As I write this, it is Tuesday night, and our electricity is out. Again. It happens. As Nancy says, the house looks like a church with so many candles spread around. Yucari is running in and out of my room showing off her latest treasure – a shiny new Winnie the Pooh balloon – while her parents dine on the tamales Angela and Rocio made earlier today, from scratch as usual. So delicious.
Anyway, I wanted to get into the small but significant dent I’ve made in sightseeing over the past four weeks here. This far from the city’s center, my location is the opposite of convenient, but I have gained a few tour guides by living here. Last week, Rocio took me to Zócalo, the city’s center ever since the Aztec empire. It’s currently all decked out in preparation for the Bicentennial Independence Day celebration, coming in two weeks. On one side is the Palacio Nacional, one is the Catedral Metropolitana, and the others are government buildings. The nearby streets form a huge maze of shops, our real reason for going. We browsed the craft stores and gift shops, and Chio made me try papas adobadas – potato chips coated with what else? Chili powder, and nacho cheese. Not bad.
A few days later, Chio turned over tour guide duty to Sergio, who showed me around UNAM, the biggest and best university in Mexico, considered a landmark of national pride. We mainly went to check out the campus’s botanical garden and sculpture park, both beautiful and impressive. Besides some really large works of art, the sculpture park was heavily scattered with students taking advantage of the space to get together and start their weekends early.
As for my weekend, I checked the next sight off the list when Saul decided to kidnap me for another country excursion. We went to the Sierra de Ajusco, some small mountains about a fifteen-minute drive from our house. The woods there were almost all pine and would have made a great campground, but Saul told me camping isn’t the most common of pastimes in Mexico. We climbed a mountain, all the way to the summit, which was marked by a cross. Not much of a view, but a good accomplishment for the day.
Got back from the woods in time to go to a party with Blanca, had a great time and got limited sleep, as I had planned to get up early Sunday to visit the Teotihuacán Pyramids, an essential tourist stop about an hour outside the city. Since I’d crashed at Blanca’s, she assumed chauffeur/guide position, along with two of her friends. Armed with a giant water bottle to clear the last remnants of hangover, we arrived at the pyramids around noon. Entrance is free on Sunday for Mexicans only, so of course I tried to get by as a national, but the gatekeeper totally pegged me as a gringa, and Blanca gave up the act. Just when I start to think I’m not that obvious.
Teotihuacán dates back to Mexico’s pre-Aztec inhabitants. Once inside, we walked the Calzada de los Muertos (Avenue of the Dead), today lined with vendors selling clay whistles that sound like eagles and jaguars. We met up with my host family at the Pyramid of the Moon and hung out for a while, but parted ways again so we could climb the larger Pyramid of the Sun. At the top, people raise their arms to the sky, or take turns touching the pyramid’s highest center point, to take in the site’s supposed spiritual energy. Meanwhile we took our time to enjoy the beautiful weather, the view of the ancient city grounds in the distance, and the less-than-skillful orchestra of children blowing clay whistles.
Rather than end the day with Teotihuacán, we made our way to Coyoacán, a neighborhood that Blanca explained was once a vacation spot outside the city, but later got swallowed up into it. Love urban sprawl. The place retained its charm, though: cute, colorful houses, a pleasant little square full of well-tended greenery, a craft market, and lots of cantinas and street food. We wandered the streets, gradually eating and drinking our way through. I had already tried pulque – alcoholic beverage made of fermented fruit, gross! – from a stand near the pyramids, and added mexcal – “like tequila but stronger” – to the list of nasty Mexican alcohol that I’d rather not consume again. The food, however, more than made up for it, not to mention the company. I couldn’t have asked for a better Sunday.
When no one’s around, I become my own tour guide. I’ve made it to a few museums – the Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts Palace) and the Diego Rivera Mural Museum. The main features of both are huge murals by Rivera, which I can easily sit and lose myself in. The other artists’ works in both places, also wonderful. I wanted to take more photos than I was allowed.
Anyway, like I said, these are not even half of the sights I’ve yet to explore here, but I’m more than happy with how far I’ve come, and super grateful to everyone who’s shown me around.
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