From ruins to ruins: All Around Mexico City

Getting close to the Distrito Federal, we hit two sets of ruins in two days: first, we went to Tula, an ancient Toltec capital, then to Teotihuacan, an earlier city with unclear origins.

In Tula, we saw our first ball courts...

Ricardo standing in a ceremonial ball court

We also saw Tula's iconic warrior-columns and Chac-mool altars.

My camera died so I had to get this picture online

Teotihuacan is a much larger site and we were impressed by the city's organized layout and the extent of excavation/restoration.  Everything is neatly arranged around the city's main avenue, "Calzada de los Muertos" or "Avenue of the Dead". 

Looking down the Avenue of the Dead

We climbed the steep steps to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon, and nearly everything in between. 

Made it!

We also explored inside all the structures we could.   On some of the structures you could still see paint from so long ago.  This little guy found a nice spot:

Look close to see the lizard

From the ruins, we went in to Mexico City.  First stop was the Chapultepec Park and the Museo Nacional de Antropologia, which was enormous and excellent - we arrived in the afternoon and did not have enough time, this is definitely a worth dedicating a whole day.  In front of the museum, there were "voladores" ("flyers") performing.  This tradition actually comes from Papantla in the state of Veracruz, but since our travel route would not take us there, I was excited to actually get to see it in person.  In this ritual, five men climb an impossibly tall pole, then one plays music with a flute and drum from the top while the other four jump off the spinning platform, hanging upside down from ropes and spinning around the pole as they gradually make it to the ground.  The ceremony is filled with symbolism; for example, the four "flyers" represent the four cardinal directions and also four elements.  The flyers rotate around the pole exactly 13 times, related to the mesoamerican calendar system.  

Voladores

The next day we went to the historic center of the city and found a great spot to park within walking distance to Plaza Garibaldi, famous for being the mariachi "headquarters" in Mexico City.  Indeed, we saw many mariachi groups performing and sometimes just gathering.  There was even a street that seemed to be a kind of drive-through mariachi set-up:  a car would pull over, request a song or two, and the band would perform right there on the sidewalk for the people in the car (who would sometimes choose to get out of their vehicle, sometimes not).  Then the customers would pay the band and drive away, on with their day...  Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of this!

Plaza Garibaldi

We enjoyed the sights and sounds of Mexico City.  There were so many things to see and do!



Palacio de Bellas Artes

city view in the background

giant Christmas decorations

 One of our favorite stops was the Palacio Nacional.  It had beautiful gardens, many amazing Diego Rivera murals, and we can't forget to mention...ruins!  Mexico City was built right on top of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, so even right there inside the national palace, you can find ruins. 

Diego Rivera murals in the Palacio Nacional

The mirror above reflects the Tenochtitlan ruins below the palace

So there you have it, our journey in Mexico City took us from ruins to ruins.  A place very full of history and culture, not to be missed!

What a fair!

We hit the road from Guanajuato and headed toward Mexico City.  As the sun started to set, we began looking out for a place to pull over for the night.  Normally we park along the street in a neighborhood that looks safe, or even at a gas station if we're on the highway.  But as we neared the city of Queretaro, we began seeing signs for the "Feria Internacional Ganadera" (International Livestock Fair).  What is this all about?, we wondered.  After asking a friendly passerby, we learned that the fair was HUGE - covering many acres, and in addition to livestock, they had concerts, food, rides, you name it.  It was meant to be - this was definitely going to be our stopping place for the night. 
We parked Cubby in the field near the entrance to the fairgrounds and got permission to stay the night, and headed into the fair. 

crazy neon

The intense neon lights and loud sounds of the fair were overwhelming!  There were auctioneers auctioning off everything from ponchos to blankets, food vendors yelling and drawing people to their tables, barbequed goats hanging from sticks, beer stands blasting cheesy pop music, and people dancing on platforms above the beer stands.  Looking for some food, we were waved into a restaurant area, but after seeing the prices we immediately walked back out!  This fair was not cheap.  We did find more reasonably priced food right next door though, and ate some tortas (big Mexican sandwiches).

Next, it was off to the rides.  We found that the rides, like the food, were pretty pricey, and decided to only ride a couple.  That meant, we had to take our time to pick the best ones, of course.  But which to choose?  When we came across the "SHLITENFAHRT" we knew that it was definitely a must.

