Mexico: Mexico city

Our trip to Mexico started with spending 3 days in Mexico City and my first impression was of total amazement; at its size, spread and the huge number of people all around. Even at first glance, it seemed huge; when I looked out of the plane and could see lights spread out till wherever the I could see. And even after landing, when we reached our hotel (which was in the historical center), there were people all over. One reason was of course that it was Christmas time, but even then, its such a crowded city, thats the one overpowering feeling that I was left with.

Post Office at the Centro Historico

In fact, I even wondered if I had booked the hotel at the wrong place, given how crowded the whole area was! But the hotel turned out to be a good one (nh Centro Historico) and within walking distance of all main places of interest. It did prove tough though, getting in and out of that part of town, and I would suggest its better to stay in other less crowded parts of the city.

Before going to Mexico, I had heard that it was not a safe country. Though my final view is that its pretty safe, but the first couple of impressions about the city did nothing to help build that view.

One thing which surprised me when we got out of the airport at Mexico City was that the guards check each and every luggage going out, matching the luggage with the customer tags! That is something I have not seen before, and definitely did not help in building confidence about safety in the city!! Also, we were cheated by our very first cab driver (he charged us 3 times the normal rate, even though we had got his reference from a friend) and so we were careful of everyone in the city going forward.

Second was that in the Mexico Centro Historico, there were policemen on every corner of the streets. I am not kidding, there were anything between 5-20 policeman standing all time of the day and night on every street corner. It doesn't help to allay the reputation Mexico has of an unsafe place.

The whole feeling in Mexico City was mixed. Some places felt very rich, almost like Europe. And others felt very run-down, like a third world country. The differences were too stark to not notice. Also there were many old Spanish colonial buildings across the city, not all of them maintained well though. Plus the wires running all over did not make the sight any better. And then the new Mexico was like any other city, malls, restaurants, shopping areas, wide roads etc. The contrast was all too obvious everywhere.

Coke shop

One unique thing about Mexico, which surprised me about the country was the amount of coke people drink. I have never before in my life seen a shop selling only Coke!




The weather at Mexico City was pretty cold, and apparently its like that throughout the year as the city is built at an altitude of more than 7000 feet! That is pretty high anyways, and one of the reasons that the first couple of days there, we felt a lot more tired than we should have been.

Pyramids of Teotihuacan


The first day of our trip, we took a local tour to Teotihuacan, the site of one of the five major civilisations that had been in Mexico before the Spanish conquest (the others were the Olmecs, the Toltecs, the Mayans and the Aztecs). It was a well organised tour which took us first to the site of Tlatelolco within Mexico City, which is a prehistoric Aztec site containing ruins from before the Spanih conquest.

Image of Lady of Guadalupe

Then we visited the 'Basilica of the Lady of Guadalupe', a church dedicated to Mother Mary, which is one of the main churches of Mexico. It is famous for the portrait of Mary which was found on a sack cloth years ago, and even after so many years has not deteriorated a bit. This image of Mother Mary we later found all over Mexico and looks like this church has a big following across the country.

Old Basilica of Lady of Guadalupe

It was a pretty compound with many other churches located all nearby. This was the first church we saw in Mexico, and the beginning of trips to multiple churches, each prettier, grander, colourful and even more beautifully decorated than the previous one.

Old and new Basilica of Lady of Guadalupe

Slums of Mexico

After the Church, we drove till the Teotihuacan village, which was about an hour away. To be honest, it felt like Mexico City extended all the way till there, so huge it is! While driving, we also got a glimpse of the outskirts of Mexico City, the slums of the city, with houses built all the way up the hills, on either side of the roads. These people were called the 'squatters' by our guide.

As we neared Teotihuaca, the landscape slowly changed and was now dotted with cactus plants everywhere (which I learnt is used to make tequila!). The view was actually like what we sometimes imagine deserts to be like, with different kind of cactus everywhere...

