Today was our final day in Mexico City and our last full day of the Fulbright-Hays seminar in Mexico. I can’t even begin to describe the emotions I felt as we took a walk through Chapultepec Castle and visited the National Museum of History. Similar to some other fortresses we visited (in Campeche and Xalapa), the Castle was built high above the city so as to give those inside a birds-eye view of the city and keep lookout for invaders. To get to the top, we took a short 5-minute trolley ride (it felt like Disney World). Once up there, guide Lynda took us through a chronological history of Mexico, starting with the Mayans and Aztecs, and finishing with the more recent political events of the country. She brought us to artwork and artifacts that depicted such notables as Juarez, Zapata, and Diaz. This was a great way to end our seminar, as it tied up loose ends and gave us a chance to close out our trip in Mexico.
We finished off our day and trip with lunch at the Hacienda de los Morales, right in the middle of downtown Mexico City. I walked into the Hacienda and felt like I stepped back in time. I didn’t expect it to be as large of a property as it was, completely engulfed in grass, palm trees, and other greenery. We were met by representatives from the U.S. embassy in Mexico City and the Board of Directors of Comexus. Our lunch (which I could finally eat) was fabulous and a great culmination to a trip of culinary delights!
All in all, our trip ended on an excellent note. We spent thirty days in Mexico, staying in twelve cities and visiting many others, with two amazing and knowledgeable guides and one heck of a bus driver. The fifteen educators I met, conversed, bonded, and shared experiences with, will all be remembered fondly. This truly was the trip of a lifetime and I will forever be grateful for such an experience.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Day Thirty-Two- Mexico City, D.F. (July 28, 2010)
Day four in D.F. was better than day three, but not by much…my stomach still didn’t feel well. However, I decided to attend all the day’s activities, so as not to miss out on anything else. We drove to downtown Mexico City and stayed in the area all day. As we were driving towards the city center, I wasn’t paying too much attention and when I looked out the window, I thought I saw the Empire State Building…haha! I guess I was feeling a little homesick, although the building really did look similar to the famous New York structure!
Once we arrived downtown, we started walking towards the Palacio Nacional. On our walk, we passed by a house made mostly out of Talavera (the inside too!) and a huge Sears store, about nine floors high! It was busy when we got down to the main political area…it looks like there was a celebration for the children’s Olympic games. We took a few minutes to walk around the National Palace, once a residence for the President of Mexico, but not any more. One of the more interesting parts of the palace was the huge Diego Rivera mural by the main staircase…WOW…talk about elaborate!
When we left the Palacio Nacional, we walked one block to the Templo Mayor, the pyramids built by the late Aztec ruler Montezuma. The amazing part of the Templo Mayor is that Mexico City was completely built around it and the ruins were only excavated in the mid-1970s. It was cool to walk around a temple and Aztec ruins in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world.
After lunch (which I didn’t really eat at), we walked around the city to do some last minute shopping (panic shopping, as I like to call it). I bought a few things and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Ballet Folklorico. I have only one word for the Ballet – AMAZING! The costumes were beautiful, the dancing was fantastic, and the music sounded great! I took a few pictures and videos, and was super excited when the song “Adelita” was played! This past school year, my students sang the song, so it was cool to hear a familiar tune. After two hours at the Ballet, I still wanted more! This is definitely something I would come back and see again and again.
Once we arrived downtown, we started walking towards the Palacio Nacional. On our walk, we passed by a house made mostly out of Talavera (the inside too!) and a huge Sears store, about nine floors high! It was busy when we got down to the main political area…it looks like there was a celebration for the children’s Olympic games. We took a few minutes to walk around the National Palace, once a residence for the President of Mexico, but not any more. One of the more interesting parts of the palace was the huge Diego Rivera mural by the main staircase…WOW…talk about elaborate!
When we left the Palacio Nacional, we walked one block to the Templo Mayor, the pyramids built by the late Aztec ruler Montezuma. The amazing part of the Templo Mayor is that Mexico City was completely built around it and the ruins were only excavated in the mid-1970s. It was cool to walk around a temple and Aztec ruins in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world.
After lunch (which I didn’t really eat at), we walked around the city to do some last minute shopping (panic shopping, as I like to call it). I bought a few things and then we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Ballet Folklorico. I have only one word for the Ballet – AMAZING! The costumes were beautiful, the dancing was fantastic, and the music sounded great! I took a few pictures and videos, and was super excited when the song “Adelita” was played! This past school year, my students sang the song, so it was cool to hear a familiar tune. After two hours at the Ballet, I still wanted more! This is definitely something I would come back and see again and again.
Day Thirty-One - Mexico City, D.F. (July 27, 2010)
My third day in Mexico City was an unhappy one. Montezuma’s revenge got to me and I was sick all day. While I stayed in the hotel to rest, the rest of the group visited the Museum of Anthropology (which they all raved about) and went to the Comexus office for a discussion on Mexican identity. By the time they got back, around 6pm, I was feeling a little bit better, and decided to join them on an optional trip to a Lucha Libre performance.
Lucha Libre is the Mexican equivalent to wrestling in the United States. Basically, the men and women dress up in skin-tight outfits and usually wear colorfully designed masks on their heads. Jacques warned us before it started that the participants are not really fighting (it’s fake) and rarely does anyone get hurt. The performance took place in a large theater with a wrestling ring in the middle. This particular Lucha Libre show takes place on Tuesdays and Fridays and is televised (the camera passed by us once, so I guess we were on Mexican TV!). It was pretty fun to watch and we laughed a lot at the pretend kicks and punches, so the two hours went by pretty quickly. I didn’t understand the rules too well, but I know that there were five groups of wrestlers who came out and the rounds were broken up into “caidas”. We couldn’t take pictures with cameras, but here’s a picture that Jacques took with his cell phone:
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