"SCHLITTENFAHRT" - best name ever for a ride

Besides having a great name, the ride involved no turning upside down (Ricardo's stipulation), and it was also blasting the song "Oppan Gangnam Style" which had been the official theme song of our trip since the time we first heard it on the radio in Cubby and since then continuously argue about the lyrics (Ricardo says that he is saying "whoopa Gandolf star" while I maintain that it's really "wampum condom star").  We got on and Schlittenfahrted it up.  We got off dizzy, but looking for a better ride...
Then we found the "Evolucion" which locked you in a little cabin, then spun you around, and swung you upside down again and again.  People on this ride were screaming in a more terrified way.  Perfect.

nothing between you and the ground but a metal bar

 At one point, the ride stops completely upside down, so that you fall out of your seat and are just hanging on the metal bar that's supposed to hold you in the car.  Wonder how strict the safety codes are down here? is the thought that passed through my head at that moment! It was a great ride.  Check out our giddy smiles after it was over:


#2 is Ricardo's stand-in since he volunteered to take the pictures :)

After the rides, we headed to the Pancho Barranza concert that was going on on the other side of the fair.  It was packed.  We stayed for a bit, and then went back to Cubby to gear up for Mexico City and some ruins the next day!

Guanajuato!

So on we went towards the well known city of Guanajuato (I remember hearing so much about this town when I was a kid!). Once we arrived there we could not really go into the downtown area because cubby was just too tall and wide for those narrow roads and low tunnels, so we had to loop around the outer part of the town, which wasn't so bad anyway, because that area was really beautiful!
We ended up staying at a huge parking lot area up in the hills of Guanajuato. They also had goats and horses there and that made it pretty charming, although the little shits would not come to you when you called them!
The city of Guanajuato ended up being really amazing and beautiful. If I may say so, it is actually my favorite city in Mexico, that simple.
After the first day we decided to explore the city in more detail, because the first time we went into town it seemed like there wasn't much to it and that it was pretty small, but we were pretty wrong! This city is pretty amazing and the whole setting of the town, its architecture, the narrow and very steep streets etc, make it look very similar to Valparaiso, a city in Chile that I love so much (I studied there).

The second day there we went out at to see what the night life had for us. It had been a while since any of us went out at night. Traveling and seeing so many things all the time gets you kind of tired (and I also do all the driving and repairing) and you just don't feel like going out at night, but going to bed pretty early, at 9 or so, hahaaaa.
We found out about an "Estudiantina" doing what they call a "callejoneada" in the town so we decided to do that. It was simply great. They were great musicians and very entertaining as well. They took us through the very small streets all the way up the hills and around awesome places for a couple of hours.


Estudiantina in Guanajuato

While in Guanajuato, we also visited the Mummy museum, which is a creepy place indeed. Back in the 1800's, the local government decided to charge people buried in the cemetery a "fee" for being there, like rent or something like that. If you couldn't pay (the living members of the family of course) or if you didn't have any family at all, they dug out your body. When doing this they discovered that because of the temperature of the soil at the cemetery, the special soil composition and other factors, the bodies where amazingly well preserved, so they came up with the awesome and creepy idea of putting all the bodies they dug out in a museum!!! And while none of us really like that kind of shit, while in Guanajuato you simply "have" to visit that place. And so we did, I won't put any pictures of that here, but it was quite something. Most of the bodies are naked and you find men, women and children in the museum. Some bodies are so well preserved that you can still see the skin, pubic hair and all kinds of shit. At times it was a bit sad, cause there was one lady that was accidentally buried alive, and you could see the way her hands were positioned, after she suffocated to death, and the broken nails trying to scratch her coffin.
Oh well, enough of that! I don't really remember the order in which we did stuff but we did go to the market, museum, walked a lot and visited pretty much everything there.

We also visited the childhood home-museum of Diego Rivera in the city.

This is a beautiful little cafe with the best tiramisu in the world!

Elevator to a higher part of the city

Gorgeous sunset

We also got to see a sidewalk art competition. It was really good!

