Hola,

So I’m back from Mexico City and it feels so surreal. I can’t believe this is my last week in Mexico. The city was great, but nothing like I expected. We arrived on Thursday and started off the weekend with a great dinner in our Hotel. Then we explored the Zocalo (the historic downtown plaza, otherwise known at the plaza of the constitution) and the area around our hotel. The Zocalo is very cool and huge. It is bordered by the Cathedral to the north, the National Palace to the east, the Federal District buildings to the south, and just to the northeast is the site of Templo Mayor (the remains of the Aztecs’ main temple). In the center is a flagpole with an enormous Mexican flag.

Later that night, we went out to celebrate my friend Anna’s birthday, had some Mexican gelatin cake, and danced like crazy. The next morning, we went to Teotihuacan (which means ‘where men become gods’) to see the pyramids. It was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, and like always nothing close to what I’d expected. The pyramids were enormous and I could almost feel the age in the city. First, we climbed the smaller pyramid, the pyramid of the moon, and from there we could see the whole city. Then, we started the trek up the pyramid up the pyramid of the sun. The view was so amazing. We stayed up there for at least half an hour just relaxing, taking in the view, and taking tons of pictures.

It was crazy how many people were there trying to sell stuff. More than once we were approached by someone claiming their goods were “almost free” and others just wouldn’t leave us alone if we even glanced their way. Then a big group of eighth and ninth graders approached us and started interviewing us in English. At one point I was surrounded by 6 people and was being interviewed by two students at once.  Some of them, who didn’t know as much English, didn’t even bother trying to ask the questions, instead they just handed one of us the paper and smiled. Then, they all wanted a photo shoot with us, which was pretty fun.

Afterwards, we went to a huge market downtown with all sorts of good gifts. There was tons of silver, tons of obsidian, many woven blankets, and a ridiculous amount of pottery. It was very overwhelming, but the merchants weren’t nearly as pushy and I had a lot of fun haggling with them. The next day, we started off at the National Museum of Anthropology, which houses one of the best and most important collections in the world. An interesting, and very sad fact, is that most of the works in the museum were replicas because the real artifacts were taken to Europe the moment they were found. It was still really interesting to see all the art, sculptures, and history by the many indigenous groups that once occupied Mexico. After that museum, we went to Frida Kahlo’s house. It was really interesting to see her artwork and photographs spread throughout her house and her things.  We were able to see her brace, her x-rays, and many of her self-portraits, and I feel like I learned so much about her in the short time we were there.

After the museum, we went to a nearby market and had some of the best quesadillas I’ve ever eaten. The woman there was truly an artist. She made the tortillas from scratch, filled them, and fried them in record time, and they were delicious. After lunch, we went to Xochimilco, which is home of the famous chinampas. Chinampas are huge rafts that were made by the Aztecs as a means of irrigation. They would fill these rafts with soil from the bottom of the lake and then planted their crops right on the rafts. Over the years, the roots have grown down into the soil, creating canals around the chinampas. Anyway, we spent the afternoon floating down the canals, listening to music, and trying to ignore the venders floating down the river in their own boats. It was so relaxing and really a great way to spend the afternoon.

So that’s all for now, I’ll write again very soon!

Adios,

Lexi

Location: Mexico City, Mexico