Mexico City: Teotihuacan and others

30-45 mintues drive northeast from Mexico City is Teotihuacan, an ancient cities that was build around 200 AD. It was abandoned until the Aztecs empire took over in 14th century and then fallened at Spanish’s conquest. I’ve always been fasinated by ancient ruins and pyramids so it was my first priority to visit here. I was definitely not disappointed. The scale of it was overwhelming. The steps on the pyramids are high and quite hard to climb, you’re supposed to climb the steps in zig-zag direction. There are two pyramids in the enormous site: the huge Pyramid of the Sun (see pix) and smaller but equal height Pyramid of the moon (2nd and 3rd pix). I climbed moon first and boy was it tiring! I felt like my strength were used up. Though it’s also because I don’t work out regularly. ^^;;

So I felt exhausted already after Moon. I wanted to challenge myself to go all the way up to Sun after seeing how spectacular it is. I noticed a nursing trailer nearby. ^^;; So about halfway up to the pyramid I knew that I absolutely cannot continue on. My legs were strengthless and I started having hard time breathing. I felt immense sickness to my stomach that I vomited out my breakfast. At that point I realized not only that I was over exhausted and overheat (it was a hot hot day), the high latitude is also affecting my body. The more I rested the more I couldn’t breath, my vision got blurry and head felt dizzy. Eventually I collapsed onto the ground and fainted for couple seconds. Many tourists noticed and helped me. They poured water on my pulses and the back of the neck, raised my legs up on a step so blood would flow back to my head. Someone even got the nurse and guard to come. They lift me back down and I rested in the trailer for awhile.

I had a big fatty lunch and dinner (the duck I had at the french place) for the rest of the day.

Another must-go destination of Mexico City is the National Museum of Anthropology. The museum’s architecture is interesting by itself. I can’t figure how a huge concrete canopy is solely support by a pillar. It’s got an amazing collection of archeaological finds from Mexico City. All the Teotihuacan finds were collected here, as well as other civilizations like Maya, Olmecs, toltecs, Oaxaca…etc. There’s the famous Sun Stone (the Aztec Calender). I”ve always see this in picture now I’m glad to see the real thing. It’s much larger than I expected. You can see more pictures on my Flickr.

This concluded my Mexico City trip report. I also checked out Basilica de Guadalupe and its “miracle poncho”, the Bull fighting Stadium and UNAM. There’re still many other fasinating things I didn’t see or experience due to the lack of time, such as hanging out at the cool Condessa neighbourhood, boat ride at Xochimilco, ancient ruins of Tulu, the crazy churriqueresque “ultra-barqoue” churches at Taxco and the beautiful colonial Puebla town. Hopefully there’s next time. OK back to LA dining~

Tags: Travel Report

South of the center of Mexico City are San Angel and Coyoacan, two cozy picturesque towns that still presevered their colonial-era charm with tree-lined cobblestone street, plazas, old churches and Spanish mansions. Many parts would definitely make you feel like you’ve time traveled to the past. I absolutely love these two areas. If there’s a chance I ever get to stay at Mexico City they would be on top of my list to live in.

San Angel and Coyoacan are also known for their weekend craft markets. The Plaza San Jacinto at San Angel offers the usual Mexican folk crafts (quality varies, some crappy some pretty good) as well as painters and sculptors displaying their works. I end up buying two little cute storybook-like paintings from a painter. There are several handicraft markets at Coyoacan as well, I got some pretty nice lacquered gourd boxes for a good price.

Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo’s artist studio at San Angel. The red/white one is Diego’s and the blue one is Frida’s. For some reason Frida’s weren’t open. They’re designed by Juan O’Gorman (who’s also known for the amazing UNAM Library building) around 1931, the buildings are very modern “artist loft,” a must check for modern architecture fan. Inside you can see the artist’s personal belongings (love the giant paper mache!)

I just love walking around Coyoacan. It’s filled with little charming cafes, restaurants, cantinas, boutiques and interesting people (i.e. artists, musician, hippies, hipsters, bohemians…etc). A perfect neighbourhood to hang out. I didn’t make it but a local from the Mexican production company strongly recommended us El Jarocho, an old time family owned coffee shop that’s famous for amazing good and cheap coffee. It’s so popular that people line up in long queue on the street. Coyoacan also known for many good ice-cream shops.

This charming bright blue house at Coyoacan is where Frida Kahlo was born and then shared with her husband Diego Rivera till she died. Now it’s turned into a museum that house some of her works and they kept the interior decor as they were. Unfortunately I did not have time to go inside to check it out 🙁 It’s also interesting that Leon Trotsky lived in Coyoacan as well (just couple blocks from Frida’s), after being expelled from the Soviet Union till his assassination in 1940. You can still see many bullet holes on the outer walls (didn’t get to take pix since I was in a Taxi cab).

More pictures on San Angel and Coyoacan on my flickr.

Tags: Travel Report