Mexico City: Last Day!

The entire trip went smoothly! ...Well, aside from the last night. I had a nice little bout of insomnia (woooo) and then realized I had an allergy rash all over my arms and legs. The hotel we had moved to was my least favorite/ kind of the crappiest so far, and I think it might have been the detergent on the sheets or something?

Anyway, I was not the happiest little camper for our last day, which was a shame, because Coyohuacan was a cute little borough of the city. We got to visit the house of Hernan Cortes, THE conquistador of New Spain, which was pretty sweet. We also spent a LONG time browsing the Artisan Market, made a few purchases, mostly waited in the shade and played cards before the 2 hour bus ride back to home sweet Puebla.

Mexico City: I'm on a Boat!

One of my other favorite things we got to do during our Mexico City trip was a boat ride through the canals of Xochimilco (Cho-chee-milk-oo)! Tenochtitlan used to be built on a lake, and canals such as these were built by the Aztecs to travel.

It was a relaxing 2 hours as we played cards and just enjoyed the view from the water. Everytime we passed another boat, we were offered some form of drink or celebratory "Ayyy!!!!" It was a very congenial, pleasant experience :)

Mexico City: The Arts

We got to visit lots of places that had works by famous artists!

Such as... The Mural of Diego Rivera, featuring (drum roll please): LA CATRINA-- MI BISABUELA. ... If you didn't take high school Spanish at Freedom, you may not get the reference, but it is hilarious. Just so you know.

The Palacio of Bellas Artes was also very beautiful!

We also got to visit the house of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Their relationship kind of sucked, but their artwork was amazing. I admire Frida so much for all that she went through and managed to accomplish.

My personal favorite artsy place, though, was the Dolores Olmeda house. Dolores was an avid art/ artifact/ animal collected and eccentric personality. She kept a whole pack of hairless dogs, or Xinozcuintle (spelled wrong, I know), who currently believe a statue of their kind is their mother. She also must have liked peacocks, because you couldn't walk two feet without seeing one, which was quite exciting.

Mexico City: Hotels, Creepers, and More!

Our (first) hotel was actually really lovely! It was centered right downtown, close to the Zoccalo and major shopping areas (wooo), which was absolutely exciting. We had some pretty good food (which, honestly, is almost always my #1 priority) and found some pretty good deals.

We also had a few laughs and mishaps.

We learned that when the Elevator says "6 People" in Mexico, it does not equal 7 Americans. It equals about 4 Mexicans. And, yes, the scale is different. We were stuck in the elevator for 15 minutes the first night, but thankfully one of us managed to make contact to the outside before we missed dinner!

We learned that talking to strangers-- especially when they come up to you and catch you unawares, blocking your potential escape route-- in the park is almost always very, very, very uncomfortable. I don't think we'll be doing that again (just glad I had a super-tall future-FBI aspirer with me at the time).

We learned that no matter where we eat the night before (for myself and peers Jessica and Devin, anyhow), that's where we'll be planned to eat the next day.

We learned that Mexico city has lots of silly signs which thankfully we did not have to utilize during our stay.

We also learned that people like to protest. A lot. And that people expect to be paid for cranking an awful sounding music box all throughout the day?

Overall, it was quite an adventure, wandering downtown...

Mexico City: Museum of Anthropology

So, I may be a total nerd (scratch that-- I'm pretty sure I am a total nerd), but I was so excited for the Museum of Anthropology. It's world-renowned, and they say you can take an entire week to see and read every artifact and area.

And it was amazing. We got to see a lot of really neat stuff, like the original Aztec Calendar, or, as it's technically called, The Rock of the Sun, statues, giant heads, weapons, jewelry, and TONS more!

My only complaint of that day was our tour guide. He was a super sweet guy, but he was very long-winded, which meant we only got to stop at a few of the thousands of items that caught my eye. It was only sheer loyalty to the professors, and my desire to not hurt his feelings, that I stuck with him instead of wandering off own my own, but I did certainly learn a lot. I felt good about it the next day, too, when he tried to adjust his speed. Plus, when he was threatened by another jerk tour guide guy at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, all of our group-- even the ones who had gone off-- jumped to his aide. I've been liking all our tour guides here, for the most part!

Mexico City: Los Pinos and Chapultepec

So, I don't have any way to prove it to you, but I got to see the Mexican President, Felipe Calderon. Our Penn State group was the first ever to get to tour Los Pinos, the Mexican equivalent of the White House, only it's a LOT less tourist-y. We could barely bring anything into the estate with us past security, and we didn't get to enter any buildings, but we at least managed an awkward little wave as we passed by the Pres in a meeting with a cabinet member!

I was, however, able to take photos of our next site, Chapultepec. Chapultepec is a castle-turned-museum-with-cool-garden-on-roof that used to be home to the French ruler, Maximilian, before the Mexican War for Independence. It was a site of a very famous battle, as well! It was rather pretty :)

Horses!!

Ceiling painting of a Nino Heroe, one of the honored young boys who died at the battle of Chapultepec

Mexico City: El Centro

One of the days, we took a walking tour of downtown D.F. and stopped by a lot of awesome places.

The Munipal Building features a bunch of murals by Diego Rivera, a famous Mexican artist, as well as remains of past Presidents, and the current senate seats. It was frighteningly armed to the teeth (I guess they were expecting a protest that day?), but we enjoyed it anyway.

The Templo Mayor was another major, major highlight. Mexico City is essentially built on top of what used to be Tenochtitlan, the massive, grand hub of the Aztec empire. During the 20th century, after a little poking around below some decrepit buildings, they discovered ruins of a massive pyramid/Temple devoted to the gods of Water and War. The archaeological site now literally sits nestles within the tall, modern buildings, and the contrast is amazing. We also got to go to the museum-next-door, where most of the artifacts found at the Templo Mayor are housed.