Teotihuacan

Went back and forth all day yesterday whether to take the easy, tourist bus to the pyramids or the cheap, difficult local buses, and I ended up on the former, largely because a tour guide can help put visits to these places in perspective. A comfortable, two story bus also left from the National Auditorium, which is in walking distance from where I am staying, at 9 am, which meant not having to fight rush hour crowds on the Metro. En route to get the bus, I found a set of temporary stalls (they are set up only in the morning), where I watched businessmen and manual workers alike enjoying breakfast. I had a delicious corn tortilla, fried there on the griddle, topped with chopped beef (also fried in front of me), white cheese and hot sauce. Big, tasty and filling, for about a buck. I boarded the bus and was off to the first stop, the churches honoring the Virgin of Guadaloupe.




There are several churches celebrating the Latin American cultural icon, including a large, unloved modern one which has mass on the hour, every hour, all day. In there you can ride a moving escalator under the altar to snap a photo of the most famous representation of the image. There is also another cathedral that is literally breaking apart because the Spanish built the capital of New Spain on a lake bed (Hernan Cortes, the conquistador that toppled the Incan empire, compared their capital, Tenochtilan (modern day Mexico City) to Venice. The Spanish liked roads more than canals, which has created lots of problems for Mexican architects and engineers.)

From there is was off to Teotihuancan (roughly, tee-oh-tee-WAH-can). Here are the remains of an ancient civilization - long dead even by the time of the conquistadores.



In fact, the Aztecs venerated the site and thought in the birthplace of the gods. The imposing and detailed Temple of the Moon, and the enormous Temple of the Sun (with a base as large as the pyramid at Giza) are truly impressive sights.


After that, a stop for a late, enormous lunch, then back to Polanco for a coffee in a pleasant, ultra-modern cafe.

Now I must plan my last full day in Mexico, DF.