Day 0: The Beginning of the Adventure

We started this trip late in the day, with an 11:30 pm flight out of Monterrey to Mexico City (CDMX). Unfortunately, this already late night just got longer with multiple delays to our flight. Finally we got on our plane at 1:30 in the morning and were on our way to Mexico City!

 

Day 1:

After finally making it to our airbnb it was all we could do to set up our beds before falling asleep -there’s something about planes that really drains your energy. By the time we managed to get ourselves out of bed almost half the day had passed. We decided to explore the area around our house for awhile and found an amazing market. In the traditional mexican style it was packed full of vendors selling everything from halloween costumes to chicken feet. It was a lot of fun to wander through and find new foods for the day. 

That night we were invited to a birthday party of a friend from TEC. We took this as an opportunity to figure out the metro system. CDMX is the biggest city in Mexico, and its public transport system is extensive. The metro is very efficient, cheap, and easy to use, if you ever visit don’t be afraid to use it to get around the city (it is important to keep your valuables close, but that’s just a typical danger from a big city). I found the metro particularly amazing, maybe because I come from a place where the public transport is not very efficient. 

 

Day 2:

Today we decided to head down to the Coyoacan area of the city. Here we found our way to a museum inside an old monastery. The museum chronicalled Mexican history, starting at the conquest of the Spanish up into modern history. As a person currently taking classes in Mexican history I found it very interesting, and didn’t have to worry too much about understanding the spanish descriptions. 

After this we headed over to the Coyoacan market. The market tends to be full of tourists, and for good reason: there are venders there to meet your every need. The market is huge, and I’m really not sure if I managed to see all of it. It’s like a maze wandering through the narrow paths between booths. There are people, colors, and amazing smells everywhere, it’s hard to keep any sense of direction or control over your wallet. 

 

Day 3:

We started this Sunday early by heading down to the Zocalo for church. We decided to go to the biggest Cathedral in all of Latin America – Catedral Metropolitana de México. This magnificent building was started in the 16th century and was only completed in the 19th, and is a mix of many different styles of architecture. The resulting building is a statement in its own right, with towering walls watch over downtown Mexico City with a beauty and grace that comes from such a dedicated project. 

The service itself was also very interesting. I am not a Catholic and have never been to a Catholic sermon before, but I found this one enchanting and beautiful to listen to. While everything was in spanish, and my comprehension is not good enough to understand most of what was being said, I found it fascinating to watch the presentation underneath the sky-high ceilings and in front of the amazing art.

When we left the church we discovered we had accidently arrived into the middle of a festival, complete with a parade and so many people it was almost impossible to move through the crowd. It was accidentally an amazing day to explore the city and be able to see the festivities around the Dia de los Muertos holiday. We had the opportunity to watch some of the parade, wander through a market, and get stuck in the Palacio de Bellas Artes when it began to rain. 

Day 4:

On day 4 we decided to head out from CDMX and drive about an hour to get the Teotihuacan, an archaeological site home to what was once one of the largest pre-columbian civilizations in mesoamerica. There are three pyramids here, but beyond this there are many remains of other buildings and residences that have taught us so much about the people that used to live here. Here are some places where you can read more about the history if you’re interested: HISTORY, National Geographic, and Live Science.

While we were there we explored the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, walked the Avenue of the Dead, and climbed to the top of the Temple of the Sun. The Temple of the Sun is in the top ten largest pyramids in the world, and you can really feel that in your legs as you climb to the top. But believe me, the view is more that worth it. From the top you can look out over the entire site, really driving home just how amazing this place is. 

There is something about walking through the ancient houses of people we know nothing about that makes me wish time travel was a possibility. There is so much we still don’t know about the people who built these buildings and the lives they lived. It really makes you consider the fleetingness of human lives, yet the lasting impact we can make. 

Day 5:

This was our last day in Mexico City before we left for Oaxaca, so we decided to head back to the Zocalo and try to explore a bit more without the crowds of saturday. We started our day by heading to the Pasteleria Ideal, a huge bakery with seemingly endless options of bread. I think we may have gone a bit overboard and bought too many desserts, but it was really worth it. 

After this we went on a free walking tour around Mexico City. This was a great opportunity to learn about the buildings and history around the downtown of CDMX. The architecture here is incredibly varied, featuring many different arquetects and styles. There is also a great deal of history built into the center of this city, from the spanish conquest to the mexican revolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 6:

We started day 6 at 4:30 in the morning as we gathered our bags and headed out to catch our bus to Oaxaca. Being able to explore this city was an amazing time, and having the opportunity to see this all with some amazing friends made it a truly memorable trip. I am so thankful for all the amazing chances I have had to see new things and experience this culture while I’ve been living here in Mexico.

 

As a school project we had to make a video about our time in CDMX, which you can watch here.

This last weekend was the Mexican holiday El Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. This is one of the most well known holidays from Mexico, especially after the release of Disney’s “COCO”, however this holiday has far more history and traditions behind it than most people realize. 

I can’t claim to know everything about this holiday, it’s got such a long history and so many different traditions that I could never hope to understand it fully. However, I did have the opportunity to spend this holiday with a family in Oaxaca that invited my friends and I to join their celebrations. Their kindness allowed me an unforgettable glimpse into this wonderful holiday and the traditions that go along with it. 

