Tag: cathedral

City of the Gods

The day after our bender, very early, we decided it was the appropriate time to take a tour (with the same crazy tour guide) to see the ancient Mesoamerican site Teotihuacan. We had a few stops while I was still half asleep to view various churches and ruins that weren’t all that exciting at that time of the morning. Until we reached a cathedral that was so beautiful that I had to perk up and take some pictures.

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Eventually, we started heading out of town toward the main attraction, which was about an hour’s drive. When we were sufficiently in the middle of nowhere of inland Mexico, we stopped at a little place with a buffet lunch laid out for us. I have today had my first Mexican dish which was too spicy to handle! It was an onion and fresh chilli salad, and on second thought, it should have been obvious that it would be insanely spicy. We also learnt here about all the things which can be made from the cactus plant.

The pyramids are breath-taking. The site that exists today is thought to be only 17 percent of what it once was. Large mounds of earth can be seen for miles around that were likely to have been pyramids in the past but have not yet been excavated. There are two major pyramids on the site, one of which cannot be climbed up all the way as the top is damaged. At the first pyramid, some of the guys raced up the steps. You can see how crazy that is in the photo below. I walked and I was still exhausted when I reached the top!

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On the top of the next pyramid, we spent a long time sitting in the cool breeze at the top admiring the view before heading back to the Centro Historico for dinner and drinks.

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Acquainting myself with Mexico

My flight finally arrived in Mexico at midnight local time. I had heard many horror stories about this part of the world, and Mexico was my first stop on my own, so I was understandably quite worried about this. However, changing some cash to local pesos and taking a taxi to my hostel ended up being pretty uneventful. In fact, my fear probably caused my only problem: the taxi office short-changed me and I didn’t count my change, as I didn’t want to have my money out in the open for too long. It was only 5 US dollars which I lost though, so its not like It broke the bank. The experience did remind me to be extra careful though.

I woke up just before 8 am the next morning to bright sunshine streaming into my dorm room. I walked onto our tiny balcony to see a gorgeous view from my window. I knew then that I was going to love Mexico City and I headed downstairs to book my room for the rest of the week. I was also quite happy when I discovered that there are only 4 people sleeping in my 12 bed dorm and they are all girls who are travelling alone. I spent the morning having breakfast and thinking about how I wanted to spend my time in DF.

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I headed out to explore the Centro Historical (the old centre) after breakfast to get by bearings and have my first taste of Mexico’s hustle and bustle. I wandered the streets, which were exciting and hectic although I was continuously harassed by buskers and beggars and even more so by men in general. Every time I stopped to sit down, I was approached by Mexican men who exclaimed how beautiful I was and started a conversation. These conversations generally didn’t last long thankfully due to my poor Spanish. Even men arm in arm with women walking down the street were blatantly staring and whistling. I thought that dyeing my hair brunette was supposed to discourage this? I wonder what my experience would have been had I been blonde…One guy had been very offended when I didn’t want to go drink tequila with him right then and there, assuming that I must have turned him down because I didn’t like Tequila, that there couldn’t have been any other reason. At least I know it will be easy enough to make local friends and practice my Spanish!

After my walk I found some lunch at a cute little Tostada shop. I paid US $1 for one tostada and it has kept me full all day! My budget will thank Mexico. After lunch I visited the beautiful Catedral Metropolitana where the Archbishop holds mass on Sundays. The photos which I have taken of the cathedral do not do the place justice, especially as flash was not allowed, but are available to view on my Flickr page.

Until next time,
Erika xx