February 6, 2017
I had originally planned to take the bus back to Tapachula,
but that would have required a night in a hotel on both ends and lots of
connections. When I confirmed that I was
actually going to be visiting my cousin in Mexico City, I managed to find an
affordable flight and decided to fly straight there from San Salvador.
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| Bill and Jean's House |
Monday morning, I got up, had coffee with Bill and Jean, and
finalized my packing. Bill took me over
to the hotel about 10:00, where I met up with Martin, the chef, who had the day
off and had agreed to drive me to the airport for $30. The drive to the airport took most of an hour
and Martin and I had an interesting conversation about gang activity in the
area. He pronounced the area around
Bahia del Sol safe and didn’t think gringos needed to worry, but admitted that
some of the villages further inland were dangerous after dark due to gangs of
young men fighting over territory. I had
already heard tales of people who had gone to the city for good paying jobs,
but returned to Bahia del Sol because the gangs were extorting so much money
from them that staying in the city just didn’t make sense. I found that very discouraging. The population on the island had grown
because families had gone there to escape violence and keep their children away
from gangs. It seemed like honest
initiative was being squashed. It was no
wonder that Salvadorans wanted to leave the country. The gangs would have to be eradicated before
any progress could be made.
Unfortunately, I had also heard that the gangs were starting to educate
their members. I hoped that might
eventually allow them to turn their skills to better things.
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| Food Court at San Salvador Airport |
The San Salvador Airport was modern and had a huge food hall
upstairs, half of which was occupied by a giant Pollo Campero. I resisted buying chicken, but did have
breakfast because I had no idea when I might get to eat again. Having arrived by bus, it did not occur to me
to take my pocket knife out of my purse, so I lost that at security, although
they let me through with an 8 oz. bottle of sunscreen. I bought a bottle of water on the other side
of security, but had to drink it in a hurry about a hundred yards later when I
tried to enter my gate and had to go through another security check. They didn’t care that I had bought it after
passing through security. Once again,
the sunscreen was no problem, but my cholesterol medicine disappeared somewhere along the way.
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| Flying in Mexico City |
The flight to Mexico City was only about two hours, but it
was an international flight, so I got a nice sandwich and a bag of chips for
lunch. My luggage had been free, as
well, and a second bag would have been free, too. The line at immigration in Mexico City took
about an hour, but customs went quickly.
I was pleasantly surprised to find my cousin waiting for me right outside
customs. Nothing could have been
easier. She introduced me to her
business partner, Alfredo, who was acting as chauffeur and bodyguard. They had brought a big van, so we loaded up
my belongings and made our way north to Sarah’s house in Naucalpan, just north
of Mexico City proper.
I had been walking around the island, through deep sand and
dust, in flip flops for the past two weeks and my feet were filthy. It had also been two weeks since I had seen
hot water, so I was thrilled to be offered a hot bath. The bath felt great and I managed to scrub my
feet clean, but the tub drained slowly.
I didn’t think anything of it at the time but, after about a 60 second
shower, I stepped out of the tub into a huge flood. I knew I hadn’t run enough water in the
shower to make that much of a mess and it wasn’t until I had mopped up all the
water in the bathroom and then discovered that half the bedroom was also
flooded (thank heavens for tile and concrete construction!) that we realized
the plumbing had backed up and the water had come out of the drain in the bathroom floor. That explained the large quantity of
mysterious dirt I had cleaned up.
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| My Cousin's House in Naucalpan |
Sarah, who like me is handy, pried up the grate on the
bathroom drain and removed a ball of hair the size of a small animal and then
cleaned out rocks and dirt that had accumulated in the pipes. Soon the tub was draining properly and I
dared to hope that the plumbing nightmares that had followed me through El
Salvador might be behind me. Once we got
the mess from the flood handled, it was time for a cocktail. Sarah and I poured drinks and sat down to
relax and catch up. We both were ready
to retire early.
February 7, 2017
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| Courtyard Fountain |
The last time I had visited Mexico City was in 2003 and I had spent the time visiting family and had seen very little of the city. This time, Sarah wanted to show me some of
the sights and I was fully onboard with that plan. Our first day was spent going to the National
Museum of Anthropology. What a fantastic
place! Mexico is filled with wonderful
archaeological sites and I had been to many of them, but this museum presented
their history in a very engaging way that made it all seem very present. The museum building, itself, was a wonder. It was immense and no giant artifact or
reconstructed building was too large to be displayed within. The central courtyard, which was large enough
for a papal visit, featured a massive fountain that rained water down on
unsuspecting visitors.
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| The National Museum of Anthropology |
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| Sarah and Me with the Calendar |
Most interesting to me were the reconstructed buildings
featuring their original colored stucco.
