Mexico City and Teotihuacan

Wel we made it to Mexico City. The flight from Phoenix was half empty and I was able to claim an entire row for myself and lay down to sleep! What luxury:) We landed in Mexico City just after midnight, breezed through customs and imigration (it's amazing how fast you can get through when there's only a handful or two non-residents on the flight). So our lines were very short (nearly non-existant) and we didn't have checked bags, so no waiting there either. Pablo, a friend of Leslie's met us at the airport and drove us to his place. We went to bed exhausted after one o'clock am.

Friday after getting up and having breakfast, Pablo who didn't work on Friday and his wife Teresa, who was on vacation took us to see Teotihuacan, the major Aztec ruins just north of the city. That was really cool! It's amazing to see and pretty awe-inspiring to think what it all looked like at it's height. The size of the temples to the sun and moon, as well as the layout and organization of the city and the main avenues is incredible. We climbed to the top of the templo del sol (temple of the sun). A pretty steep climb! Bubthe view from the top is great of the rest of the city and it's layout. Walking down the avenido del muerte (the avenue of the dead) the main north-south avenue that bisects the city it's easy to imagine the walls lining the avenido being covered with brightly colored frescos and people walking about their daily business, the buildings and homes at the top of the stairs that line the plazas, the sounds and sights that would have filled the senses in the center of the Aztec kingdom in it's prime! Even the remanents after 500 years of disuse and destruction are impressive to stand among.

After wandering the ruins and exploring the small museum we headed back towards home. We ate lunch just outside Teotihuacan, mmm... such delicious food in Mexico! We took a different route home that brought us right across the City! It took us six hours to get from Teotihuacan home! We stopped at the Zocalo, the city's main plaza to see the palacio nacional (national palace) where the president lives and works and the catedral metropolitana, the city's cathedral which shows the grandeur of Mexico's colonial period and is the largest religious structure in Central America. Also there, just off the Zocalo is the templo mayor, the ruins of the Aztec's most important temple and Montezuma's seat of power. We stopped there for about an hour and it took us over three hours to get back to Chalco, where Pablo lives, a distance less than 30km! The traffic was insane! I have never been in traffic like that before! (and hopefully never again)

After supper of chocolate y pan dulce (hot chocolate and sweetbreads) we went to bed, all of us tired from a full day, but especially Pablo from driving in that traffic for so many hours! Lots of cool things to see in Mexico City, but in he future I think anything inside the city limits is best seen via the city's public transit system!