ready to head upstairs even though it isn’t much past seven.  But my phone says I’ve walked 11,001 steps and 15 floors!  Yesterday was 12,850 steps and the day before was 11,185.  I’m beat!  The wifi here is basically non-existent, but I can at least write this.  Maybe I’ll wake up early and get some photos together.  Right now I’m looking forward to crashing!!!