They were so vibrant. It was
impressive to see the original Aztec calendar.
Sarah and I, neither who really like having our pictures taken, still
couldn’t resist having our picture taken beneath it. There was also a beautiful garden surrounding
the museum, which featured more reconstructed buildings in a more
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| The Exhibition Halls Were Huge |
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| Reconstructed Building with Original Colors |
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| Museum Garden |
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| Headdress of Quetzal Feathers |
natural
setting. It took us most of the day to
work our way around the first floor, which was dedicated to the ancient (Aztec,
Olmec, Zapotec, Mayan, etc.) cultures.
We worked our way back around the second floor, which featured more
modern and familiar items, which were still engaging and interesting, as there
were some exceptional examples of familiar art forms. As usual, I was enchanted by the papier
mache, carved wooden animals, and Huichol beadwork.
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| More Modern Artrwork |
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| Lago Menor |
It was late afternoon by the time we finished with the
museum and we were starving. We stopped
for lunch at the Bistro Chapultepec next to the Lago Menor. We drove past Los Pinos, the Mexican White
House, on the way there. We ate lunch on
the terrace next to the lake and chatted with the people at the next table who
had a huge yellow lab with them. They
were clearly affluent, but were definitely very anti-Trump. Possibly the he offended the educated in
Mexico just as he offended the educated in the United States. Sarah and I assured them that not all
Americans shared Trump’s ideology.
The restaurant served international fare and I had a pear,
brie, and bacon pizza that was delicious, but far too rich after having eaten
very little for the past month. I was
miserable for the rest of the evening and couldn’t get to sleep until after
midnight when I had digested most of it.
February 8, 2017
My cousin and her partner operate a flatbed towtruck and a
couple of forklifts, which they also rent out.
We had originally planned to go to the pyramids at Teotihuacan, but they
were supposed to transport a car that morning, so we decided to spend the
afternoon visiting places of interest in downtown Mexico City. The job fell through, but we stuck with the
plan anyway.
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| Plaza in Front of the Palacio Nacional |
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| Palacia Belles Artes |
We parked the van in a lot near the cathedral and visited
the cathedral and the square in front of the Palacio Nacional, where the
president rings the bell and shouts, “Viva Mexico!” on September 15th,
each year, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day. The most noticeable thing about downtown
Mexico City was that the buildings were all crooked. They leant this way and that and many were
sinking. The Palacio Belles Artes, a
massive structure of gold and marble, had originally had 15 steps leading up to
it but, after two hundred years, it had sunk to the point where the entrance
was five steps down. The cathedral,
which was begun right after the conquest in 1521, had suffered a similar
fate. One could see the original steps
through glass panels in the courtyard.
The interior of the cathedral was impressive, but very crooked and it
was disorienting to walk inside because the floor sloped this way and that like
a funhouse.
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| The Cathedral was Sinking and Leaning |
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| The Cathedral Interior Felt Like a Funhouse |
The cathedral had been built adjacent to the site of the
original Aztec Templo Mayor, which had been destroyed during the conquest and
was then used as a quarry for the materials used in the construction of the
cathedral. Houses were built upon it and
later businesses until it eventually became a parking lot. Excavations began in the 70s and it
eventually became clear that the ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan was right
under downtown Mexico City. The Templo
Mayor had been destroyed during the conquest of Mexico and many of its stones
were used to build the cathedral than was constructed beginning in 1521. Important archaeological finds like the Aztec
calendar and famous sculptures of deities were found scattered about the
surrounding area.
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| There Was Plenty of Gold in the Cathedral |
We wandered through the excavated ruins which showed that
seven successively larger temples had been built on the site. Some of the carvings still retained their
original coloration. The Templo Mayor
had been a temple to Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, and there were
serpent walls and carved heads. There
was also a very nice, small museum which featured a model of the site that
showed where each artifact was discovered and displayed the moon goddess
illuminated with her original colors.
The museum was very modern and excellently lit. It was just the right amount of information
to absorb during a visit.
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| The Serpent Wall |
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| Wall of Skulls |
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| The Templo Mayor Was Right Downtown |
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| The Museum at the Templo Mayor was Excellent |
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| The Moon Goddess Coyolxauhqui |
We were hungry after seeing the Templo Mayor, so we stopped
for street tacos near where we had parked the van. I had a couple of tongue tacos, which were
delicious. They were the first ones I
had ever had where the meat came in a big slab, rather than cubed. I also got the watermelon licuado I had been
craving. It was a cheap and satisfying
meal.
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| Street Tacos in Mexico City |
After lunch, we headed out to the basilica of the Virgin of
Guadalupe. The original church, which
was built on the site where the virgin appeared to Juan Diego, had been
supplanted by a large, modern structure set in a plaza large enough to
accommodate a papal visit. The image of
the virgin (actually a copy) which, according to legend, appeared on Juan Diego’s
cloak so that he could convince the Catholic authorities to build a church
there, was displayed above the altar.