Before the pyramids, we made a stop at a local shop which showed a couple of things which were used by the Aztecs in this region. One was the local plant agave, which was used by the Aztecs to make their Pulque alocohol. After the plant is 8 months old, the center is scooped out and provides about 4 litres of honey water for the alcohol, and then the plant dies away! The plant is useful in multiple ways actually, the leaves of the plant were used to make paper in the times of the Aztecs and its pointed tips were used as a needle to sew clothes!

Obsidian

We also saw the stone, obsidian. This stone was used by the Aztecs for trade as it had unique properties - although black in colour, it shines like gold depending on the angle of the light which falls on it. It was very tempting to buy sculptures made of obsidian, as its unique to the area but the hefty price tag makes that tough!

Pyramid of the Sun

Thereafter, we visited the biggest remaining site where the Teotihuacan people had resided, from about 300BC to 800 AD - the Teotihuacan village. The Teotihuacans used to rule this area thousands of years ago and then they vanished. As their site came in view, I could see two huge pyramids, connected by an avenue - the Avenue of the Dead, and raised structures on both sides of the Avenue. Of the pyramids, the bigger one is the pyramid of the sun, and the smaller one is the pyramid of the moon.

The whole ruins are made of stone, blackened with age; the avenue is well laid out, symmetrical, with proper water and waste management system on the sides; there are very few paintings remaining on the structures but in its heyday, it would have been fully painted; and of course these structures are strong - to have lasted more than twenty centuries!

Avenue of the Dead and Pyramid of the Moon

These beautiful structures were built ages ago and we don't know much about those people still, what they did or where they went! No one knows what the use of these pyramids was, or much about the life of these people. and its surprising to know that all this had been hidden for centuries from all people (including the Spaniards - else it would not have remained till today!). The pyramids had for centuries been covered by mud and looked like hills!! And then they had to be re-discovered.

Stone carvings

Earlier, this site thought to be just a place of worship but then when the historians discovered the building now called 'the palace', they realised that people also lived around this site. The 'palace' still contains stone structures of those times, images of birds and humans carved in stone. The words 'carved in stone' suddenly take a new meaning, and its makes you feel different when you see something in front of you, which has stood the test of time (of centuries)!

I don't really have the words to describe what I saw and felt when I visited the site. These pyramids today stand as memories of what those civilizations must have been ages ago. Its a view, am image to take it, and make your own.. You can sit there for long, just taking in the feeling of the place, and imagining what it would have been like two thousand years back!!

It also made me wonder if there was any link between these Mexican pyramids and the Egyptian ones? There has to be, otherwise how would people in the BC years make similar structures, but in places continents away. I asked our guide this question, but he just chose to ignore it:).

Aztec warriors

There are a lot of people selling local handicrafts here, beautifully painted wooden warriors, obsidian pieces, stone jewellery and other knick-knacks which catch your attention. What I found unique here though were the jaguar wooden pieces they were selling, which if you blow air into, made the sound of a jaguar!! It was actually scary with all the sellers showing off their products, but quite a unique thing to buy too (for adults and children alike!). I really regret the opportunity of not buying it when it was so plentifully available!

After the visit to the pyramids, we had lunch at a local restaurant, called 'El Jaguar' where there were some dancers wearing local dresses and using local instruments for music. After the trip to Teotihuacan, I hated coming back to Mexico City, as the crowds and noise hit us more than we had expected! It brought out to the forefront how huge and crowded the city was!!

Mexico city tour

The second day, we took the hop-on hop-off bus tour of Mexico City. We did the central and south route and that itself took us more than 5 hours, without even getting down off the bus. To be honest, we did the tour because we had time, but I would strongly suggest not spending more than 1 day in Mexico City as the rest of the country has a lot more to explore and appreciate, than Mexico City - which in the end is just a crowded city!

Polanco

Anyways, the tour was still impressive as we got to feel the expanse of the city - it houses more than 20 million people!! Mexico City is spread out all over, till wherever your eyes can see. And everywhere in the city, two things caught my eye. One was the stark difference between the poor and the rich - the upscale areas of the city were pretty, not less than and sometimes even grander than Europe - with its huge palatial houses, beautiful gardens and exquisitely decorated exteriors.

