Sunday marks Day 4 of our stay in Mexico City, but it hardly feels that way. We’ve already begun some traditions of our own – like grabbing breakfast at our local bakery Maren with the most amazing pastries of every kind. And around 10 AM, Claudia came to our apartment to pick us up. As we walked out the door, we discovered Claudia’s adorableeee son, Adrian, would be joining us to La Basilica de Guadalupe. He’s eleven years old but still tiny enough to sit on Sruthi’s lap during the ride across the city, while the remaining four of us squished in the back seat. We passed by the oldest church in Mexico City, Bellas Artes, and other old buildings with beautiful architecture. Claudia also told us about Guadalupe and how she acted as a crucial link in the conversion of indigenous peoples of Mexico to Catholicism from the Spanish conquistadors. When we finally arrived to La Basilica de Guadalupe, we witnessed the long procession of many Mexicans on their way to the Basilica. Some, mainly men, made their way to the basilica on their knees to show their great devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. We explored the inside of the Modern Basilica, caught a glimpse of a tradition dance being performed outside of the Old Basilica, and we even saw the bishop of all of Mexico. Distracted by a myriad of vendors and various tourist stalls outside of La Basilica, we made our way slowly back to Claudia’s car.   

            From there, we all piled into the car and made our way to the Northern Bus Station – Gate 8 for Teotihuacan. One thing we’ve all realized is how dirt cheap transportation is in this city. Riding the metro for 20 cents, cab rides for less than $4, and an hour bus ride to the Aztec Pyramids for only $3.10. Most of us were dead tired and passed out right as we got onto the relatively comfortable bus, but Jesse and I had the chance to see these rural towns as we crossed the border of the Districto Federal. House’s literally were stacked one on top of the other, built into the mountainsides. And these seemingly extremely poor areas are considered middle class Mexico. Finally, about an hour outside of Mexico City, we reached our destination – the Aztec Pyramids of Teotihuacan 

            Immediately, upon entering the sacred ruins, vendors started harassing us to buy their goods. Some of the many lines we heard all day were “Almost free!,” “$1 dollar $1 dollar,” and the best of all – “Check out my junk.” Flora and I were camera freaks and took about a few hundred photos between the two of us. Yes, I’ll even admit that we switched cameras for part of the day just to take “candids” of each other. We took our time climbing up the smaller pyramids and exploring the interesting ruins along the sides of the Avenue of the Dead. We came across this area that appeared to be a bathing house of some sort, where we also found four pillars on which we all stood and personified the four elements. Sruthi- water; Flora- earth; Julie- fire; Me- wind. Sorry Jesse for making you take about a million “girl photos.”  Also, we saw these small little tunnels that went underneath the stairs separating each of the regions of Teotihuacan; and of course, we convinced Julie, who is ridiculously tiny and cute, to crawl underneath. After a good hour of exploring, we knew we had to do the inevitable: scale the Pyramid of the Sun – the second largest pyramid of the New World. Our “mom” Claudia climbed this when she was nearly 9 months pregnant, and she wasn’t the only one. We saw a few pregnant women, and that meant that we had to be able to accomplish the same feat.

            After about 30 seconds of stretching, we began our ascent to the top of this Aztec wonder. We rested at almost every plateau – just soaking in the breathtaking views of Teotihuacan and the Pyramid of the Moon off in the distance. It was surreal to finally be at these pyramids after learning about them in high school Spanish or various history classes. At a solid pace, we reached the top with relative ease, despite the fact that my lungs were about to give out. It was an amazing feeling to reach the top of the pyramid and touch its very center at the top. And while the ominous clouds were looming not very far above our heads, we decided to descend before it began to pour. Of course, we spent a great deal of time bargaining and shopping for souvenirs on the way back. Julie and Jesse bought these really cool tapestries, and I must say our bargaining skills are getting better and better everyday.

By the end of the day, all of us were incredibly fatigued. We made the bus back to Mexico City and passed out basically until we reached the metro stop for Indios Verdes. Julie wasn’t feeling well, and all of us were out of it, having not eaten since 10 AM and returning to the apartment around 8 PM. After dropping our stuff off at the apartment, we grabbed a bite to eat a Don Eraki- a relatively popular restaurant in our neighborhood of Navarte. Sruthi had some trouble finding vegetarian food; Mexican food is definitely heavy on the meat. All of us are desperately craving fruit and vegetables right now. Interestingly, they have this sandwich that is extremely similar to the Philly cheeseteak. Guess we can’t escape Philadelphia even if we try hard enough.

The night ended relatively early, in preparation for a long day at work on Monday and our meeting with Lorena for the first time.

An amazing weekend to say the least and only the first of many here in the DF.

 

Besos,

Diana