The church had a sloping copper roof and beautiful, non-representational
stained glass. The bell tower was very
modern and rather silly looking, in my opinion.
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| The Original Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe |
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| The Modern Basilica |
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| The Virgin |
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| Stained Glass in the Modern Basilica |
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| Bell Tower |
Neither my cousin nor I were Catholic, but I had a friend in
need of some good luck. My cousin
suggested I buy her an image of San Judas Tadeo, the patron saint of impossible
miracles, and have it blessed by the priest.
This we did. He sprinkled the
image and us liberally with holy water and it didn’t burn holes in my pagan
skin. We visited the modern church and
then climbed up the many stairs to the old church on top of the hill where I
lit a candle and asked the Virgin of Guadalupe (who was really the moon
goddess, anyway) to help my friend. The
church was surrounded by beautiful, green gardens and fountains. One of the many miracles associated with the
Virgin was that, when they began constructing the church, a spring appeared in
the desert. There was a small chapel
constructed over the original well.
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| Garden Surrounding the Church |
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| Juan Diego Visited By the Virgin |
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| Sculpture in Honor of the Virgin |
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| Church of the Little Well |
It was a long drive back across Mexico City at rush hour to
get home, so we were all exhausted. I
spent the evening reading through family history and taking photographs of anything
that related to my line. Unfortunately,
Sarah and I never found the time to go through her mother’s trunk. That would have to wait for another visit.
February 9, 2017
Sarah left early to go deliver forklifts to two
clients. I got up, made coffee, and
spent the morning
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| Brightly Painted Apartment Buildings |
trying to catch up on my blog. She and Alfredo returned about 11:00 and we
set off for Teotihuacan to see the pyramids of the Moon and Sun. We drove out of the city and past hillsides
covered with brightly painted apartment dwellings. We took a modern toll road and there was only
light traffic after we accomplished the hair-raising task of getting to the on
ramp. Lanes are often not indicated in
Mexico City and seldom regarded, anyway.
There was a traffic signal which would have done its job if it were not
for a man who insisted on throwing his body in front of the traffic that had
the green light in order to earn tips from those who had the red light. All he really did was make matters worse. I had also seen this performance in San
Salvador although, at least there, the man was performing a service by allowing
shoppers to get out of the PriceSmart parking lot.
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| Temple of Quetzalcoatl |
The trip took about an hour once we got on the highway and
we had a good view of the pyramids towards the end. The highway followed the path of the original
ceremonial avenue that lead to the temple of the sun (maybe.) We parked in the parking lot near the far end
where the temple of Quetzalcoatl was located.
Our first stop was the ruin of that pyramid. The site at Teotihuacan had been abandoned
long before the Spanish arrived. This
had been the administrative center of a huge city that had housed hundreds of
thousands of people. A broad avenue stretched
from the temple of Quetzalcoatl all the way to the Temple of the Moon, a
distance of over two kilometers. This
avenue was comprised of numerous squares surrounded by dwellings, sometimes
with temples adjacent or in the center.
Each square was divided by a set of steps leading up from one square and
down to the next. These barriers
prevented floodwaters from rushing through the city from the mountains beyond.
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| Panoramic View of Teotihuacan |
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| Detail of Carving on the Temple of Quetzalcoatl |
The Aztecs had running water and drainage systems and built
their edifices from stone secured with a mixture of sand and lime not unlike
concrete. Much of the site was very well
preserved. Since it had been abandoned in
the eighth century, the Spanish had not found it necessary to conquer/destroy
it. More of the site was continually
being excavated and Sarah and Alfredo saw things that were new to them.
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| Newly Excavated Sections |
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| Restored Section with Original Coloring |
Sarah had been up all night with a migraine, so
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| Sarah and Me at the Pyramid of the Sun |
she declined
to climb the 244 steep stairs to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, but Alfredo
came with me. There were five terraces
and some of the steps were exceptionally steep.
The original stairway had been on the side to the right, but most of the
ultimate structure had been destroyed when the pyramid was hurriedly excavated
(with dynamite) by President Porfirio Diaz who wanted to unveil the site at the
centennial of the Mexican Revolution.
What remained was the first (and in this case, only) pyramid that had
been hidden inside a later construction.
The pyramid is 213 feet tall. The
climb to the top was strenuous given that the pyramid was built at an elevation
of nearly 7500 feet. It was very windy
on top. From the top, one could see just how huge the
city once was. Much of it has still to
be excavated and there was no doubt more beneath modern dwellings. Some of the local rock walls appear to have
been built from the stone left by the Aztecs.
