Abundant Prickly Pear (on Rocks)

In the 1300s, a tribal group from present day Northern Mexico migrated south. They were told, in prophecy, to build a city where they found a bird eating a snake while standing on a cactus. They found such a bird eating such a snake on such a cactus, and it happened to be on an island in the middle of a lake. So they did as their gods had commanded them and built that city on that island in that lake.

The best full scale view of the Municipal Cathedral I could get

This is the mythical origin of Tenochtitlan, which means the place where abundant prickly pears grown on rock. The tribe which build Tenochtitlan became the Aztecs. For around 200 years, the Aztecs ruled the city and much of the area around them. They were terrible neighbors, very militaristic. And sometimes they fought wars not to conquer land or people, but just to spill blood. They believed that the universe had to be nurtured and fed the blood of battle.

More translation: Piedra is stone, Tuna is prickly pear, and you can figure out abundancia

In the 1500s, the Aztecs were replaced by another people from the north. And the east. They were the Spanish. The Spanish, with a much smaller force, defeated the mighty Aztec, but not so much with their better technology. Mostly it was their germs. The Aztecs had never been exposed to smallpox, measles, and the flus that were common in Europe. They had no immunity to these new pathogens. So microscopic organisms were the biggest ally of Cortez and his Spanish troops.

What was Tenochtitlan became Cuidad de México, or in English we say Mexico City. But the Spanish drained most of the lake or built over it and now it is a gigantic city.

Alrica and I spent two days in Mexico City, and that is not long enough to see even a tiny fraction of what it has to offer. There are so many amazing sites in the city, it would take months to see them all. But I can give you an idea of the smattering we did get to see.

Statues honor great musicians in Garibaldi Plaza

We stayed in Garibaldi Plaza. This is a neat area and it is full of music. There are mariachi bands playing almost all the time. Literally, they are still playing at 5 or 6 AM. While we liked our hotel, it isn't exactly the quietest part of town to sleep in.

Monument of the Revolution

We came by bus from Puebla, a ride of about two and a half hours. After we arrived on the first day, we visited the Monument of the Revolution, which commemorates the Mexican Revolution that began in 1910. I wrote about that after we visited the Regional Museum of the Revolution in Puebla. The monument is impressively big. My picture of it doesn't really give you a sense of the scale. So Alrica stood against the side to get a better impression of just how large it is.

You can barely make her out there on the left

Church of Santo Domingo

We visited the Plaza of Santo Domingo. Here you can see the church of Santo Domingo.

It is hard with perspective to see the lean, but it leans!

But I also want to show the Convent of Santo Domingo, also in the plaza. Can you tell that it is leaning? Mexico City has a big problem. It is sinking at a rate of about 15 inches per year. That's a lot! It is not uncommon to see buildings in the capital that are tilted for this reason. And the government doesn't really have a plan about what to do. I don't have any good suggestions either. But like other places in the world, Mexico City has this problem because they have removed so much water from the permeable rock on which the city sits that it is compressing under the weight of the city. It doesn't take long to drain an aquifer, but it takes a long, long time to refill one.

Some of the Templo Mayor

We did a walking tour with an excellent guide and got to see many sites over a period of two hours. We visited the Templo Mayor. This is an archaelogical find right across from the Metropolitan Cathedral. (More on the cathedral in a bit.) It was a major Aztec temple, said to have been built exactly on the site where they first saw the eagle eating the snake atop a cactus. After the Spanish conquered the Aztecs, they tore it apart and used some of the stones to build their cathedral (the Municipal Cathedral which still stands today.) Then it got buried and there were buildings over it. But in 1978 some electrical workers stumbled upon a piece of the temple in their work. The government decided to demolish the colonial era buildings which were on top of this site and turn it over to archaelogists. Today, you can see many of the remaining features.

That winged serpent is Quetzalcoatl

We visited a governmental building where the public education department is housed. Why? Well, in the 1920s, the government hired painters involved in the muralism movement to paint beautiful murals all over the walls in the interior courtyard and along the staircases. These were major works of art by many famous artists. There are over 120 murals by Diego Rivera and many more by other artists. Eventually it was decided that it was silly to have these beautiful artworks and only allow the government workers who happened to work in public education to see them. So they opened the doors to the public. It is still the department of public education, but visitors can walk through the courtyards and appreciate all the murals.

This mural depicts the Day of the Dead

We came back near where we met for our tour to see the Municipal Cathedral. it is the largest cathedral in all of North America. And it is large, with so many entrances. I tried to get some pictures of various details, but it isn't easy to get it all.

One of the entrances

Another entrance

A better view of the towers

We cross the historic center of Mexico City and visited Casa de los Azulejos. This means the House of Tiles.

It is an impressive number of tiles.

The story of its creation, which may or may not be true, is that there was that it was built by the son of a rich man. The son was a playboy, not taking anything seriously. His father told him to straighten out his act or he would "never build a palace of tiles." Tiles were very expensive at the time and a sign of great wealth. So the son, in a bout of filial spite, did exactly that. He built a mansion covered in tiles. I'll show you, Dad!

The Palace of Fine Arts

The tour ended at the expansive and beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes or the Palace of Fine Arts. My pictures can't do justice to the majesty of the architecture.

Yep, looks like an entrance to Chinatown.

When the tour ended, we traveled to Barrio Chino, or Chinatown. It's just south of the Palace of the Fine Arts. Here we had a delicious lunch of Chinese food, but we also got steamed buns.

We ate one before we thought to take a picture

Steamed buns are a thing in East Asia. They are a white bun that is cooked by steaming and there is a filling. Sometimes the filling is savory, like marinated pork, and sometimes it is sweet, like a red bean paste. Well, the steamed buns of Mexico City have taken that idea but also fused them with Mexican flare. The buns are multicolored and come in all kinds of flavors like cherry chocolate, key lime pie, cajeta (which is a caramel made from goat's milk), and gummy. (We got a gummy, but I'm not sure I could tell you what that flavor actually is.)

Mexico City is definitely one we need to come back to. And we will need to give it a lot more time. I'm sure it will be worth our while.