Ginger: Mexico City Oct 27

Oct 27 Tuesday

Started the day with another great breakfast at the hotel with the hot chocolate and bread that I like so much. Julie joined us for breakfast but wasn’t quite up for a long day of sightseeing. It was good to see her smiling face.

We met our driver for the next week, Serafin. He is attentive to our needs and is always right there to help us out of the bus.

As we’re driving, Juan tells us about the three tragic things that have happened at Tlatlecolco – Plaza de tres culturas. First was the defeat of the Aztecs. Second was the shooting of the students in 1968 and the third is the earthquake of 1985 when 2 of the apartment buildings collapsed killing about 1000 people. We had a quick stop, only long enough to snap a few pictures but it was directly into the sun so impossible to get much of anything. Aztec ruins in the foreground, church and modern building in the background.

Next stop is the basilica de Guadelupe. The crowds are much smaller than usual and they really manage the movement of people. You can only enter the sanctuary if you’re attending a service and they open it 5 minutes before the service starts. Somehow, it seems that as soon as we had seen the virgin, everyone scattered in different directions. Yikes, I’m missing a few! We did all find each other but I think it was a little scary for all of us as we were all looking for each other. Sort of like the children’s game of Sardines.

There are 3 basilicas here plus several small chapels. The first is on top of the hill. Then a larger one was built at the bottom of the hill. In the 70's the third, modern one was built. The large open area accomodates the thousands of people who come on special occasions. This is where you see the devotion of so many Mexicans to the Virgin of Guadelupe and Catholisism.

Yes, the older one really is leaning. This is due to sinking from the weight. The main catheral on the zocolo is also sinking.

This is a statue of Juan Diego gathering the roses into his cape.

This is the small, simple chapel that was for the indios. It was the only one that was open for us to enter.

The stairs to the first basilica are decorated.

Since people can't go inside, they gather at this outside place to pray at the feet of the virgin.

On our way to Teotihuacan, Juan told us about some of the background history. Because of COVID, we weren’t able to enter the palace area with the murals. We just went directly to the overlook area where one can easily see the pyramid of the moon and the sun. Down the steps to the lower level where we watched someone demonstrated painting with natural dyes. It was prohibited to climb the pyramids. In some ways, this was nice as there weren’t people in the pictures.

We left the ruins at the pyramid of the Sun and went to lunch. After lunch we learned about all of the uses of the maguey plant which included trying the pulque as well as the distilled drinks. That put people in a real mood for buying.

We left to go back to the site to see the pyramid of Questacuatl. What? They close the parking lot at 4:00 and won’t let anyone in. It doesn’t matter that it is actually about 3:57. We’re not getting in. At least we can see the life size representation at the museum tomorrow. On the way back to the hotel, Juan puts in a National Geographic DVD of the history of Teotihuacan for us to watch on the good-sized screen in our van.

We are seeing more alters for Dia de los Muertos. I know we will see many, many more.