Keep Up-To-Date With Our Free Mexico Newsletter
Our free Mexico Newsletter gives you ideas, inspiration and contacts to realize your experience in Mexico - whether your plans are for travel, for living & lifestyle or real estate...Register Now
Mexico Travel Diaries - Leg 3 and Leg 4
Mexico City (II), Templo Mayor, Teotihuacan, and Tula
Mexico City (Part II)
The sounds and sights of the Christmas season fill the city; commercialisation has taken over here too. Coca-Cola has sponsored dozens of huge Christmas trees that feature prominently in plazas, shopping malls and some of the larger markets. The commercial areas of the city are thumping with activity: streets that run past major markets are blocked with cars parked 3 deep; car parks in shopping malls are packed to capacity and even more people are queuing to get in. Journeys that normally take ten minutes take an hour to complete.
Outside of the markets and shopping centres, Mexico City has calmed down as people have left for the holidays. On the city’s main roads and byways, the traffic is at one-tenth of its normal intensity. “If it were ten times this busy” remarks my cab driver as we glide down Avenida Insurgentes with no trouble, “we wouldn’t mind… But it’s usually one-hundred times this busy and that is what makes driving here stressful most of the time”. The city’s air is cleaner. I can see the surrounding mountains for the first time on my visit here; normally they are screened by Mexico City’s smog. One day, I look up and see the twin volcanoes that flank the city: Popocatepetl (sans the snow that it would normally have, as it’s active) and Ixtaccihuatl. In the 70s, you could see them all of the time; they are a tremendously impressive sight.
Christmas in Mexico takes place on the evening of December 24th. It’s then that families muster to share time with each other and enjoy traditional Christmas food and drink. Christmas Day here is a true holiday; a chance to rest and reflect. We enjoy a traditional Christmas evening meal of bacalao, a cod fish prepared with olives, potatoes and a tomato and chilli-based sauce; spaghetti, salad, and turkey. The warm night air is filled with the smell of fireworks. Before we sit down to enjoy our meal, we go outside, where a piñata (a Paper Mache figure filled with sweets) has been strung up ready for each person to take their turn hitting it. When the piñata breaks, everyone scours to collect a share of the sweets that rain down from above.
Christmas Eve is also a time to exchange presents; although most presents in Mexico are given on King’s Day (Dia de los Reyes Magos) on January 6th, which is why the schools don’t go back until Tuesday the 7th.
Coyoacan
Mexico City’s most beloved colonial area has to be the old colonial village of Coyoacan, situated on the south side of the city, just a couple of miles away from San Angel, the colonial area I visited last week. Most of the activity in Coyoacan centres on the Plaza Hidalgo off which stands the church of San Juan and adjacent, the Jardin Centenario.
Today, Coyoacan’s Plaza Hidalgo is host to popular weekend markets which attract artists but also those selling artisan works, toys and food to the thousands of city dwellers and tourists that frequent its cobble streets and colonial ambience every weekend.
Coyoacan is one of the most sought-after residential areas in Mexico City. Many of the old houses and mansions have also been converted into schools, museums, cafes and up scale restaurants. Walking west from the main plaza, I arrive at an opening that hosts a small garden in the centre of which is small chapel; this is Plaza de la Conchita (little shell). Hernan Cortez made his home in Coyoacan after the Spanish conquest; today his house is host to a performing arts school which is located on the north side of the garden.
Coyoacan is also home to two of Mexico’s most famous museums: Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky. I wonder down Calle Londres and stumble upon Frida Kahlo’s old haunting ground and just around the corner, on Avenida Rio Churubusco, her old friend and neighbour: Casa Museo de Leon Trotsky. Both houses are now fine museums open to the public.
