Mexico City: Poncho Villa

Hola from Mexico City!

It has been a very abridged Teacher Summer this year but a quick trip to Mexico City has been perfect. There will be at least one other blog post to focus on the food, because . . . it's amazing.* But I guess I should report first on the actual things we did.

We started off with a walk around Bosque de Chapultepec. It is essentially Mexico City's Central Park. On a Saturday afternoon it was the hang-out spot for all the locals.** There were monuments galore and the Chapultepec Castle overlooking it all.

Conveniently located in the park is the Museo de Arte Moderno*** which we cruised through. We entered about an hour and a half before closing time and quickly found out that closing time meant the time they locked the front gate, not the time you headed for the door.**** Still, we had time for some Frida and Diego and bright colors.

The next day we went to the historic center and saw all your city favorites: the big church, the big plaza, the big government buildings. Kudos to you, Mexico City, because the plaza had a band blasting at all times and was definitely a party atmosphere.***** If we hadn't had several meals to get to, we could have partied more. The church and a random walking street are pictured below but my favorite was a courtyard wall covered in greenery like a giant mural.

In the afternoon we traveled to Teotihuacan, an ancient Mayan city about 45 minutes outside of Mexico City. It started to be built around 100 BCE and prospered through 600 CE. It is dominated by three different structures and was revered by the Aztecs who modeled their own cities after what they saw. We arrived and started at the Temple of Quetzalcoatl. It is not the largest pyramid but does have the most intricate carvings remaining. As you can see, the storm clouds were starting to come in . . .

From the top of the temple, the skies opened up and it started raining, then pouring, then hailing. We hightailed it to the car where we hid out for a bit and let the worst of it pass. Before we ventured out again, we donned some super sweet ponchos.

Next was the Pyramid of the Sun, the tallest structure in the city. There were many steps****** and awesome views at the top. AT stayed down below while our guide Alejandro and I made it to the top. His commitment to tourism photography was bar none.*******

We got AT back at the bottom and headed for the second biggest structure, the Pyramid of the Moon. At this point the rain was starting to pick back up so we took 80 million more pictures but called it a day.********

We have lots more museums to hit up but mostly have meals to eat.********* That should fill up the remainder of our excellent time here!

Hasta luego!
-KT

*Guys. The food is so good. I can barely type this because I am so full and so looking forward to the next meal.
**If they weren't hanging out they were taking bike lessons at the bike school which had a totally sweet set-up and hot pink bikes.
***Wham, bam, thank you, MAM.
****Any city that has such a passion for leaving work on time has already won my heart.
*****Except for the time we had music blasting in the background and then walked past a street musician organ grinder and it was definitely a nightmare atmosphere.
******Not a problem. Thanks, empty nesters of the local YMCA step aerobics!
*******And at one point I guess I thought I was a fashion model for ponchos?

********And at one point I guess I made AT be a fashion model for ponchos?

*********Have. I. Mentioned. The. Food.

Egypt!!

There was a time when I didn't care if I saw the pyramids. In high school, my dad came to Cairo for work and reported back that the pyramids look just like the pictures and were no big deal. From his reports, I assumed Cairo looked like this.*

Then, in 2008, the family went to China and we saw the Great Wall. Dad said it looked like the pictures but I thought it was awesome. And that's when I knew I would come to Egypt one day.***

Since the pyramids were at the top of the to-do list, we went there first thing. They were everything I dreamed they would be!**** We did all the things: we climbed what was allowed, we kissed the Sphinx, and we walked like Egyptians.

      

We took a camel ride to see the full panorama. It was a pretty tame ride despite the wild action shot you'll see AT in.***** We also posed ridiculously atop the camels to get not-actually-lined up shots with us holding things. Please enjoy the absurdity. 

    

   

Artsy shadow shot:******

 

Naturally, I ended the ride by posing with all my new BFFs. One of us was not into the continued posing.

We are here for the rest of the week and will be hitting the various museums and taking a day trip to Luxor. Many people have asked...yes, it is very safe here. All the stories you've heard of people protesting in the streets or of foreigners being turned away from the country are of America. The Egyptian people have all been lovely and want their tourism boom to return! Come see these things for yourself!!*******

-KT

P.S. If anyone needs a paperweight, call my dad.

 

*He came back with multiple different pyramid paperweight sets. One in blue, one in stone, and one in glass. When I told this to our tour guide today, she said he must be a very generous man to bring back so many souvenirs. I laughed and told her they were all for him and not for us.** I then explained to her that my mom did not allow him to keep them all at the house and he had been required to take all but one set to his office at work. 

**He is, however, a very generous man. 

***This also explains why you should never ask my parents for a movie critique. They will almost always tell you it was like the preview.  

****Though with way fewer people than I thought!  Egypt wants you back, Tourists!! 

*****Or this is her first rodeo?

******Is this too much???

*******Roof raising is optional.