Pyramids, Shrines and Butterflies
Greetings from Mexico City! I’ve been here a few days now and I’m having a fabulous time!On Tuesday I was too tired to do much so I just visited the Temple Mayor ruins round the corner from the hostel. Wednesday I did a free walking tour of the city, which was very informative, and then went to one of the art galleries we’d passed on the way.
Yesterday – PYRAMIDS!! Yes, that’s right, I went on a tour of the pyramids at Teotihuacan with a group from my hostel. I climbed both the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun (and boy was I feeling it this morning!), and generally had a great time. There were a bunch of Aussies on the tour too, and a couple of Germans and Mexicans. One of the Germans, a lady, seemed to be pretty nervous about climbing up and down the pyramids. At one point I offered to stay with her on the descent only to be rebuffed with “this is my hundredth pyramid.” Fine then, bite me bitch, and I’ll go hang out with the Aussie blokes who are more fun and have a sense of humour. Although I notice she was only too happy to accept help from the guys…!
Anyway, we also visited the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was interesting, if a little much for me (given how poor people have always been in this country I think building four cathedrals one next to the other is a little OTT), but the Virgin, and specifically her appearance at Guadalupe in the 1500s, is greatly revered by the Mexicans (Mexico is 90% Catholic).
We had a free lunch as part of the tour: deep-fried bean tacos with nopal (a type of cactus) and cheese, followed by guayabas – yummy! And I ended up trying to teach the Aussies, Peter and Paul, a few words of Spanish * waits for DT to pick herself up off the floor where she’s rolling around laughing *. I know, I know, things have reached a pretty pass when I’m the one TEACHING someone Spanish, but they didn’t even know how to say ‘buenos dias’…
Today I visited the fabulous Chapultapec Zoo, which has to be one of the best zoos in the world! I spent pretty much all day there and saw just about everything. The highlight – of my entire trip, I think! – was the butterfly house! According to the nice English-speaking guide (who even let me release a butterfly!) they import hundreds of chrysalises from Costa Rica every week, and there are thirty species of butterflies in the climate-controlled building. It was fantastic – a little slice of the miracle of God’s creation right there in that house! I think I must have spent about half an hour there all up – my ticket was good for two entries, so I took advantage.
Tomorrow I’m going on a tour of the Anthropology Museum, and on Sunday I might go to Frieda Khalo’s house, then I leave for LA on Monday.
posted by Paulette @ 12:12 AM
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