This entry details two weekend trips to two very different places: Mexico City, a megalopolis and the second biggest city in the world, rumored as pollution-filled urban jungle, and Tapalpa, quaint pueblo in the mountains three hours outside of Guadalajara.
Mexico City
Not wanting to join the hordes of my university's "weekend-away" trip, I decided to couchsurf to D.F. (Distrito Federal). I found Brenda on the website and contacted her...she welcomed me with open arms, even though it was her birthday weekend. Taking a 3 am bus for 8 hours to the city, I arrived in the morning, tired but very excited! As you've probably heard rumored, Mexico City is supposed to be kind of dangerous, and the metro is supposed to be a place you should be wary about. Upon arrival, I bought my ticket for one of the world's cheapest metro systems (about 25 cents) and while the metro was certainly packed, especially on one squeeze-worthy ride, I was "adopted" by someone on each metro who made sure I squeezed my way on and got off where I needed to--although this metro is incredibly clear and well-designed!
I talked to Brenda, my host, on the phone and decided to wander around the Zócalo, the central plaza of this super historical city with my backpack of things until she got off work. Although it was annoying to carry around, I love packing LIGHT because then you're not weighed down by luggage. Below is a picture of the Zócalo-it's amazing how powerful the stark simplicity of it is, I thought.
Zócalo
I first entered the Palacio Nacional to see famous murals of Diego Rivera, detailing the history of Mexico, from its indigenous people to the Spanish conquest and its brutality. The picture below is of a mural that shows the history of Mexico in three general parts: indigenous, conquistadors/independence, and then contemporary Mexico...along with some quotes from Marx! While I'm not a big art person, I love murals--you really learn a story or history from them, and they are so colorful.
Diego Rivera
After that, I visited the huge cathedral and pondered during a mass. They sang a beautiful version of "Nearer My God to Thee." I then had some enfrijoladas for lunch and wandered to the Secretaria of Education, where there were supposed to be many a Diego Rivera mural. When finally I gained entrance, only me and one other man were told to wait for escort--but no one came, so we wandered around ourselves. He was taking photos of statues to be restored for Mexico's bicentennial, but as an art major in college, he knew a lot about all the murals, so I had a guide explain all of Diego's murals about the harvest, capitalism, the family and history in Mexico. It really makes you appreciate them more, plus I made a new friend! We each had a sparkling water then I made my way to Brenda's metro stop to meet her.
Brenda is such a warm, amazing person, who I'm so lucky to have had as a host. She's beautiful and so welcoming. I felt very welcome in her apartment in which she lives with her mom and grandma. After a snack of soup and pasta, I took a nap to prepare for the evening. After waking up from the incredibly comfortable bed, her friend Galo passed by for us and we picked up two other friends on the way to her friend Alejandro's place, an awesome apartment. We had Domino's pizza, with lots of hot sauce, then drank some wine and danced around to techno. All her friends were really fun and welcoming, very friendly. I felt so at home! I was so excited to be sitting in this penthouse, looking out over Mexico City, with new chilango friends, instead of sitting in some generic hotel, going out with a bunch of gringas. At midnight, we rang in Brenda's birthday and stayed up until 6 am hanging out, I took an hour nap, and then we were off to Morelos at 7 am, to let the real birthday celebration of Brenda begin.
I went in Alejandro's convertible, which was awesome! My second time in a convertible..and it was great! See picture below..I'm beaming. Even though we left so early, we still got stuck in amazing traffic because it was "puente" and everyone has Monday off..so people were trying to get out of the city. Since we were in a convertible with the sun shining, blasting techno music and drinking chelas (beers, which everyone drinks in cars--open container laws are not too strictly enforced), I was having the time of my life.
Me and Galo in the shiny red convertible!
We stopped for lunch in Tres Marías, where I impressed everyone with how much chili I put on my food, and I tried Pulque, an ancient use of the agave plant that creates Tequila--it's supposed to have special healing powers. We then sped down the mountains, the sun still shining, and had a great view of mountain peaks and volcanos. We stopped to get more chelas, of course, and continued until we reached Cuautla, our destination for skydiving.
