Picking Up where I left off…

The 12 day trip back to California to tend to some things at home turned out to be a nice break from the trip as well. We have a family of raccoons taking refuge under our house, and my attempts at trapping them were fruitless. I did believe that I had chased them out, but it seems that they broke through another vent screen – so the hunt goes on. I have a critter cam and my wife is placing it at strategic places, but she hasn’t reported back yet as to what going on.

The flights were rather uneventful which is always a nice thing. In and out without much ado. No hassles with security, immigration, or customs.

We were scheduled to head out of Patzcuaro the day after I got back, but we postponed it by two days so we had some relaxing down time – which was needed, even though I didn’t think I did need it. We decided to take the toll roads to CDMX, and the trip only took about five hours, and while the roads were in good condition and fast, the tolls were brutal.

Tepotzotlan

This Pueblo Magico is an hour north of the CDMX Centro Historic. We spent the afternoon wandering around, and while we haven’t found out why it’s magical yet, we are spending another day there. The rigs are parked at the closest RV Park to CDMX while we are visiting the capitol.

We happened upon the town on a Saturday, and as it happens, it was market day and many people from the capitol go on day trips to the surrounding towns, including Tepotzotlan. In the center of town, there is a giant bronze Christ laying down, signifying when we was taken down from the crucifixion.

CDMX – Centro Historico

Leaving the truck in Tepozotlan, and taking an Uber into the Centro Historic, we arrived just after noon at the hotel. We checked in and went wandering. First things first, we went to eat – and got robbed. Not mugged, but the restaurant robbed us. Similar items on the menu, with drastically different prices, that was the most expensive meal we have had in Mexico – and we’ve eaten at some nice places – all for a mediocre fast food (that’s what they call themselves) meal. We’re talking $20us for a pitcher of lemonade, a side of guacamole, some French fries – EACH, not together. Now imagine for the entire meal…

The nice thing about the restaurant, is that it was on a terrace and we had a nice view of the zocalo, the gardens, the cathedral, and all of the tourist industry shenanigans going on below.

After lunch, we hoped on over to the cathedral, the largest and tallest in the americas??? There are so many naves in this church, and they are mostly active with parallel activities. Their sound system is directional, so you don’t hear the other services unless you move under, or in the way of the speakers. This cathedral is also one of the most important and largest pilgrimages in the americas, to see the Virgen de Guadalupe. It is not surprising that a cathedral of this size has parallel services, there are 19mln ppl in CDMX.

After the cathedral, we headed to the Temple Mayor. This Aztec temple was only in use for about 200 years until the Spanish came over and conquered them. It was used for a relatively small amount of time. This temple is in its 7th iteration, each one being built over the others. And the cathedral is built, if not on top of, then just to the side of – and of the rocks that the temple was built from. Inside the Templo Mayor, there was an archeology museum. A small, but well put together museum showcasing the templo mayor, and the Project of Urban Archeology – which was founded in the 80’s or 90’s to excavate and preserve important sites in CDMX that are found during construction projects.

Xochimilco

Another UNESCO site, Xochimilco is a city of floating man-made islands (Chinampas) and canals. Most of which have disappeared to to heavy draw from the water table and sinking of the area. We took a canal boat (trajinera) ride fro a couple of hours and visited many interesting sites on the chinampas, had food delivered to us on the boat, and were serenaded but mariachi bands floating the other way down the canal. As the day wore on, we saw more and more trajineras taking tourists up and down the canal – it was quite festive and entertaining.

Chapultapec

While in CDMX, we have been relying on taxi and Uber transportation. It’s more expensive than what we have paid previously, but everything in CDMX is more expensive. So this day, we decided to take public transit and it… paid off. The fair for the metro is $6mx – about 35 cents. Very affordable. The metro line 7 runs every… two minutes. Yup, two minutes between busses. The busses are all very clean and well maintained double decker busses with a large panoramic window in the front for those lucky enough to sit there. To say that I am impressed would be an understatement. The transit system is efficient, easy, GPS tracked, and inexpensive.

We took the bus to the National Museum of Anthropology in Bosque de Chapultepec. This museum was… impressive. Its two floors each sported 7-8 sections and were divided between pre-hispanic and post-hispanic (modern indigenous culture) exhibits. I have seen Aztec, Maya, Olmec, and other museums, but not with all of them together. You really get an idea of the different people, level of advancement, art, music, culture, etc when these different peoples artifacts are displayed side-by-side. This museum, while it’s primary focus is to the Mexica people and Tenochitlan, they have done a fantastic job of incorporating other people and civilizations into their exhibits – all while tying them back to the Mexica civilization. We were only able to see the pre-hispanic exhibits, and we ran through the modern indigenous cultures just to see if we were interested in coming back – which we will.

Not far from the museum, via a gentle stroll through the Chapultapec forest, waits the Castillo de Chapultepec – an impressive castle built in the 1600-1700’s on top of hill top in the middle of Mexico City – creating an imposing fortification. The government has turned this castle/fort into a post-conquest history museum of Mexico. Going through this museum, as someone from the United States, one realized how little we are taught about our neighbor in school, and even how little we are taught about the Mexican-American war.

Specifically, the Niños Heroes, who were military cadets ages 12-early 20’s, who were left to defend Chapultepec and CDMX from the American military aggressors. The cadets held off the invading American military for many days until Mexico City finally fell. The story actually goes back further, to when Texas, then a Mexican state, declared its independence from Mexico and seceded from Mexico. The US Congress then approved Texas’ statehood request and declared war on Mexico. The fall of Mexico City, left the US in a predicament, they held the vast majority of the Mexican territory, but they did not want it. Arguably, slavery was still a hot issue, and if the US were to make Mexico a colony or territory, it would be a slavery state. So the occupying US military just packed up and left – except for California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, which the US annexed from Mexico and made them territories.

Anyway, the point was we are not really taught history other than our own positive outcomes, like that these young cadets held off the US Military, vastly outnumbered, outgunned, out trained, for weeks – an embarrassment to the US military and now the pride of Mexico.