Martes y Miercoles en La Ciudad de Mexico

Today was my second full day in Mexico, and the past two days have definitely been busy. On Tuesday we started the day with a buffet breakfast at the hotel. I got to try papaya juice for the first time, it was an interesting breakfast because they had a lot of foods which I wouldn't consider to be breakfast items, such as semi-soggy chips basking in some sort of green chili sauce, mixed vegetables, meat and even what appeared to be barbecued chicken drumsticks. After breakfast we headed out to the museum of anthropology. Along the way we got to see a lot more of the city, with narration from our tour guide. From the anthropology museum it is clear the Mexico has an extremely rich history. We were able to see a lot of artifacts from the indigenous cultures which lived in the region pre-colonization. Something interesting which I found out was that Mexico city was first built by the native Americans who first lived here, it was an island in the middle of a huge lake. The city was originally full of canals, and when the Spanish arrived they tore down the much of the native people's buildings which filled in parts of the lake. Because Mexico city was built on what was a lake, the water table is extremely high. As a result many buildings are actually sinking, and as some ground sinks other parts rise. For this reason most of the buildings in the city are very slanted. There seems to be very little level ground. Even some streets are slightly buckled in the middle. Another interesting thing about Mexico city is that the city center called el Zocalo, is built over the ruins of the ancient aztec city. In fact the remnants of a huge aztec temple are being excavated right next to the palacio nacional at the center of the city. At the museum it was interesting to hear more about the culture that was in this area before the arrival of Europeans. The civilization from this area believed that human sacrifice was necessary in order to appease the gods. As a result they were very warlike, they went to war for the purpose of capturing prisoners to sacrifice. There were many weapons in the museum from the time period which still appeared terrifyingly sharp and in good condition. There were also a lot of stone statues of Gods, on which people actually performed sacrifices. It was very interesting to hear about the ancient culture, but also a little creepy since they liked to sacrifice human hearts. In the afternoon after a lunch of Mollete (french bread covered in re-fried beans and melted cheese), we went to explore a wax museum and Ripley's Believe it or not Museum. The wax museum was very similar to the one in downtown Hollywood except with many historic mexican figures whom I didn't recognize. Later in the day we explored the city streets on our own and got cafe in a tiny mexican resturaunt. So far I have been very impressed with how beautiful the architecture is hear, it is a gorgeous city. That night we went up the Torre de Latinoamerica. Which was 44 floors high. At the top there was an open air area which was only enclosed by metal netting. It provided a beautiful view of the city stretching out in all directions. From that height the size of Mexico city is very impressive, it goes as far as you can see in all directions even climbing up the sides of the mountains which surround the city from either side. It also looks very crowded from above, the amount of close together houses and cars is truly striking. After the tower we got Churros with hot chocolate, which was muy delicioso. Today was another busy day, we walked over to el Palacio Nacional which historically housed the president but is now used for more symbolic purposes. It was absolutely beautiful inside was a beautiful cactus garden, and fountain. In the walls around the courtyard we were able to see original paintings by the famous Diego Rivera depicting the history of the country. We then walked to the museum del templo mayor, which is an area where you can walk through the remnants of an old temple. Their were two sides of the temple, one which was for death and sacrifice and another which was for life and rain. Our tour guide told us the the aztec culture saw these two sides in everything. There was an indoor portion of the museum which housed an astounding amount of artifacts which had incredibly all been found in the area around the city center. It is amazing how much history is literally right under your feet in Mexico City. Because to this day they are still finding ancient artifacts in this area. In fact our tour guide told us that there hasn't been much new construction in this area because they do not want to disturb the archaeological artifacts. My favorite part of the day however was when we visited a Pasteleria (or cake shop). There was an incredible amount of extremely elaborate gigantic cakes on display. They are for celebrations like birthdays, quinceneras weddings etc. The shop also sold an overwhelming variety of baked goods, such as sweet breads, cookies, danishes, croissants. There was so many delicious looking options that it was honestly stressful deciding what to try. Our group brought back a huge amount of baked goods and ended up splitting them between us so I was able to try a wide variety. Definitely the best part of the day. The altitude seems to have an affect on me because by five this afternoon all I really wanted to do was take a nap. Tonight however we are going to a folk ballet at el palacio de las bellas artes which is a beautiful building a few blocks down the road.