Other cultures, such as the Mexica and Zapotec, occupied the area after
it was abandoned and continued to venerate the old gods.
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| Pyramid of the Sun Complex |
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| The Pyramid of the Moon |
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| Some of the Steps Were Steep |
There is new evidence that the Pyramid of the Sun may have
actually been the Pyramid of Tlaloc, the god of rain. Investigations have revealed that the pyramid
sits atop an aquifer. Offerings of child
sacrifices found at the corners of the pyramid were associated with Tlaloc in
other locations.
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| It Was Very Windy and Dusty |
We continued walking to the Pyramid of the Moon or Coyolxauhqui,
the moon goddess. The moon pyramid was
smaller, but we had already seen the view, so didn’t feel inclined to climb it,
as well. It was not possible to climb to
the top, anyway, as that was prohibited.
We took a look around and then tramped back to the Pyramid of the sun
where the museum was located. The museum
was small, but it had a good model of the entire site and some of the artifacts
from the site were displayed there. The
museum made a nice break in the long trek back to the car where we had a cooler
of cold beers waiting.
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| Model of the Site |
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| Garden Surrounding the Museum |
Sarah insisted that we eat dinner at La Gruta, a fantastic
restaurant located in a cavern carved by water.
The restaurant was very pretty and quite large. The service was terrible and it was rather
chilly in there, but the food was good and the experience worthwhile. We started with an appetizer of escamoles, or
the larvae of giant black ants. The ants
are aggressive and difficult to locate, which make escamoles more expensive
than caviar. They were, however, quite
tasty. They came served with blue corn
tortillas, but we preferred them with chips.
They were cooked in butter with onions and cilantro. We devoured them.
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| La Gruta Restuarant |
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| Escamole (Ant Eggs) |
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| Sarah and Alfredo |
Alfredo and I started with Sopa de Tortilla, which was made
with chicharron (fried pork belly) instead of the usual chicken. I had a mixed salad and Alfredo has
arrachera. Sarah had cochinita, a thin,
salty pork dish. Everything was very
good, although they were out of sangria and my margarita was definitely aimed
at American tourists. It was too sweet
for my taste. When we left, they gave
each of us a candle to leave as an offering for Tlaloc. The flickering candle flames added to the
ambiance of the restaurant.
It was getting dark by the time we left and was full dark by
the time we got home. Sarah and I were
exhausted and went straight to bed after Alfredo dropped us off. Unfortunately, I woke after a couple of hours
and didn’t get back to sleep until 2:00 am.
February 10, 2017
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| It Got Foggy as the Sun Rose |
We needed to get on the road by 5:00 am so as to arrive in
La Cruz at a civilized hour. Four in the
morning came very soon, since I had been awake until two. I got up, dressed, and finished packing. It was too early to eat anything and I didn’t
want to drink coffee because I was hoping to nap in the car. Alfredo came for us at 5:00 and we went to
the bank and then filled the van with gas.
It was 6:00 by the time we got onto the highway. We drove first towards Toluca and I slept
until it got light. We picked up Highway 15
at Toluca and saw a lot of fog as the sun warmed the earth. We drove across the highlands of Mexico, past
large lakes, both wet and dry. We
crossed the state of Mexico and entered
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| There Were Large Lakes in the Mexican Highlands |
Michoacan and then continued on through
the highlands to Guadalajara. Once we
crossed the border into Jalisco, we started to see blue agave growing by the
side of the road.
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| Driving Through Jalisco |
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| Striking Architecture in Guadalajara |
We made good time until we got to Guadalajara, but the
traffic there was heavy. We took the
road towards Colima and passed south of the city before taking the road north
towards Tepic. We finally drove out of
Guadalajara just before 2:00.
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| The Road to Nayarit |
We
continued on 15 as far as 68D to Compostela and then we turned south on Hwy 200
towards Puerto Vallarta. Alfredo’s
knowledge of the area ended about the time we reached the area familiar to me,
so we were fine. We drove south on 200
past San Blas, Rincon de Guayabitos, San Pancho, and Sayulita, before reaching
the turnoff for La Cruz. We arrived at
Agave Azul, where I would be staying at about 5:40.
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| The Green Tomate |
We dropped off my luggage and then walked down to Oso’s
Oyster Bar to have dinner. Sarah and
Alfredo were enchanted with La Cruz and started talking about staying an extra
day. After dinner, we strolled back
along the marina and then went to the Green Tomato for drinks on the roof. It had been a long day. After a couple of drinks, I sent Sarah and
Alfredo to the Cactus Inn in Bucerias because I had been unable to find them a
room in La Cruz. I passed out as soon as
my head hit the pillow, despite loud music.
I didn’t hear a thing.
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