Mexico City.

I've been delaying writing about Mexico City because I did SO much and saw SO much and I feel overwhelmed at the thought of documenting it all. So I wont. But I will tell the basics and give you a link to the photos and let you read more there.

Our trip began with the night bus that drove us the 7 hours to Mexico City (more commonly referred to here as D.F., for Distrito Federal). That ended up being somewhat of an adventure, though, because when we showed up at the makeshift bus 'station' in front of a hotel, we were told that our tickets were for a bus leaving in 20 minutes from the main station in the other part of the city. After giving her a look that probably resembled shock and unmasked fear, she called up her people and worked out a plan. The bus at the hotel (which was also going to D.F., but for some reason we couldn't stay on..) took us to the street of the main bus terminal, where a bus employee walked us the few blocks to the station and transferred us to some other bus man, who changed our tickets. We only left an hour later, which turned out to be a plus, because we arrived at 7:00 a.m. --instead of 6:00.

We met up with Jacque and her sister, Amber, who had arrived in D.F. two days before us. We spent our first (their last) two days with them, seeing the things they hadn't yet seen.
Wednesday:
We visited the Secretaria de Eduacion Publica, or the SEP, which is who controls our crazy school schedule. We went for the Diego Rivera murals that are plastered over nearly every inch of three floors of their inner courtyards. An English speaking guide met up with us, almost giddy at the fact that he could be giving a tour (this could have something to do with the fact that the SEP was not even mentioned in my guidebook, despite the fact that it had more Diego than any other place we went to!). He was great and really knew his stuff, which made the murals make a lot more sense to us.
Next we braved the metro (from then on out) and (after getting off the metro due to a delay, taking a bus, getting off too early, and walking for miles on very empty stomachs) ended up in a part of the city called Coyoacan, where the Blue House is located. It's the home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
While there, we made plans to go to the Ballet Folklorico (which isn't ballet, but rather traditional Mexican dancing from all parts and times) for that evening. So we returned home and got ready.
The ballet was probably one of my favorite things! I wasn't sure I'd like it at first because it began with ritualistic aztec type dancing, but then it progressed through to Mariachis and women in the huge, colorful skirts, men dancing with sombreros and stomping out a beat with their boots. It was really cool. Even from our nosebleed seats a mile high.


Thursday:
We woke up our exhausted bodies and left at 7:00 to go the the pyramids that are a metro trip and an hour bus ride from D.F. They were worth it, though! Walking through the ruins of pyramids from one of the most ancient and advanced civilizations! The third largest pyramid in the world is here, and it was built without tools or the use of the wheel. Incredible. We climed the pyramids and enjoyed the scenery. We saw alters built to well know Aztec gods, and remnants of decorative carvings and such.

After the pyramids we headed to a part of the city called Xochimilco, stopping early to go to my favorite museum of the drip, the Museo Dolores Olmedo Patino. She was Diego Rivera's long time model, patron, and one-time mistress. We ate at a great cafe in the museum, and then wandered the rooms full of Diego and Frida's art. The grounds of the museum were beautiful too, full of peacocks and even some hairless Mexican dogs, favorites of Frida and Diego.

Friday:
Without Jacque and Amber, the four remaining white girls went to a really pretty part of D.F. called Chapultapec. There is a huge park there and lots of trees lining the streets, so it felt much cleaner and scenic than the rest of the city. The first place we went was the Museo de Antropologia (Anthropology museum). This was absolutely amazing. One of the nicest museums I've ever been in, and full of some of the most amazing, ancient, incredible things. Like a huge, stone Aztec calendar, innumerable stone carvings from ruins, pyraminds, and other ancient Mexican dwellings. There was a headdress made of Queztal feathers believed to have been a gift from Moctezuma to Cortez. I saw tombs with intricately adorned skeletons, jewelry and figurines that look impossible to have been created by hand, and books that are still intact with Mayan and Aztec drawings. The museum itself would literally take days to see everything, so we had to just choose a few rooms and spent about 3 hours there.

We split up after this and Megan and I visited the museum of Modern Art. I saw a lot of amazing paintings by artists I knew and some that I now know and love.
We met up and went to a trendier part of town for dinner and coffee, and then headed back to the hotel and crashed.

Saturday:
This morning we were up and waiting in front of the Palacio Nacional when it opened at 9:00 a.m., because we had to leave for the bus station by 11:15. The Palacio had more awesome Diego murals.
Next we hit the Templo Mayor, which is a museuma and ruins of an Aztec city and pyramid. Alot of what we saw in the Antropologia museum had come from this site.

We left on a noon bus. I was tired and happy and trying to wake up to the fact that I had to teach in two days. It felt like summer vacation.

Check out my photo website for many, many more pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Ms.TaraPeterson/MexicoCity