First for a bit of history: El Día de los Muertos is a pre-hispanic tradition that the people in the south of Mexico we practicing for many years before the Spaniards landed on their coast. Much of the modern traditions that are used during these celebrations are based firmly in those used by Indigenous Mexicans. When the Spanish arrived and began converting those Indigenous people into Catholics they ended up creating what we now know as El Día de los Muertos. 

The Pre-Hispanic traditions relating to this famous holiday were much smaller, and usually done in August, not November. The people understood death as a part of life, and set up altars for the dead containing food and drink to honor them and help them through the journey of the afterlife. 

 

In Europe, the Spanish also held their own traditions to honor the dead, occuring on the Catholic holiday of All Saints Day and All Souls Day (the first and second days of November). It was on these days the the Spaniards would bring bread, wine, and flowers to the graves of the deceased for when their souls returned to earth. 

When the Spanish arrived in Mexico these traditions mixed and created the holiday we know today. The festivities usually start on October 31, though it is not until November 1st that the holiday actually begins. November 1st is known as El Día de los Innocents, or the day of the children. It is believed that on this day the souls of departed children return home to visit. November 2nd is the actual El Día de los Muertos, and this is the day for the rest of the souls to return to earth to see their families. 

To celebrate this holiday people set up ofrendas or altars in their homes to honor the returning souls. They decorate these altars in bright colors and fill with the deceased’s favorite foods, drinks, and other pieces of their life. In the center is a photo of the deceased to call them home. People also decorate the graveyards, with candles, food, and marigolds, the traditional flowers of the dead. 

You may also witness people dressing up as La Calavera Catrina, a woman with her face painted as a skull. This is a newer tradition, again with mesoamerican roots. The Aztecs and other mesoamerican cultures used images of skelatines to represent some of their gods, and in the 19th century these images were re-imagined by the Mexican artist José Guadalupe Posada and became associated with this holiday. This relationship to the pre-hispanic gods is also want influenced the creation of the sugar skulls commonly eaten or placed on the ofrendas.  

I spent this holiday in Oaxaca, one of the most famous places to go to see these traditions. During this time of year the city is full of decorations, markets, and tourists -so if you plan to go, make your reservations early. Everywhere you look there is papel picado hanging and marigolds lining doorways. The streets are colorful and full of vendors as people celebrate the lives of their loved ones. While I was there we were taken in by the family of a friend. They treated us like their own family, bring us to their favorite places, showing us the amazing traditions of their homes, and even inviting us to their own family celebrations (sometime soon I will be uploading a post on Oaxaca itself where I will talk more about the city itself). 

 

November 1

On November first, El Día de los Innocents, we were taken out to one of the towns just outside of Oaxaca known as Etla. This town has its own traditions with this holiday that seem similar to Halloween on the surface but with a strong Mexican twist. It is basically a giant, town-wide party, where people come together to drink, dance, and show off costumes that they created. People work for weeks to build their own costumes, some based off of something in the current culture, but most are just creative designs. The town comes together in different groups to party, and eventually begin parades with music and dancing to find the other groups. It’s a giant competition to see which part of town has the best music and the most people.

Being in the middle of it was a crazy experience. There was so much joy and excitement in peoples faces as they danced to the music, as well as quite a bit of beer being flung around in the air. The costumes were amazing, you could tell just how much work people put into them and why they were so famous. When the parade started moving out you could really see the excitement, and the alcohol. We didn’t end up staying very long, but the party can go on all night. If you ever end up in Oaxaca for this celebration it is more than worth the cab fare out. 

November 2

For this day we were invited into a traditional family breakfast. The table sat outside and was quickly filled with family members coming together to celebrate their loved ones, both alive and dead. They served traditional Oaxacan pan de muertos, atole con chocolate, tamales oaxaqueños, and chicharron. Besides the amazing food, the family had a few other traditions relating to their loved ones who had passed on, such as smoking a particular cigarette (which I did not participate in) and drinking mezcal (which I did try). The joyous talking of the family lasted all morning until noon arrived. At this time it is traditional to take a piece of fruit from the ofrenda before leaving for any other activities of the day. The belief is that after 12 the spirits of the dead return to the other side and the food can be removed.

It was so incredibly kind for this family to take us in and give us an inside view of this amazing holiday. There is so much I had never been exposed to before, and so much still to learn I’m sure. If you ever get the chance to experience the joy and love that surrounds this holiday you should make sure to try anything you can. Some traditions are older than history can say, and some are very recent, however all share an unmistakable love and joy that create a truly unforgettable experience. 

 

 

Interesting note: For this holiday, it is traditional to eat Pan de Muerto or bread of the dead. There are actually many types of bread that use this name, however there are two that are more common than the rest: a sugary bread with a cross baked onto the top, and a slightly less sweet bread that is decorated with a face baked into the bread. It is this one, with the face baked into it that you will find in Oaxaca, while the sugary style of bread is more common in the north. The bread in Oaxaca is especially interesting because each of the faces baked into the bread are handmade and painted to represent the faces of the dead. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More on bread

Day of the dead info