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Red indicates countries Alexis has visited at least once and can check off her list.

Friday, October 27, 2006

Mexico, Part 3 (City: Mexico City)

People rave about Mexico City and I really wanted to visit Teotihuacan, which is just 25 miles northeast of the city.  At O'Hare Airport while we waited for our flight, a man told us that Mexico City is sinking 3 inches a year because the city of 20 million people is consuming all of the water that runs under it.  


Also sinking, the Catedral Metropolitatana de la Asuncion de Maria in the city's zocalo, is visibly crooked.  This is not only from Mexico City's water problems, but also because the Catholic church was actually and symbolically built on top of pre-Hispanic structures.


Inside is a painting of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe.  Below the painting are three conveyor belts used to stand on and view the painting from different angles.  This is probably set up to ensure everyone gets a chance to clearly view it.

Also in Mexico City are the remains of a lake that form a series of canals known as Xochimilco. Today, tourists visit to take boat rides on colorful trajineras, which are pushed through the canals with a long pole.  Vendor boats pull up alongside of the tourist trajineras to sell them food that they make right on their boats, including barbecued meat.  Also on the canal are boats holding mariachi who serende the tourists.


Locals live along the canal, making their living through the tourism and agriculture. One man who lives along the canal has a collection of babydolls that are tied to and hanging from the trees.  It is such a strange sight.


Finally we made it to Teotihuacan!  Before we entered the site, we stopped at a roadside stand to get breakfast, Atole (Mexican hot chocolate) and tamales.

Inside, a man offered to give us a quick tour.  He told us a brief history and made sure we knew how to climb the stairs properly, as to not insult the Gods.  We climbed both the sun and the moon stair structures diagonally, changing directions every five stairs.  Maybe he was playing a joke on us, but we didn't want to disobey the Gods--just in case.




I had quite a workout that day, climbing all those stairs!



When you reach the top of the Sun structure, everyone waits in line to put their finger on a certain spot for a few moments. Supposedly, this is the spot where "men become Gods".  




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