Mexico - Part I : Mexico City

January 31, 2014

A week before Christmas I flew into Mexico City to meet Marius and his family for our nearly three week excursion through southern Mexico. We spent our first three days in Mexico City, and were led by a guide the whole trip. We began with a tour of the historical area of the city, which included the Metropolitan Cathedral, remains of ruins under the city, and the museum of archaeology for a brief history lesson of the Aztec and Mayan civilizations.

[Inside the Metropolitan Cathedral]

[Mexico City]

We had one free day to do explore on our own, but we opted for a tour of Taxco. Taxco is known for its silver mines. We expected a guide of the silver mining process, but instead were told to put on hard hats, listen to the man tap on different cups for us to guess which was the purest silver, and ended up taking a shot of tequila. Their show room was full of salesmen and more offers of tequila. When we finally got into the town of Taxo, we felt taken back by about 50 years. Most of the cars were VW Beetles of the 50s-60s vintage. The town was set on a hillside, and at the top was a statue of Jesus, similar to those in Rio (Brazil) and Lisbon (Portugal). I ended up leaving Taxco with a pair of silver earrings and a ring from Marius, as well as a fever (I'm guessing from the flight). Rigmor and I were not in the best shape for what was to come the next day, as she also came down with a similar cold/mild flu.

[The "silver mine demonstration" and tequila shot]

[Old-timey feel of Taxco]

The next day we drove to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids. We were told that the Aztecs found them deserted and believed that only the gods could create them. Marius' grandma climbed up a couple of the pyramids, but it was a hot day, so we weren't too eager to race up them through the crowds. Vendors were pushing to sell their jaguar-call 'whistles'. Despite being sick, it was a nice day out in the sunshine.

[Pyriamid of the Sun]

The following day was the last Sunday of Advent and the streets of Mexico City were crowded with people. We went to the Basilica of Guadalupe and that evening had dinner at a restaurant with a great view over a large plaza that had a skating rink, toboggan run and giant Christmas tree. Our last night in Mexico City definitely got us in the Christmas spirit.