 

 

Well, that's pretty much it for Guanajuato. This city will forever be in my heart as one of the prettiest ones I have visited. If you are ever in Mexico, you MUST go there. Many people like Oaxaca, Cancun, Acapulco etc. People are usually predisposed when visiting places, but if you are just traveling and not expecting anything in particular, you can be pleasantly surprised.

More posts to come soon, and hopefully we will start to catch up with them. See you soon!



Patzcauro, Tzintzuntzan, and Morelia

From Angahuan, our next big destination was Guanajuato, but there were some places in between that we wanted to see, even if just for a short while.  Here are some of the highlights:

The first was the city of Patzcuaro.  We stopped for breakfast in a cute hotel/cafe where we ate breakfast in the courtyard.



Breakfast stop in Patzcuaro

 

We took a look around the lovely, cobblestoned city.

 

The plaza

 

View to the street from the doors of the oldest church in Latin America

Next stop was the ruins of Tzintzuntzan.  Tzintzuntzan in the Purepecha language means "place of the butterflies".  It was the Purepecha capital until the Spanish arrived in 1522, and soon the city met its ruin - diseases brought by the Spanish wiped out much of the population, and the Spanish destroyed much of the city.  They burnt the Purepecha emperor alive and brought his only son to "educated" in the Spanish language and customs. 

The ruins are situated on a hill overlooking both the modern city and the lake.  It was a beautiful view.  The site contains five "yacatas" - circular structures uncommon in mesoamerican ruins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We left Tzintzuntzan and went to Morelia.  It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its colonial arquitecture.  We enjoyed this city as it has a very "Spanish" feel.  We visited the Museo Regional Michoacano (history of the state of Michoacan), the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, and of course, the Mercado de los Dulces (the sweets market).  Here are a few pictures we took:

The plaza

 

La Catedral

 

There were many Spanish-style courtyards in Morelia

 

Aqueduct in the middle of the city

 

 

 

 

Angahuan

We arrived at the indian village of Angahuan, just north of Uruapan, in the early evening. From the town, there is access to the nearby volcano, Paricutin, that we had planned to hike.  In Angahuan they must have been waiting for us, because as soon as we entered the town, a guy rode up on a horse, flashed a badge he wore around his neck claiming that he was the Angahuan Secretary of Tourism, and welcomed us with a bright smile.  He informed us that the main road through the village was blocked off (indeed it was...a line of rocks placed across the road...not sure why except to trap tourists as they are entering!).  He generously offered to lead us around the roadblock to the "centro turistico" at the edge of the town, overlooking the nearby Volcano Paricutin.  We followed him, still riding his horse, to the "centro touristico" - a park-like area with picnic pavillions and cabins for rent - where we met another guy with a fancy badge who informed us that he would be charging us 100 pesos a night (~US $7.50) to park there.  No thanks, we said, being cheap travellers, we'll just park somewhere on the street for free.  But as Mr. Secretary and the parking fee collector began telling us about Angahuan, and that tourism is their main source of income since the soil is too ashy to grow crops, they guilted us (ok maybe just me) into paying to park in their "turismo" area, although we bargained them down to 50 pesos.  But they were too nice to say no...

Sunset view of the volcano Paricutin from Angahuan

We left the camping area to check out the town.  It was a beautiful town, with cobblestone streets and decorated with the typical Mexican banderitas strung across the streets.  We saw people in their native dress, and heard people speaking the local Purepecha language.  In fact, many people we tried to talk to did not understand Spanish at all, they only spoke Purepecha. The city had a beautiful church and as we watched there was a church service going on, in Purepecha, and we were told that it was a mix of Christianity and native religion.

Angahuan street decorated with banderitas

 

 