The shops were luxurious, filled with brands of the West, the avenues were lined with trees, and there were parks to sit and enjoy; there were amazing restaurants in all these areas, which looked very inviting and high-end. And there were many such exclusive areas - Polanco, Reforma, Chapultepec area, Tlalpan, Cayoacan, Condesa... To be honest, these nice areas felt extremely nice to live in! And just next to these areas, you could see the poorer parts of the city which were more crowded and not as clean as these. But I guess these are very common sights is all third world countries..

Murals

And the second thing I noticed was the importance given to art, paintings, sculptures and architecture across the city. Everywhere you could find grand artistic buildings, painted murals and squares decorated with beautiful sculptures. All across the city you can see these displays of art, and so many museums that you would lose count. We did not get a chance to visit these museums though. One of the museums which is said to be worth a visit, is Casa Azul, the 'blue house' museum of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican painter.

The hop-on hop-off tour was informative about the city, but honestly as I said, I would easily give it a miss.

National Museum of Anthropology

Mexico City houses one of the largest number of museums in the world, given the amount of history and culture it has, plus the importance given to art. I generally avoid museums nowadays, but I would definitely suggest a visit to the Museum of Anthropology. Its located in the Chapultepec park, which is a huge park housing many museums within it.

Mayan books

As I mentioned before there were three major civilizations in Mexico - the Teotihuacans, the Toltecs and the Aztecs. Plus there were the Mayans, the Oaxacans , the Chichimecs, the Olmecs and many other smaller civilizations in other parts of Mexico at the same time. This museum gives a brief insight into each of these civilizations.

I was honestly in awe when I left this museum, there was just so much to explore and take in. For one I did not know earlier, that so many civilizations had existed in Mexico itself, or how developed all these civilizations had been or even how much of that had survived till this day. Here are a couple of impressive exhibits I saw in this museum.

Head gear

Hanuman ji?

Teotihuacan decorations

Mexico city before Spanish conquest

Headgear

Headgear

Apart from this, there was an entire section devoted to how these civilisations had each evolved due to the Spanish influence. How their religious practices changed, how their dressing and living changed but how they retained some of their original identities. What I found interesting here was that even though the Spanish did impose their way of life and religion on the Mexican people, some aspect of their original identities was still retained. And the Mexican people don't really grudge their Spanish conquerors as much as the Indians begrudge the British which I found that very interesting...

On the whole, we spent about 3 hours in the museum and I left feeling I had barely touched the surface of all there was to the museum. So much to see, explore and feel for yourself. It also made me a bit impatient, to start my cultural and historical tour of Mexico as soon as possible...

After the tour, as it was Christmas Eve, we spent some time in the Zocalo, or the city square but even though it was full of people, and felt festive, there was nothing really to see and do. The square was well lighted up, all around, but guess that was it! Also a tip, on Christmas Eve, have your meals as early as possible, because after 830 pm, everything shuts down - restaurants, subway, hotel restaurants, everything!! Which we did not know, so we spent Christmas Eve eating desperate stuff from the one 7/11 that was thankfully open at 9 pm!!




Centro Historico

Artistic rendition of Centro Historico

We had an extra day in Mexico City, so spent some time in Centro Historico, just exploring the places nearby. The whole area was empty as it was Christmas morning, and so we finally got to see what the buildings really looked like without hundreds of people blocking the view! It felt almost eerie like a ghost town, especially seeing how we had seen the area in the last 2 days! The police on each of the crossroads was still working though!

Cathedral on Christmas Eve

There are a couple of impressive buildings nearby like the Cathedral, National Palace, the Museum of the Arts, remains of an Aztec temple (on top of which the Spaniards made the cathedral), the Post Office etc.. They are all pretty colonial buildings, and worth a look if you have time. But, by this time we had had enough of Mexico City and wanted to just get out to see the real country! So weren't too impressed with what we saw..

Continued...
San Cristobal de Las Casas (Chiapas)

Merida (Yucatan)


Impressions of Mexico

Mexico: Trips for travel