Just before leaving Coyoacan, I make one last stop at the covered market here: Mercado de Coyoacan. As I walk into the market, I feel taken back in time to old market days. A stall to my left pours over with fruits and vegetables that smell as fresh as if they had been picked this morning; to my right there is a sweet shop selling traditional Mexican sweets made from fruit pulp – no artificial flavours or colours added. Along a gangway, there’s a traditional butcher preparing cuts to order; across from him is the poultry stall where huge scissors cut up pieces of fresh chicken before they are bagged and handed over to waiting customers. There’s a flower stall; a toy shop; a candle maker; fishmonger; more fruit and vegetable sellers; craftworks made locally and some brought in from the provinces; a couple of café’s and mini diners where people can buy traditional Mexican dishes prepared with the same food being sold elsewhere in the market. I am the only foreigner here right now; the place is buzzing with local people shopping for fresh comestibles and other sundry items for house and home. Gone is the soul-less efficiency of the self-service, hygienically sterilised hyper-market experience. Sellers and buyers know each other; they greet sincerely, ask and talk about each other’s children and grandparents; complain about something trivial, laugh and move on, with a final “hasta pronto” – until soon.
On Taxis
I have been breaking the ‘foreigner in Mexico City’ rule during my stay in Mexico City and taking cabs off the street. I only recommend this if you know Mexico City, speak good Spanish, and are not carrying too much baggage or anything of high value. I only hail cabs with the official cab plates that begin with “L” or “S” (some cars painted as cabs have normal licence plates). I look for older cab drivers; always check their identification card when I get in and never get into a cab waiting by the kerb or into one where someone else is just getting out. If I have baggage or am travelling at night; I still call a cab from an official taxi rank.
It’s unfortunate that Mexico City’s public transport calling card these days is: “Don’t take street cabs”. It’s only in the last few years that the problem known as “taxi crime” – where innocent passengers find themselves victims of a pre-meditated mugging – has become an issue here. As usual, it’s a small percentage of culprits that ruins the reputation for everyone who happens to make a living driving a cab. Partly as a result of the recent problems, all taxis in Mexico City are currently undergoing changes: The local government is phasing out the old green VW Beetles and replacing them with 4-door white cabs with a red stripe around them.
Most people who visit Mexico City for a short period never have a need to use street cabs as airports bus stations and hotels all have “official taxi” facilities on tap: other times you may be on a tour which has all the transportation organised for you. However, if you are travelling independently, beware of the risks and take sensible precautions. I have never had a problem in a cab to date; the vast majority of street cabbies are good people earning a crust by providing an honest service to locals and foreigners alike.
Centro Historico (Historic Center of Mexico City)
Mexico City’s main Plaza, or Zocalo, is second in size only to Moscow’s Red Square. As I step out from the cab and walk across the plaza, I am in awe – again – despite having been here many times before. On the north side of the plaza stands the impressive Cathedral; a building which has been undergoing some serious engineering work as due Mexico City’s soft foundations (the city is built on a drained lake) the building was starting to sink.
On the east side of the square is the Government Palace: an immense piece of colonial architecture that stretches the whole length along the east side of the plaza. On September 16th every year, Mexico’s President appears on the balcony of this building and shouts the cry of Independence as it was voiced in the town of Dolores Hidalgo in the State of Guanajuato back in 1810 – finishing with words echoed by tens of thousands standing in the Zocalo below – “Viva Mexico”.
I spend time wandering around the inside of the Government Palace: an incredible building three stories high with a breathtaking central courtyard. Murals depicting Mexico’s varied and sometimes difficult history are prominent as they are in all of Mexico’s Government Palaces. The second floor offers good views of the courtyard below and there are some open rooms where you can see the original Mexican Constitution signed 1817 encased in glass as well as other important historical documents; beyond these rooms, you are free to wander around the Parliamentary Chamber when it is not in session.
Half of the second level and all of the third level is off limits to the public: The Palace is host to working offices of the current government, as are all of the Government Palaces around the country.
Back outside on the streets of the Zocalo, activity is picking up as the day wears on. Street traders begin to emerge, and the once vast open space of the Zocalo Square is becoming engulfed with street traders, ambulant vendors and thousands of people. I wander off the pavement and onto the side of the road; north east of the Cathedral is the entrance to the famous Museum of Templo Mayor (see next main heading in red)...
