Adios CDMX (Ciudad De Mexico)

note- if you click on any picture, it will enlarge and also give you all the other pictures of the day in a scroll-able gallery.

note 2- Sam took all the pictures included below. Sarah took many pictures also, but has not forwarded them to me yet, so I'll add those tomorrow and explain them too.

Our last day in Mexico City was a great one. We enjoyed our final hotel breakfast (tomorrow's departure will be too early for us to eat here) and chuckled at an Italian family staying here who had to have everything specially ordered for breakfast. They apparently were not happy with the delicious Mexican foods provided them yesterday, and made the kitchen prepare special orders and drinks. It was late for breakfast anyway, and we are sure the staff did not appreciate having to scramble to accommodate them, but then, that's life in the tourist business!

We got a cab to the Zocalo area and revisited the beautiful Cathedral de Mexico, which is billed as the center of Catholic culture for the entire hemisphere. Hundreds of pilgrims from all over were around, some praying, some just looking in awe, and some taking many pictures of themselves with the priceless icons and intricate artwork on display.

It's interesting that because the whole place is built on top of the Aztec city, which was in turn built on a man made island in a lake, the church and the whole plaza have sunk over the years. The floor is very slanted, and hydraulic pumps under the cathedral are used to shore it up as it continues to sink. There are places where previous church floors are visible, and inside the Cathedral a plumb line hangs so the engineers know when to pump up the supports another notch. All the buildings in the area are on a slant as well. It's kind of unnerving to see how much of an angle you are traversing.

After the Cathedral we visited the Templo Mayor, an ancient Aztec temple that was unearthed in 1978 right next to the Cathedral. The whole area was the original Temple, covering many acres in the center of Mexico City, or the Center of the Universe as the Aztecs thought of it as the hub of their civilization. Today you can walk through the excavation, which is still an active archaeological site, and see the temples (pyramids) built upon each other in an ever expanding way from about 100 a.d. until the conquest and destruction by Cortes in 1519.

Fascinating explanations and descriptions of the history and evolution of the place are provided all throughout the site, and a 4 story museum is full of artifacts, models, and photos of the discovery process and the items they found. We had to pay another $1.40 each to see all this, but figured it was worth it.

Next we walked across a small street to the National Palace of Mexico, where the Presidente and most of the national government work. They are on summer break so no politicians were in evidence. They allow you to visit many areas after you give up your driver's license and everybody puts on a special "Tourist" I D badge. How they knew we were tourists I'll never figure out!

We saw lots of artworks today. Chief among them were huge murals painted by Mexican hero Diego Rivera. I'll post more of his works from Sarah's phone camera tomorrow. There are walls of these murals, depicting the conquest of the native peoples, their assimilation into the Catholic culture, and the scope of history of the Spanish-Aztec intersection. Some were being reconditioned by skilled artisans on scaffolds. There was also a big exposition of other Mexican artists going on. Unlike most American museums, the Mexicans are happy to have you take photos and publicize their culture, so we snapped away.

It was time for almuerza (late lunch), and we wanted to eat in one of the restaurants on the top floor of the buildings surrounding the Zocalo, for the experience and for the view. I asked a traffic policeman how you got to these places, as nothing but shop stalls seemed to be on the ground floor. Immediately a young man appeared and said he would take us to the restaurant with the vista mejora and comidas mejoras (best food and best view). We weren't disappointed, as our table gave us a view of the whole Zocalo and the Cathedral, with the National Palace building across the square. We were seated right below the white awning in this picture we took later from across the square.

We had delicious food! Steak with cactus, roasted scallions, poblano peppers and guacamole for me, shrimp with arbol rice and caramelized onions for Sarah, red chicken enchiladas for Sam, and a mixed salad of fruit and vegetables for Amy. We were very full and happy as we left down the same tiny elevator we had come up in. The 18th century building did not have much room for it, but it worked fine and got us there.

We wandered a bit and saw the sights. Many government offices in very old buildings, and incredible numbers of shops lining the streets, with vendors hawking their wares to passersby. Using the bathroom is quite an adventure. Sam and I traveled through 5 or 6 different shops, following signs for the bano. Finally we ended up in the backroom of a jewelry store, where an abuelita (old woman) took 5 pesos from each of us to use the men's toilet, which was of questionable cleanliness. She did give us a nice fresh paper towel though.

After strolling a bit more we decided to get a cab and return to our hotel. We have to leave about 6am to get to our flight to Cabo, so an early bedtime is needed. We picked up a few things for breakfast, to eat in the taxi van we've reserved for the trip, and for dinner we grabbed some salads and sandwiches from a Mexican chain restaurant (kind of Subway-like). We just beat the rain home. We've had really great luck with weather, and Cabo is supposed to be mostly sunny for our whole stay.

We are sad to leave this great hotel and incredibly busy city. It will be a complete change of scene in Cabo, staying at a relaxing resort on the beach. We've enjoyed the wonderful hospitality of the hotel staff (and every single person we've talked to or asked for help). This has been quite an eye-opening and educational experience.

More tomorrow night from Cabo!