With Cuernavaca, Tula, Puebla, Teotihuacan
We’ve been to Mexico many times, but we never seem to grow tired of
it. The murals, architecture, ruins, music, people, and food make it an
exciting experience. As Phil learns more Spanish, we both feel even more
appreciation for the culture around us.
Mexico City is a VERY big city; the population is around 25 million.
But an absence of urban canyons (like NYC) and the superb subway transit
system makes the city accessible. The traffic can be annoying, but it’s
easy to completely avoid ever being in a car in the urban center. We
first visited Mexico City together about 15 years ago. At that time,
only Susan spoke Spanish. Phil has been learning Spanish for the past
few years. There’s not a huge tourist infrastructure in Mexico City
outside of the fancy hotels and tourist attractions; a little Spanish
will go a long way.
The Sights: There is enough to see in Mexico City to fill a guidebook
and many weeks. It is also a great base for side trips to fascinating
ruins and smaller towns within an hour’s bus ride. There are lots of bus
tours, but since the city’s subway system is fast, cheap, and safe,
seeing the city using tour buses would be frustrating at best.
We started out by visiting the top museums: the Museo Nacional de
Antropología covers Mexico’s civilization, with an emphasis on
pre-Columbian culture. The museum is huge – and would require two visits
to see the whole thing. It is in Chapultepec Park, which has a number of
other museums, including the Castillo (Castle), which gives a flavor of
the long and tumultuous history of colonialism and struggle for
independence in Mexico.
The Zocalo is the huge plaza in the heart of the historic center.
There is always some activity there – performances, exhibits, and
gatherings. We timed our visit to Mexico to coincide with Dia de los
Muertos (Day of the Dead), and the Zocalo was filled with ofrendas
(altars in honor of the dead), a huge oven to bake Pan de Muertos, and
giant skeletons.
But the most interesting sights in Mexico aren’t those you see in
museums – it’s the streets, the markets, and the people.
Plaza Garibaldi (aka Mariachi Square) is the home to Mexico City’s
mariachi scene. This huge plaza is packed with itinerant musicians,
playing styles such as mariachi, ranchera, tejano, norteña, bolero, and
just about everything else. The listeners weren’t foreign tourists
(except for us), they were Mexicans – who knew the words to just about
everything that was played. We “bought” a song (Paloma Negra, made
famous by Pedro Infante) from perhaps the best ‘ham’ at the plaza. A
trip to Mexico City would be incomplete without a visit to Plaza
Garabaldi.
Mexico City's greatest treasures are artistic, both
pre-Colombian/pre-Hispanic and modern. When Cortez conquered Mexico
City, he razed the city’s religious center and built a church on the
ruins. But the destruction was incomplete, and the Templo Mayor survived
under the rubble. It’s now excavated and has a huge adjoining museum. It
quickly becomes apparent that pre-Colombian Mexico’s art and
civilization rivaled that of Europe and Asia. The museum doesn’t dwell
on Spain’s thorough annihilation of the culture, but on conveying the
culture’s richness.
The Diego Rivera murals in the National Palace and other buildings
should not be missed. Rivera was the 20th century’s greatest muralist,
and many of his greatest works are elsewhere in the city. Anahuacalli,
the Rivera-designed fortress-like museum made of black volcanic rock
that houses his personal collection of pre-Hispanic art. Anahuacalli is
located in the outer sprawl of the city.
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
We timed our trip to coincide with Dia de los Muertos. Before
November 1, many of the shops, museums and hotels in Mexico City had
ofrendas with whimsical skeletons and artistic arrangements of food,
flowers and art arranged to tempt the spirit of the deceased to come
back for the holiday. Vendors sell candy-decorated skulls, and a wide
variety of paper cutouts and decorations are everywhere. While Halloween
themes are beginning to infiltrate, there is still a strong flavor of
the pre-Columbian source of the Dia del Muerto celebration.
We spent the Dia del Muerto with friends near Cuernavaca, in the
small town of Ocotepec. Ocotepec’s unique tradition is its
processions – any family that has had a death during the year sets up an
ofrenda and offers food and drink, and guests go from house to house
bringing candles and flowers for the altars. It was interesting to us
that many homes posted a sign asking that that attendees not wear
costumes. We did see a few children in costumes going from house to
house trick-or-treating, evidence of the culture clash between the U.S.
and Mexico.
In many parts of Mexico, Dia del Muerto is celebrated at night in the
cemeteries. In Octopec, because the processions take place in the
evening, everyone gathers in the cemetery the next day. Graves are
decorated with the candles and flowers, as well as other decorations.
Musicians wander throughout, playing the favorite songs of the dead by
request, and neighbors and friends gather with families to spend the day
together. It was a wonderful and welcoming scene, and reminded us how
differently death is viewed in the Mexican culture, as compared to ours.
After leaving Cuernavaca, we returned to Mexico City, using it as a
base for excursions to the exciting archeological sites nearby. On this
trip we explored Teotihuacan and Tula. Teotihuacan cannot be missed; and
it is easily reached by 2nd class bus. It has the highest pyramids in
the world, is well restored, and is a fascinating window on the
civilization of the valley area before the Spanish arrived.
Tula was a surprise. We thought it would be small and not
well-preserved. It was huge, and very well restored. The setting, with a
commanding view of the valley, was spectacular. The large (40 feet high)
statues on top of the pyramids are evidence of the rich artistic
heritage of Mexico.
Safety: Lonely Planet and other books post warnings about the
city. We expected to see marauding street gangs, armed muggers, and con
artists just waiting for some hapless tourist. We were warned against
bringing bags, walking alone, taking cabs, and just about everything
else. We saw NO street crime. We felt perfectly safe. Everybody carried
bags; nobody accosted us. We did pay attention to the warnings about
pickpockets and carried only a color copy of our drivers’ licenses and a
few pesos just for the day in our wallets (we also had a bit more in
inner wallets), and locked everything else in the hotel safe. We also
were careful with taxis and used the excellent subway system most of the
time. As in any big city, travelers who use caution will probably be
fine.
Food: The myth of Mexico is that everyone who goes will get
sick from the food. In fact, by avoiding anything washed in water (e.g.
lettuce, unpeeled fruit) one would have no problems in Mexico City. In
fact, many restaurants that cater to the middle class use filtered water
exclusively. We ate in snack bars and even had street food - if we could
watch it being cooked or saw that it was held at close to boiling, we
felt we were safe. We had no problems.
Hotel: We stayed just north of the Zocalo at the Hotel
Catedral. This is an upscale but reasonably priced hotel. Others nearby
are the Canada and the Washington. The hotel offered potable water on
tap in the rooms, and was very comfortable. These hotels are close to
excellent coffee and breakfast places, as well as many interesting shops
and restaurants that cluster on Cinco de Mayo, Maderos, and other
streets near the Zocalo.