Xochimilco
On the south eastern edge of Mexico City lies what was once a small village that has now been engulfed within the boundaries of the gigantic “Federal District” of Mexico City. The village is called Xochimilco. Pronounced “Sochi-Milko” it is an old Aztec name meaning “Place of the flowers”.
I head into the village one afternoon, which is always a hive of activity due to the never-ceasing market trade there. Old time Mexico is alive and kicking in Xochimilco’s open markets, where you can still buy your chicken plucked, alive and ready for home-slaughter. Like all of Mexico’s markets, the food you buy here is fresh, and sold and bought by people who enjoy the old-fashioned way to acquire their comestibles.
Besides the old-village feel, the main attraction in Xochimilco are the ‘floating gardens’ – and the colourful punts “trajineras” – which navigate around the old canals that still exist in this part of the city. At one time all of Mexico City (Tenochtitlan) was like this; but the old lake which Mexico City was built upon (Lago Texcoco) and its surrounding canals have all been long drained.
At one time the punts were decorated with real flowers – today they are painted, save for special occasions sponsored by customers in advance. As I board the punt I have agreed to hire for an hour, the man places a bucket of soft drinks on ice on board, and a young sales man hops on board with a narrow wooden case. He opens up the case, which reveals a treasure trove of finely crafted silver jewellery: rings, bracelets, necklaces and pendants. “My family has been crafting silver for several generations” he tells me, “we have workshops here in Xochimilco, and some of our designs have won awards”. The selection is certainly impressive and every piece is unique: most of the work is hand crafted with intricate designs etched into hallmarked pieces of .925 Sterling Silver. Prices are extremely reasonable: even one of the most complex and intricate pieces was quoted at just 450 pesos; a price which could probably have been bargained down some.
As the punt leaves the landing dock named Nativitas, (there are several different docks in Xochimilco) the canal opens up. On the banks of the canal, life as normal is going on around the local and foreign tourism on the water. Houses, shops, markets, plant nurseries and a plethora of other cottage industries are apparent. Some local children dive into the canal waters from the edge of a bank, as their friends watch from a punt anchored to the edge. And on the canals themselves, small punts float past offering the tourists food, drinks, snacks, hand-woven rugs and other craftworks. Mariachis populate a boat which, for a few pesos per song, will pull up beside your punt and serenade your party with traditional Mexican folk and country music. Even on the water, Xochimilco’s market culture lives on.
On Saturday nights, young middle class “night clubbers” descend on Xochimilco with their own drinks and CD-ready ghetto-blasters. Each punt has a long table running down the middle with open space at each end and chairs down the sides. The smaller boats can sit 20 comfortably; the larger ones 40. The youngsters hire the punt for 5 or 6 hours, switch on their music and turn the punt into a floating night club. Several punts will leave from each dock, and some people will hop from punt to punt as they pass each other to meet new people as the night progresses. The floating market stall punts selling food and drink keep the party-goers fed and watered – throughout the whole night. At around 5am, the punts dock again and the youngsters go home, while the punt operators clean their punts ready for the family-outing rush on Sunday afternoon.
Closing Thoughts (Mexico City)
As the holiday season ends, Mexico City is starting to get back to normal. The roads are getting busier and people are returning to the City to prepare to return to work or return to school. Next week, the city’s roads will be jammed again; business as usual will have returned. I leave Mexico City with mixed emotions; pleased to be exchanging the intensity of this vast metropolis for Mexico's Pacific coastal life; saddened to leave the buzz and excitement that Mexico City delivers in a way that no other place in Mexico can. It is this mysterious dust that sticks to some people's shoes and magnetises them; beseeching them to come back for more. Mexico City is a place that you will end up loving and returning back to forever, or hating, never to return for any length of time.You will never know until you visit here and even then, you won't know until you've left.