Stopping for chelas
Since I wasn't skydiving, I asked how long they thought we'd be there..I figured maybe an hour or two. When Galo answered, "maybe 9 hours," I was a little confused on what I would be doing...but instead I had an amazing, awesome, beautiful day! The state of Morelos is supposed to get 360 days of sunshine a year..and it was beautiful! I met more of Brenda's friends, all extremely kind and fun, and spent the entire day watching skydivers, enjoying the perfect sunny day, snacking and drinking calimotxo, wine and coca-cola.
With new friends Aldo and Baruk...Aldo lent me his sombrero so I wouldn't burn too much more on the perfect sunny day
Skydiver landing!
Around 7 pm, the skydiving finished up and everyone just hung out and talked for a couple more hours. Around 9, we headed back into town, where about 30 of us ate dinner..it was delicious, though I got sunscreen all over my things...sunscreen, my own worst enemy. Then we head to Brenda's friend Toño's country home for a birthday fiesta! The house was awesome, with lots of space, a bar/dj place, a beautiful garden and a pool with slide. I had a great time, meeting even more new people, and I also got to chill in a hammock, my favorite!
Me in the hammock! They are so comfortable
A shot with the pool - with slide! - and hot tub...along with crazy Mexicans drinking out of a beer bong, but with rum & coke instead! Yum!
The next morning, after sleeping in a huge tent, people were already drinking chelas by 8 am but I took it a little easier. Hung out in the sun by the pool for a bit, and then Brenda and her boyfriend Alejandro (different Alejandro) and I departed for Tepotzlán, a "magical village." It was truly adorable and gorgeous at the same time, with the hill overlooking the town housing an ancient pyramid that you can hike up to. We ate lunch at the famous Los Colorines restaurant, in which many a famous visitor has left an autograph. We wandered the streets, eating ice cream ("snow") and drinking micheladas, the beer with salt, lime and hot sauces, both of which Tepotzlán is famous for. It was a great stop and I love seeing the pueblitos.
Chilling at the pool in the morning sun
Tepotzlán, Pueblo Mágico-you can just see the pyramid in the mountains
Brenda and Alejandro inside our lunch spot - behind them is the open kitchen, where you can see everything the abuelitas are cooking!
With my lovely host Brenda outside of our famous lunch spot - holding the michelada! And I'm actually not that pale, it's the flash, I swear.
We headed back to D.F. and while Brenda slept in back, Alejandro drove us home along the "free" highway. There is also a tollway and a highway. We arrived on the tollway, faster but more hectic and less country-life scenery. Going back, we took the free highway, which wound through pueblos and the countryside, including past the most beautiful cemetery I've ever seen, and I was glad I got to see all this as well. He then took me around the city a bit..I even started recognizing bits by the end! Something I found really interesting was the monument to Mothers. I've never seen a monument just to mothers in the U.S...shows Mexicans devotion to their mamas! It was interesting though, the inscription on the Mother Monument said, "A la que nos amó antes de conocernos," translated as "To the one that loved us before meeting us." Also underneath it follows, "Porque su maternidad fue voluntario," meaning "Because her motherhood was voluntary." Kind of seemed like an interesting choice of words to me, since there are certainly mothers who accidentally and even unwillingly take on the role...made me wonder what it might imply culturally.
Monumento a la madre - a la que nos amó antes de conocernos
Angel de la Independencia - Famous Angel of Independence Statue
The next day we head to Teotihuacán to see the two famous pyramids, Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon. However, I first got to pick some limes from Alejandro's tree--I love limes, and they were amazing and juicy! Well, there's not much to say about the pyramids, as a picture really does the job, but we were lucky that it wasn't sunny that day. We definitely climbed both of them and they were big! I happened to see Molly, how was on the organized trip from my school, on the pyramids-what are the chances? These pyramids were huge and awe-inspring, and moreover mind-boggling that they were able to construct them so long ago when Europeans were doing their best to put together lame little houses. However, I think I preferred the pyramids of Chichén Itzá, in the Yucatán Peninsula, because I prefer jungle and greenery around the pyramids..the desert setting of Teotihuacán wasn't quite my thing. However, they're obviously amazing, I just like feeling like Indiana Jones.
