now that we are home, its time to start getting through these mexico city posts!
So we arrived in mexico city around noon a full week before most of the other wedding guests. This gave us a lot of time to explore the city, and bum around. the first two days were somewhat of a blur. the day we arrived, we went and had some lunch, and then tried to stay awake, but ended up napping around 7 until we decided it was indeed time for bed. but we slept through the night, and that was pretty much the end of the jet lag for noa. not so much myself.
I did get a few photos of us walking to lunch, which was towards a fish taco restaurant recommended to us.
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I was struck by how green the city is. i don’t know why, it is at 7300ft.
so we went for some food at this great fish taco place. empenada, tuna sashimi on a tortilla, and fish taco’s pastor style
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if i ever have a chariot, this is what I’m going to get to pull it
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the next day we took a walk towards the historic downtown area
the palace of fine arts
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day of the dead displays in the main square, called the Zocalo
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the main church on the Zocalo (also known as the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City), which is sinking so it has been reinforced with underground concrete to keep it level
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people dressing up to please crowds
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the ancient city of Tenochtitlan.
okay, I’m going to lay some history on you now. as the story goes, the aztec’s were a people who’s god told them to wander until they saw the sign of where they should build their city. That sign was an eagle, eating a snake, siting on a cactus. so off the people went, and wandered all around mexico. finally they climbed a mountain range, and saw a lake in a big valley. and in that lake was an island. and on that island was a cactus. and guess what was sitting on that cactus. a damn eagle eating a snake. That island later became the main square of the ancient city of Tenochtitlan, where the aztec’s main temples stood. you can see them in the middle of the image below. So as the city grew, what the aztec’s did was create these super fertile islands, by planting trees in a rough square, then planting lily pads, and bring in a bunch of organic mater to place on those. in effect, they build themselves islands all around which they then used to grow their crops. (there is still an area called Xochimilco which we go to later in the trip that still has these islands) In effect, Tenochtitlan was like modern day venice, with waterways everywhere. and its because of this that they were the first people who were able to grow enough food to support their massive growth. all the people before the Aztec collapsed because they could never grow enough food to supply their population. at its peak, there was a daily market with 70,000 people attending every day. thats just who was shopping and selling at the market!
and this is what the ancient city of Tenochtitlan supposedly looked like.
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The point of that story was to tell you that modern day mexico city is basically on a historic lake. it grew so much in size, that eventually there was no more water left, and now the whole city is sitting on a dry lake bed that, while the water table is being continuously drawn down by consumption, is sinking. this is an often reoccurring theme when in mexico city, because nothing is even, roads are wavy and bumpy, and sidewalks are often tilted and uneven also. I’m sure ill be talking about it some more.
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backside of the church
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noa and I stopping for a snack
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duck tacos!
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amazing mango margarita with a sweet and salty rim
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amazing stain glass all over mexico city
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there are riot police all over downtown area. they just hang out
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the making of a day of the dead alter
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