I ruffle through my bag and find the wallet that keeps my travel documents. I unzip one of the pockets and reach inside an draw out a set of air tickets. Monday morning I will be at the airport, boarding a plane to take me to the west coast and the beginning of the longest stretch of the journey so far; a journey south from Puerto Vallarta hugging Mexico’s Pacific coast as far as Acapulco. The weather forecast is good; about 80F in the day; 60F at night.
Templo Mayor
Just around the corner from the Cathedral in the heart of Mexico City's historic centre is one of Mexico’s most famous Museums – Templo Mayor – nothing less than the remains of Tenochitlan, Modern-day Mexico City and the place where the once mighty Aztecs administrated their Empire from before the Spanish Conquest. The remains were discovered in 1978 when some electricity engineers were digging to lay cables and found a magnificent stone disc, depicting the Aztec Goddess of the Moon, Coyolxauhqui. After a special decree was passed by the government, many of the colonial buildings that stood above the ruins (The Spanish built their new city on top of the Aztec’s ancient city) were torn down to reveal the ruin of the Templo Mayor.
When I enter the Museum, I am directed down some stairs to a level below today’s streets which is where the old city used to reside. I look at the stones and remains and think to myself that this museum, important though it is, is simply a ghostly ruin which is hard to make any sense out of. Towards the end of the circuit, is the museum of the Temple, and inside, a model that shows how the old city looked. Suddenly, it all makes sense, and I understand that the ruins are a fraction of the great city; which the Spanish had the Aztecs destroy and use the material to build Catholic Churches. I look across the model inside the museum, and read the words Hernan Cortez reported back to his homeland (some are engraved in stonework at the museum), I can imagine a glorious city; advanced and sophisticated, as grand as any an Empire has built to show off its talents.
As I walk back out into the area where the ruins lay, I can picture something more substantial within the ghostly ruins of the epicentre of the Aztec Empire. If I have one recommendation for anyone visiting this place, it is to walk straight past the ruins to the museum inside, and then wander around the ruins afterward.
Teotihuacan
Some friends of mine have arrived in Mexico City for a couple of days and invite me on their journey to Teotihuacan – the famous Aztec pyramids north-east of Mexico City. After a breakfast in the city, we drive north on the road out of town and take the turn-off towards San Juan de Teotihuacán – and the archaeological centre which hosts the remains of the ancient Aztec Pyramids.
Teotihuacan’s history, dating back to around 600BC and its eventual demise in 650 AD is closely aligned with Rome’s; although there is no proof that either culture knew of the other. Many archaeologists believe that Teotihuacán is the most important archaeological ruin known; in it’s heyday around 500AD, its population was larger than Rome’s. It is not known why the area was abandoned, but it was – and very suddenly. Theories suggest that the land used to grow crops was no longer able to sustain the population; although no written records exist of it, or its fate; and therefore even the name is itself is a best-guess, based purely on archaeological evidence.
We have arrived early in Teotihuacan and missed the long queue of cars that inevitably builds up en route to the area later in the day. The air is warming up very quickly and by 1030am it’s hot enough to be in shorts and a T-shirt. The sun is fierce here in comparison to the city, so after a short while my friend suggests I spray some suntan lotion on as my neck and ears as they are beginning to burn!
We begin our tour by exploring the Temple of Quetzalcoatl (meaning serpent) a symbol which was extremely important to the Aztecs and which features in all Aztec ruins. The Avenue of the Dead is over 2km in length, and we begin walking it towards the pyramid of the sun. En route we stop off at an underground museum, where old pyramids have been unearthed and preserved by keeping them covered. You can walk through these old pyramid ruins on aluminium tracks which protect the ground around this part of the archaeological area.
Ambulant traders selling obsidian statues and silver jewellery roam the whole area, seeking new trade opportunities from the mass of tourists; local and foreign. Our party gets stopped by a man selling silver plated bracelets. “These symbols represent the days of the week”, he remarks, “When you climb to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, they are charged with positive energy”. After some haggling and barter, Maura and her aunt Antonella are sporting two sets of seven bracelets each – one for each day of the week, and we march on to the Pyramid of the Sun to have them charged up with the positive energy so convincingly promised to us by the ambulant vendor!
