Mexico City
Weekend Excursion #1
Day 7
I had to be at La Plaza De La Paz at 7:50AM to leave on the bus for Mexico City. The journey was 5
hours long, but it was worth it. Mexico City is unlike any place I had been before, and I have been to other crowded places like New York City. I really liked it in Mexico City because to me it was just so cool.
When we got there, we all ate Elote from a street vendor (one that was okay for us to eat from). Honestly it was interesting and not my favorite thing but that is probably because I am not a huge mayonnaise fan. Elote is made from corn, mayonnaise and chili powder. Then we went to watch a show of some people in the park. 4 people climbed to the top of a HUGE ladder and then they swung down hanging upside down!
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- Our outstanding tour guides
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- watching the performance
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- in the museum
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- castillo
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- pozole
After the show, we went to the Castillo de Chapultepec and then after that the Museum of Anthropology or El Museo de Antropología. The Castillo was beautiful. It sits super high up on the hill and has a great view of the city! I also really liked the Museo de Anthropología because I learned a TON about the Mayans and the Aztecs and the other groups that were in Mexico. I even got to see original figures from that time. It was incredible! We all had dinner together in a fancier restaurant, and I had pozole verde! SO GOOD! We went back to our hotel and Sydney and I were roommates. After hanging out for a while, we finally had to go to bed to rest up for another day of exploring!
Day 8
Today we went to many places after a very yummy breakfast at the hotel. We went to the Palacio Nacional and took a tour and saw tons of murals of Diego Rivera. Then, we went to an exhibit of Frida Kahlo in the city center. It was a coincidence that the exhibit was there. It was actually only there because it was her birthday. After that, we went to the Palacio de Bellas Artes and saw more of Diego Rivera’s paintings. At the Palacio Nacional, the paintings and murals have never had to had been restored. They were made to live out in the open, and because of that, are still in their original condition. We went to the UNAM, which was the first university in all of the Americas. It was very cool and now I want to go there! We also toured La Casa Azul which is where Frida Khalo lived.
We had some more delicious food (a common theme you will see), and I ate so much!! I guess I must be starting to feel better haha. It was a buffet style taco bar, but they literally give you so much food! Chips and guac, tacos, the taco bar, and soup. After that, we all went back to the hotel and then I went to the lobby to do my homework with Sarah, Michaela, Aileen, and Megan. It was fun and we hung out while doing our work. Nothing bonds you better than some good old-fashioned homework! Off to bed now in our fancy hotel, seriously this is the fanciest hotel I have ever stayed in!
Day 9
Last day in Mexico City and I am very sad to leave. Another great hotel breakfast and then we headed out to go to La Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe and it was GEORGOUS! One of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen! It was definitely a popular destination by the tourists, as people were lined up to get in the door. One thing I forgot to mention earlier were the incredible tour guides we’ve had during our time in Mexico City. They are so kind and genuinely want to be our friends and get to know us. They also know so much about everything in Mexico. I owe all of what I learned in Mexico City to them!
We then went to Teotihuacán and it was breathtaking. Out of this world beautiful. It is a place full of these ancient Aztec temples, most of which you can climb. We got to climb many of them, and the view from the top was unlike anything I had ever done before. At the top, there was a full view of all the rest of them. We unfortunately did not get to climb the tallest pyramid because there was a 2hr line to start to climb the pyramid, which takes about an hour in itself to get to the top. Instead, we played a game. When standing on a smaller pyramid, 3 people walk to different parts of an open field. We then move to have the caller talk at a normal volume and the people in the open field follow his commands. All of these people were at various distances away and could hear and do the commands!
After we left the pyramids, we went to eat at a buffet of food from the region. Again, it was delicious. After dinner, we went to the little open space at the hotel we were eating at and played soccer with our tour guides. It was a fun, causal game of soccer sin zapatos (without shoes) in the grass. We had to say goodbye to our tour guides which was super sad. I will miss them all so much! Our trip back was a 6 hour bus ride, and we got back at 11pm. My parents picked me up and we went back home