My last full day in Mexico D.F. was spent on a tour of the Teotihuacan Pyramids about 2 hours outside of the city. The tour consisted of a stop at the very famous Basilica de Guadalupe - not just another catholic church but the place of worship for Mexico's patron saint - Our Lady of Guadalupe. She has a huge fan base here. The basilica is the home of the place where the image of her (as seen by Juan Diego, a poor Indian, in 1531) is responsible for uniting pre Hispanic Indian mysticism with Catholic beliefs (ok...some of this is directly from printed literature...). There are 5 different buildings dedicated to her on this site. The largest is the one in the picture. It really is quite impressive.
On the tour, I met Anita who is a fellow traveler that is in Mexico for a couple of weeks on her own as well. I love meeting people with the same travel spirit!
Before we arrived at the pyramids, we stopped at a local silver factory. They showed us the process of how silver is made. We also got to see the Mescal plant (it looks like the biggest aloe vera plant you have ever seen - maybe 7 feet tall) and taste some Tequila, Mescal and a Sweet Mescal, which I liked the best. Of course, this was all so we'd buy the jewlery and the liquor...interesting nonetheless.
The pyramids are pretty amazing. They are some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. There is debate as to the ethnicity of the inhabitans but they may have been Nahua, Otomi or Totonac or maybe even a multi-ethnic state. There's the temple of the sun and the moon and other smaller dwellings/buildings. It is hard to believe that the pyramids were all constructed without our modern heavy equipment!
I was so tired after all the climbing and lack of sleep, I stayed in that night and watched movies. I watched Frida again. It was fun to see the movie after having just been to the pyramids that she visited with "that communist guy from Russia" and to the house she lived. Oh and I watched How to loose a guy in 10 days again...hilarious - who doesn't love Matthew M! I reveled in my last night at the W hotel and the cascading shower with triple shower heads!!!!
1 comment:
Hi Joanne - I think I went on the exact same pyramid tour/church/mescal tour -- your blog triggered memories of the stops other than the pyramids. I remember how large the cathedral and other buildings but I was also a little conflicted with all the opulence in contrast to all the poverty.
Sounds like you are doing exactly what you set out to see new places, meet new people and enjoy the experiences of a lifetime!!
I enjoyed reading all you posts but got a big chuckle on your blog about the cockroach kill. Sounds like you were a matador killing your first Bull. (I don't if I could do it -- I am still grossed out by killing spiders--can't even imagine killing a cockroach let alone a huge one).
Best of luck living the dream.
Take care,
Cindy
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