The church in Angahuan

We had heard that it was a big night in Angahuan.  That evening, there was going to be a concert in the plaza from the local band, Banda Santa Cecilia. Everyone was talking about it - it was the big excitement in Angahuan.  Both the Secretary of Tourism and the parking fee collector had said that they would be there. Arriving at the plaza, we saw that there was a huge stage set up, with gigantic speakers, large video screens, just like a concert set up at a big stadium in the U.S.  We spotted a few band members and saw that they all wore matching Mariachi-type uniforms with "Banda Santa Cecilia" embroidered on the back. Wow, we thought, for such a small town, these guys must be really famous to have such a setup.  And we got here just in time to see the concert!
With just a short time before the concert was to begin, we set out on a quick search for food. We found the best quesadillas of the trip so far - from a lady who was selling food right out of her house.  We noticed that she had the door open and there were a few people standing around, waiting while she made tortas and quesadillas for them.  We asked if she would make us some food as well.  Of course! she replied, and she proceded to make the most enormous quesadillas we have seen - the size of burritos from Chipotle. She made them to order - with lots of fresh veggies.  They were delicious - and only 20 pesos ($1.50) each!
Back at the plaza, a large crowd was gathering, awaiting the concert.  The kids were wide-eyed with anticipation, gushing about the coming performance.  Lights started flashing on stage and a hush came over the crowd - the concert was about to begin.  They began pumping smoke onto the stage and the then band emerged from behind the fog.  What a grand entrance!

Dramatic entrance, complete with fog

And then the big moment - the band began playing.  We looked at each other in disbelief as we heard the harsh squaking of what sounded like a middle-school band practice.  The members of the band were blowing their hearts out, trying to step in time to the beat but failing miserably, bumping into each other as they all seemed to be playing to a different beat.  Is THIS the much-anticipated band?  Maybe they are just the opening band... Nope, it was the real thing.  Then, the singer began crooning, horribly out of tune.  What are we going to do? we asked ourselves.  We couldn't just leave right away - they had just started playing and we didn't want be rude.  Everyone would notice; we were the only gringos in town! 

The band and their admiring fans

We stuck it out for a few more tunes, but it never got any better.  To be fair, the tuba player was very good, and the rest of the band ... well, they did put a lot of effort in.  When our ears could bear no more, we snuck out of the crowded plaza and escaped back to Cubby.
The next morning, we awoke early for our volcano adventure.  Many Angahuan families own a horse that they rent to tourists to go to the volcano, so for some fun, we had decided to rent horses that would take us the 16k horse trail to the volcano.  Then we would walk up the last kilometer up to the top of the volcano.  The Secretary was waiting for us at the beginning of the trail, along with our guide, a 15-year old nicknamed "Zorro" (fox), and our horses. 

Zorro and the horses

The first thing we noticed was that the horses looked pretty skinny, and the trail was really steep.  Are you sure they'll make it? we asked.  Oh, yes, these horses do this trail all the time, we were assured.  We started down the first cobblestone slope out of the town, and the horses, though, not so sure-footed, made it down all right.  We came out into a clearing, and saw many avocado trees.  We stopped at a little house along the way  with very friendly people, and learned that this area is the avocado-growing capital of the world.  This particular family grows and sells most of their avocados to the U.S.  In fact, many of the avocados we eat in the U.S. come from this very area.  So much for the soil being too poor for agriculture, right?
We got back on the horses and continued on our way.  Gaining confidence on the horses, we began to trot and then began running with them.  We were laughing and having fun when all of a sudden, Matt's horse was on the gound.  The horse had lost its footing and fell!  Matt rolled off of it gracefully, but still had a foot hooked in its stirrup.  Get your foot out! Ricardo yelled.  Just in time, Matt managed to work his foot free, before the horse stood up and started moving.  We all breathed a sigh of relief to see that Matt was fine, and even laughing about the fall!  He got right back on the horse, but we all decided to take it a little slower from then on.

Horseback riding to the Paricutin volcano

We rode to the point where the horses could not continue, and from there it was up to the top on foot. It was steep climbing on lava rocks, but when we made it to the top, the view was impressive.  We got to walk around the edge of the crater and see inside.  We also had a great view of the valley below. 

A steep climb through lava rocks

 

At the top of Paricutin, the crater behind us

Going down the volcano was the most fun - there was so much ash that it was like a giant sandbox - no rocks to get hurt on.  You could practically just slide all the way down.  We ran down the whole way, giggling like children!

That's Matt out ahead, running down the ashy slope

Down at the bottom, Zorro was waiting for us with the horses.  We hopped back on.  Our next stop was San Juan, a village at the base of the Paricutin volcano that was buried by lava and ash at the last eruption in 1943.  The volcano erupted for 9 years.  All that remains of the village of San Juan is the church ruins, so we got off the horses and climbed to check it out more closely.  It is incredible that you can still see parts of the church as they were then.



