Mexico City

* The link to my photo page is now on the right side of this page. I also added four pictures of my house/family here.*

I should never have waited more than an hour to start writing about my trip to Mexico City, because just two days later, it is slowly evaporating from my memory. But I will try my hardest to recount as much as possible about three of the longest days of my life.

On Friday, we left at 8 am for DF (everyone here calls Mexico City just plain Mexico of DF, as in Distrito Federal) in a small bus that fit all of us incredibly snugly, in a bad way. It was really too tight of a fit for a five hour drive, but we made do and tried to sleep as much as possible. Since I can´t describe everything we did, here are a few highlights:

Friday – We visited the Zocola, the plaza where all of the important government buildings are located in DF. We visited a building that held dozens of Diego Rivera´s murals (I posted numerous pictures on my photo page). In contrast to his experience in New York, Rivera was allowed to paint whatever he desired, so it comes as no surprise that the murals are filled with socialist and communist iconography. The largest mural traces Mexico´s history from pre-conquest to the period in which Rivera was working. I will provide more detail on the murals on my photo page, so check it out.

Speaking of Rivera, we also went on Friday to Rivera´s beautiful house, called Casa Azul. It was filled with Rivera and Frida's art, letters addressed to them, clothing, and even the notorious bed Frida learned to paint in.

Afterwards we went to the Metropolitan Cathedral built in 1573. Because Mexico City was built upon a lake, it is slowly sinking. Within the church, there is a pointed object (no idea what they are called) hanging from the ceiling. It originally pointed to the center of the church, but now, years and years later, the tip has moved substantially because of the change in the level of the church. It was quite amazing and definitely something my dad would have spent more time looking at than the church itself.

On Saturday, we visited several sites, one of which was the plaza where the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre occurred. This event took place 10 days before the summer Olympics, held in Mexico, which students protested as an absurd expenditure of money when there were endless social problems that desperately needed funding instead. As the students protested in the square, military helicopters flew overhead, opening fire on the students. Although the government denied the numbers, it is largely believed hundreds upon hundreds were killed and disappeared. The night of the massacre, the plaza was cleaned and the next day, no evidence was left, except the countless indentations on the ground present to this day, caused by bullets hitting the ground.

Later, we visited the Teotihuacán pyramids. These pyramids were built 2,000 years ago and remain in remarkably good condition today. The Aztecs later incorporated the pyramids into their own civilization, and the now stand as evidence of the advanced culture and technology of the time, as they include irrigation, art, and obviously extraordinary architecture.

We also went to the Basilica de Guadalupe, the church that the Virgin of Guadalupe told Juan Diego to build. Within the church, the canvas (in which she proved her existence) hangs to be seen by all. There are four moving sidewalks below the canvas to allow visitors to pass by. As many of you know, the Virgin is hugely important in Mexico and her image is seen everywhere. There is nothing you can´t buy without her image. I have never seen anything else that even comes close to what she signifies for Mexican identity. On the Day of Guadalupe, five million people visited the church in three days. Her story is fascinating and incredibly important in understanding Mexican culture and identity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

On the way to all of these places, I was consistently able to see extensive stretches of DF up the mountainsides. Houses are built right on top of each other, and it seems as if there is not an inch between each building. They go impossibly high up the mountains until they are stopped by a wall built to prevent any future construction. Viewing this from the street conjured many images from things I have learned and read in classes about Latin America, particularly the favelas in Brazil -where the conditions of completely condensed space and lack of privacy dominate.

I really am finding myself too exhausted to write, so either I´ll update more later or will just have to tell you all about my trip in person. I have put up a ton of pictures, so check them out, they give a much better description of my travels.