A short while later we reach the foot of the massive Pyramid of the Sun – the largest pyramid here – which stands some 70 metres (c.230 ft) high. Steps lead all the way to the top of the pyramid. I buy a couple of bottles of water from one of the traders at the entrance point – 330ml for about one US Dollar – not quite as expensive as petrol in England – but you can tell the trader knows there are no taps nearby.
The climb to the top is slowed by the number of people making the same trip skywards, the heat and the sudden increase in steepness of the steps. There’s a handrail to pull yourself up with if you need it; some use it and others just make their way up unaided.
When we reach the top, the views across Teotihuacán are quite spectacular. There are dozens of people already at the top, crowding around the centre of the pyramid's apex to “absorb” some the energy said to gather there. Maura and Antonella energise their bracelets by shaking their arms above their head and then we all rest a while before making the descent; which is actually more difficult that the ascent in places, due to the steep incline of the pyramid.
As we reach the foot of the Pyramid after our descent, we are greeted by a bombardment of ambulant traders selling all manner of artefacts, crafts, jewellery, food, and of course, more bottled water.
The Pyramid of the Moon, further down the Avenue of the Dead, looks much easier to scale than its solar counterpart. We can see that the steps end near the top and are replaced by uneven but seemingly scaleable cobble stones. In practice it does prove to be much easier to conquer than its counterpart a few hundred meters away. The summit offers stunning views directly down the Avenue of the Dead and of the Pyramid of the Sun, which is now busier than ever. The sun is high up and scorching hot.
After the 2km walk back to the entrance of the museum, we stop to watch the Voladores de Papantla (Papantla Flyers) – indigenous people who climb to the top of a pole in traditional Indian costume and “fly” down the pole, suspended on a rope which is tied to a rotating platform at the top of the pole and to their ankle at the other end. One of the Indians stands at the top of the pole playing a tune on a whistle-flute as the others descend gracefully in a circular motion.
We leave Teotihuacan at about 1pm and, on the way out, we drive past queues of cars waiting to get into the archaeological area. We head back towards to Mexico City and then outwards north-west to Tula, to see the famous stone statues there.
Tula
Tula is an unremarkable town, built up around a PEMEX (Mexico’s State-owned oil company) refinery. The most interesting feature of the city is its famous archaeological ruins about 1 mile out of town where you can witness the great Atlantes de Tula (Statues of Tula). The old city and its Statues were left behind by the Toltecs: said to be geniuses of their time, they were pioneers of science and art.
After walking along a red-grit track for about 1km, which at one point is surrounded on both sides by an artisans market, you catch a glimpse of the platform with the remarkable Statues of Tula through the trees and shrubs.
As we arrive at the Statues, we see that the platform is higher than anticipated; the platform is in fact a flat-topped pyramid. The area surrounding the statues is also flat and open; the old city extended for some kilometres, but the main point of interest today is the Statues.
We climb the steps to the top of the pyramid and mingle among these tall, mysterious statues, taking photographs and looking out across the great expanse of open plain-land that surrounds this area. Far off in the distance to the east, you can see the oil refinery through the light mist of an otherwise clear and warm evening, although it does not take away from the view or the scene itself.
Later, we find ourselves wandering the grounds of the archaeological park, finding a place to just sit and relax for a short while. It is quiet here; there is a an almost mysterious peacefulness about the place. You feel that you could stay here for hours and just sit… perhaps even for days. As the sun begins to set behind us in the west, it’s time to move on. Maura, Antonella and Egisto are travelling further north to the colonial city of San Miguel de Allende. I must return to Mexico City, so we bid each other farewell outside the bus station in Tula. They drive off to join the main road heading north; I board a bus which heads south: 2 hours later it arrives at the northern terminal of Mexico City’s bus station and my rewarding day at the Pyramids and Tula has reached its end.
