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March 31, 2006, 5:25 pm
Hello from Mexico City – A Compact
Day of Discovery of Downtown (The Zócalo, the Catedral Metropolitana,
the Palacio Nacional, a Healing Ritual and a University dedicated
to a 16th Century Female Poet)
After our visit to the huge government-owned pawnshop, Nacional
Monte de Piedad, we saw
a side view of Mexico City’s and Latin America’s biggest
cathedral: the Catedral Metropolitana. It is also at the heart of
the world’s largest Catholic diocese. Due to the fact that
Mexico was built on the former Lake Texcoco, the cathedral is slowly
sinking and scaffolding in the interior of the building attests
to the efforts to try to stabilize it.
Mexico City's Catedral Metropolitana
In front of the Cathedral are numerous merchants that sell all
sorts of handicrafts to the tourists. The wide open public space
in front of the church is called the Zócalo and it is said
to be the second largest public square in the world, after Red Square
in Moscow. An indigenous healer was performing a cleansing ceremony
in public with a local couple. He had a variety of herbs and was
burning incense for this purification ritual.
To the left side of the cathedral is the Palacio Nacional which
today houses the office’s of Mexico’s president. One
of the typical “organiceros” was stationed outside,
playing his automated melody, but none of the organ grinders we
saw today were willing to have their picture taken and they always
conveniently looked away when a camera was pointing at them.
We had to talk our way into this beautiful building since a guard
stationed outside demanded that we show identification which we
unfortunately did not have on us. However, with Vanessa’s
feminine charm we were able to obtain a few minutes in this astounding
building.
The National Palace was built on the site of Montezuma’s
Palace and was initially the residence of Hernán Cortés after he conquered Mexico. The building has a beautiful courtyard
with arcades and a fountain in the middle. The staircase to the
2nd floor and the walls on the upper floor are adorned with a series
of murals by Mexico’s most famous muralist, Diego Rivera.
The wall paintings illustrate the history of Mexico, from the pre-Columbian
peoples, to their subjugation by Spanish conquerors, the fight for
independence from Spain, revolutionary leaders, as well as the dictatorship
under Porfirio Diaz which was put to an end by Francisco I. Madeiro.
Inside the Palacio Nacional
We then walked around the crafts market just outside the Cathedral
and had a look at the Templo Mayor, an imposing complex built by
the Aztecs in the 14th and 15th century. It was at the heart of
Tenochtitlan, the Aztec city that, like so many others, was destroyed
by the Spanish conquistadors. The Spanish invaders had a habit of
destroying any preexisting architecture and building their churches
and palaces on top of them.
Calle Tacuba took us towards our well-deserved late lunch in the
historic Café de Tacuba, a famous restaurant located in a
building from the 17th century. The café itself dates back
to 1912. I had a very tasty sopa de ajo (garlic soup) with
some even tastier quesadillas con guacamole which were
even hotter. Vanessa strengthened herself witha tamal (spicy
rice cooked in a husk of corn). We needed the strength since our
next adventure was a ride in Mexico City’s subway.
The Metro in Mexico City
I always love riding in public transport in other cities, particularly
in subways, since they all have their own peculiar atmosphere. Mexico
City’s subway stations are quite utilitarian (not a lot of
spectacular public art in the stations we saw) and the subway cars
themselves ride on rubber wheels. This contrasts quite strongly
to the metal clanking of our subway cars here in Toronto. Vanessa
indicated that you have to be careful in public transit here and
during rush hour the subway cars are subdivided in cars for men
and for women.
We took several subway routes to the Universidad Sor Juana Inés
de la Cruz, a former monastery dedicated to the nun of the same
name who was an interesting character and lived from 1648-1695.
She was colonial Latin America’s pre-eminent poet and scholar
during the 17th century. Around age 19 she became a nun, declaring
that only life in the monastery would give her sufficient opportunity
for her studies and intellectual pursuits. Today her monastery is
the Universidad del Claustro de Sor Juana and we explored this historic
building and were impressed by the inner courtyard that was full
of eager students and, interestingly enough, numerous hungry cats
waiting to be fed by the staff.
Monument commemorating Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
On the subway ride back to Vanessa’s parents’ apartment
I reflected on my first day in Mexico. It is an immense city, and
the downtown just swirls with people. One thing I noticed was how
ethnically homogeneous Mexico City is: the vast majority of people
I saw were of indigenous or mixed indigenous / mestizo background
and we both mused about how few tourists / foreigners we saw.
We saw a ton, and Vanessa is certainly a phenomenal tour guide
and local expert. I just wish I had more time to explore all the
historic buildings with their fascinating inner courtyards. There
is just so much to see and so little time...
Useful Books:
Related Articles:
Mexico 2006 - My cultural immersion
experiment
Hello from Mexico City - First impressions
Hello from Mexico City - A skyscraper,
a little horse and a government pawn shop
Hello from Mexico City - The Zócalo,
the Cathedral, a healing ritual and a university dedicated to a
16th century female poet
Hello from Mexico City - A relaxing
evening in Coyoacán
Hello from Mexico City - Exploring the
Paseo de la Reforma, de Bosque de Chapúltepec and a nice
evening in San Angel
Hello from Cuernavaca - Arrival and
first impressions
Hello from Cuernavaca - Getting to know
my B&B hostess Marta Elena: A true riches to rags story
Hello from Cuernavaca - My first day
learning Spanish and two local icons: the Robert Brady Museum and
the Jardín Borda
Hello from Cuernavaca - A lovely dinner
in a garden paradise
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Las Estacas, checking out orchids and a meeting at El Cafecito
Hello from Cuernavaca - An excursion
to Lake Tequesquitengo and a visit to the doctor
Hello from Cuernavaca - A conversation
with Andy Grater, local B&B owner and President of the Newcomers
Club
Hello from Cuernavaca - A presentation
about ecology at the Newcomers Club Meeting
Hello from Cuernavaca - Opening of a
South African photo exhibition and a visit to the Palacio de Cortés
Hello from Taxco - The city that silver built
Hello from Taxco during Semana Santa - The
famous Palm Sunday Procession
Hello from Cuernavaca - A new language
school, visiting 'Casa Vamos' and an evening with a very sad ending
Hello from Cuernavaca - My most intense
day: more language studies, 3 interviews, a guided eco-hike and
dinner at the Marco Polo
Hello from Cuernavaca - A day outing
to the enchanting mythical village of Tepoztlan
Hello from Cuernavaca - My last day
of school and a visit to Cuernavaca's Spring Fair
Hello from Taxco - An eerie experience: Visiting
Taxco's famous Good Friday procession
Hello from Taxco and Cuernavaca - Interviewing
one of the penitentes and enjoying my last day in Mexico
Related Interviews:
Presenting:
Ruben Córtes from Morelos Trails - Local adventure sports
and cultural guided tour operator, expert on Morelos and Cuernavaca
Presenting: Pablo
Buitrón from Fundacion Comunidad, helping local
women empower themselves
Presenting: Jorge Torres from
the Cetlalic Alternative Language School - Learning Spanish with
cultural, social and political awareness
Presenting: Hermilo Brito
from the Ideal Language School - Making Spanish learning fun
Helpful links:
Mexico
Tourism Information
State
of Morelos Tourism Organization
Official
website of the City of Cuernavaca tourism
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