San Juan church surrounded by lava and ash

Remains of the altar inside, partially covered by lava rock

After we left San Juan, we rode back into Angahuan and after returning the horses, went to buy some more of those delicious quesadillas.  We had a couple beers to celebrate the fun day and alleviate some of the pain in our backsides from riding horses all day :).
Leaving the next day, we found Mr. Secretary sitting by the roadblock, waiting for the next group of tourists to pull in.  He flashed his big smile and waved us goodbye.  We truly enjoyed our visit to Angahuan, and all the funny stories that we now have to tell because of it.  It was a great time, and we reccomend visiting here to anyone who is traveling in the area.  The people were very friendly, the town beautiful, and they volcano is spectacular.  And maybe if you're lucky, you might catch a performance of the famous Banda Santa Cecilia...

Mexican Traffic, Lago Chapala, and Uruapan

Leaving Guadalajara, we encountered the craziest traffic we have seen this far on the trip (and hopefully the worst we will see!)  We were trying to hit the highway to head south to Lago Chapala, the largest lake in Mexico.  But before we even left Guadalajara, we found ourselves stuck in traffic due to an accident just outside the city.  Now, if you are picturing traffic on 95 with an accident during rush hour, you're getting close to what we are sitting in.  On top of that, remember that this is Mexico, and normal driving rules do not really apply here.  On days with normal traffic flow, the lines painted on the road are completely ignored, traffic lights are merely suggestions, and turn signals are used randomly.  A road that appears to be a normal 2-lane road suddenly becomes 4 very narrow lanes as the crazy drivers from both sides decide to pass simultaneously.  Driving both Pichula and Cubby around in Mexico has been an adventure to say the least, but Ricardo has done an awesome job handling the driving.  The day we left Guadalajara, however, was pure chaos! Lanes, of course, were nonexistent as the drivers occupied any and all available pavement space to get them a few feet closer to their destination.  Traffic signals were meaningless, with drivers forcing their way in all directions through intersections.  At one point, a Jeep Cherokee cut right in front of us, and since we have the trailer weight behind us, we couldn't stop in time.  We were only just CREEPING forward because of the traffic, however, and ended up just barely bumping the side of the Jeep that cut us off.  The driver was mad, blaming it on us, but Ricardo got out to inspect and there was no damage to either car.  We continued sitting, inching forward, and pushing our way through the traffic like the other Mexico drivers for well over an hour until we finally made it through. 

Relieved and back up to highway speed, we drove on to Chapala, a sleepy town on the edge of Lake Chapala.  We strolled through the market and ate lunch there.  A pretty town, here are some pictures:

Lago Chapala

 

Chapala

 

boats on the lake

 

Cute pier called the "Corner of Love"

 

We walked through the town and decided to continue on our way around the lake.  We continued to the next town of Ajijic, where we spent the night on the edge of the lake.  In the morning, after some routine maintenance to the car, we continued making our way around the lake and then farther south, to the city of Uruapan.

We had been excited to visit Uruapan (real pronunciation: oo-roo-AH-pan, not oo-roo-a-PAN as we had been calling it) because of the favorable reviews we read in the guide books before going.  It supposedly had an excellent market, great food, and a national park actually inside the city with cool hiking opportunities. 

Uruapan plaza

We arrived, and perhaps we were spoiled by the sights and sounds of Guadalajara, but we were a bit disappointed with the market in Uruapan.  Despite the hype of our guidebooks, the market was small and lacking the color and flavor of other mercados we had been to in Mexico.  We ate lunch at the market, and although the food left a little to be desired, it was fascinating the way that EVERYONE there was completely absorbed in the futbol game that was playing on the television there. The people eating, the people serving food, everyone was keeping an eye on the game.  When the local team scored a goal, a huge cheer was heard throughout the market, and - I'm not kidding! - they actually rang the church bells in the city!

Busy market where we ate lunch

After lunch we toured the city a little and then headed to the Eduardo Ruiz National Park.  It turned out to be beautiful but a little artificial and not really big enough to do any actual hiking.  We strolled around the park and admired the scenic waterfalls, trees, flowers, and ferns.



Parque Nacional Eduardo Ruiz

 

Another view of the park

When we left the park, we decided to leave Uruapan for the indian village of Angahuan.  We were looking for more adventure than the city could provide... next post: Angahuan!