Me and the limes!
On top of the Pyramid of the Sun, with the Pyramid of the Moon in the left background, where we had discovered Molly!
Embracing the sun in front of Pirámide del Sol
After that we headed on over to the nearby Reino Animal, or Animal Kingdom. I think it's really interesting to go to zoos in other countries, and since we didn't have time to go to the Mexico City Zoo to see the pandas, we headed over there. At first there were just cows and a random giraffe, and I though...hmm..some Kingdom. However, we then boarded a car that took us on a "safari," where we drove right by ostriches, zebras, giraffes, buffalo and camels, who came up to eat the food we had purchased. We also drove by tigers and lions, after changing into fenced-in cards. I was about one foot from a tiger..they are so beautiful! Definitely interesting. I love animals! And the safari was actually pretty cool for them, because they had a decent area to roam.
Feeding the camel!
After the Animal Kingdom, we started on the D.F. Culinary Tour. First, we had dinner at Toño's, an amazing restaurant I totally recommend to everyone. They had all great Mexican food at a great price...I loved it. We had Pozole, a tasty soup, with avocado, horchata, lots of different salsas, sopes, quesadillas and enfrijoladas, and finishing with flan. We then headed to Coyoacán, an awesome neighborhood that reminded me of Seattle in a way, what with the guitarists, the kind of hippie vibe, the coffee, etc. It was really cute! We swung by the "Starbucks of Mexico" for some Mexican hot chocolate, then rounded the corner to get a Bailey's churro. After that, we had some esquite, corn with mayonaise, cheese, chili and hot sauce. At this point, we were sooo incredibly full, but it was all delicious. We wandered around Coyoacán for a bit, taking in the great atmosphere, then headed home.
Our meal at Toño's...amazing delicious!
The Starbucks of Mexico, El Jarocho
Showing off parts of the eating tour...hot chocolate, churro, ejites
On the side of the cathedral, where an indigenous dance was going on, joined in by Mexicans with polo shirts...they were pretty good too
The main plaza in Coyoacán-every Mexican town, no matter how small, has one
After talking with wonderful Brenda for awhile and laughing over the weekend's photos, we went to bed. Early the next morning, Brenda took me to the metro station and we said good-bye. I had such an amazing, fun weekend and am so grateful! Gracias
Tapalpa
I'll keep this description short after that wordy one about Mexico City. This was also only a one night trip. Tapalpa is a village in the mountains around Guadalajara, about a 2.5 hour drive away. We all met up at a friend's house and the 8 of us headed up into the mountains, 2 people hanging out in the back of the truck. Here, a lot of people have trucks and you'll often see over 10 people in back..definitely saves having to take so many cars, despite the safety questions. I was having a blast, twisting up the mountain road into the sun and drinking micheladas-felt so Mexican! However, a song from the TV show Glee came on the radio, reminding me of the nearby US. After a gorgeous drive up the mountains (I'm not kidding, beautiful), we stopped in a little village for snacks and there was a perfect view of a beautiful, snow-covered mountain. My first real, true mountain I've seen here (at least for me)-I loved it! Arriving in the village, we went to the house which was this gorgeous mansion with an awesome view. My photos can't be uploaded, so just take my word on it. We grilled for dinner and sat around talking, playing guitar and singing, along with the other 5 people who showed up. Great spanish practice, of course.
The next morning, I got up and walked around the adorable village of Tapalpa. The church was interesting, made of brick and very cool inside. I enjoyed that the weather up there was not quite so hot as before. We tried walking to the famed Piedrotas, but found out they were a lot further away than we believed. However, we headed out there a bit later in the truck. The Piedrotas are huge rocks randomly left in the middle of the field..huge size! It was a great sight. We then headed back to Guadalajara that evening.
The village of Tapalpa..everything is this reddish color, including the roofs
Las Piedrotas - these rocks are huge!
