Mexico City

Just finishing a couple of pleasant days in Mexico City before heading back home tomorrow. Arrived here after a 3 hour bus ride from San Miguel, then grabbed a taxi to our hotel in the Centro. The bus ride was uneventful - can't say the same about the taxi ride. Don't think our driver ever took his foot off the accelerator, and generally drove as if he was trying to escape a nuclear attack. Anyway, after a white-knuckle 25 minute dash across the city we arrived at the hotel none the worse for wear. Here are some photos... taken after our hands stopped shaking:



The Catedral Municipal looking across the Zocalo, or central square - just a short walk from our hotel. When we arrived Sunday afternoon it was filled with locals enjoying the final hours of the weekend. The Cathedral has been here for about 400 years - Pope John Paul II celebrated mass here during his Latin American tour in 1979. There's a statue of him and a couple of memorial plaques to honor the occasion. The Zocalo is supposed to be the largest public square in Latin America. I believe it - it's huge.


One of several altars inside the Cathedral.



To the right of the Cathedral is the Palacio Real, where Cortes met with Montezuma after the conquest in 1523. Needless to say there's a lot of history here. Just behind the Palace are the ruins of the Templo Mayor - an Aztec holy site that dates back more than 1,000 years.




The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is another city landmark, and is one of a couple of venues where you can catch a performance of Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.


All of the museums in Mexico are closed on Mondays, so instead we opted to do a walking tour of the Historic Center of the city. Did an exploratory trip around the immediate neighborhood for a couple of hours , then hopped on the Mexico City Metro (3 pesos) to Chapultepec Park, which unfortunately was also closed. It was such a pleasant day though that we decided to walk back up Paseo de la Reforma and back to out hotel - a 4 mile hike but a very enjoyable one. The Paseo is a wide, tree-lined, beautiful boulevard that runs thru the local embassy row.



Every intersection along the Paseo had a monument or a fountain of some kind. This is the Angel de la Independencia.

Next day we returned to Chapultepec. Lots of history here too, plus it's an absolutely huge green space. It's officially called the Bosque de Chapultepec (Woods of Chapultepec) and they seeming to go forever - hard to believe there's this much parkland in the middle of one of the world's largest cities. Anyway, there are a number of excellent museums embedded within the park, including the National Museum which is housed within the original Castle of Chapultepec. These are the "Halls of Montezuma" from the Marine Corp hymn. It was here in 1847 that the American Army stormed the walls, overran the defences, and later broke thru the gates of the city to capture it and end the Mexican War. Although the conflict has largely faded from memory in the US, it's noteworthy for a couple of reasons: under the terms of the treaty of peace Mexico ceded all the territories of what are now the states of California, Arizona and New Mexico (and South Texas) to the United States. It was also the training ground for virtually all of the famous names we know from the American Civil war. Among the junior officers who fought here were Robert E. Lee, U.S. Grant, Stonewall Jackson, and a host of others...all of whom stormed this castle one September morning in 1847.




The main entrance into Bosque de Chapultepec.



The monument honoring the Mexican defenders in the fight against the Americans.




The front of the Castillo.




The Alcazar, or Citadel, atop the Castle. This was the official residence of the Emperor Maxmilian from 1864-67, and several Presidents of Mexico after the revolution.




One of the royal coaches.



And the rooftop gardens.


After exploring the Castillo we walked across the park to the Museum of Archeology. Thought it was going to be a quick in and out, but it turned out to be a terrific place...one of the greatest museums I've ever been in. Could (and should) have reserved an entire day to explore the place but we basically short-changed ourselves and so only had a few hours there.



One of the Mayan artifacts on display. This one is Juego de Pelota, or the ball game - except that in this particular game the penalty for losing was to be offered as human sacrifice to the gods. Tough sport.




Don't have to go to the Yucatan to see Mayan ruins - they've moved some of them here. Walking around this area was like being on the set of an Indiana Jones movie, except that it was the real deal.



And speaking of ruins...

Must say that Mexico City was a pleasant surprise. Didn't expect to like it as much as we did, and we're leaving with the thought that we may need to return here on a future trip to Mexico just see more of the terrific historical sites.

Heading home in the morning...

Leaving San Miguel

La Gruta

Our last excursion outside the city was to a local spa called La Gruta - located about 8 miles north of San Miguel on the main road to Dolores Hidalgo. This part of Central Mexico is dotted with hot springs and thermal activity, evidence of the existence of the same tectonic plate that runs around the Pacific rim - which is why you occasionally read about earthquakes in Mexico City and the surrounding area. Anyway, there are several natural hot springs along the Dolores Highway and La Gruta, being the closest one to San Miguel, makes for an enjoyable day-trip from the city. Caught the local city bus up there for 9 pesos (an adventure in itself) and then spent a most relaxing day "enjoying the waters".


The main thermal pool at La Gruta. There are several pools in a series - all fed by the same hot spring. The temperature is graduated from the hottest to the coolest, so you can select which one best suits you with a little trial and error. It made for a nice excursion...and soaking in the thermal waters was truly heavenly.




The entrance to the grotto. After swimming about 50 yards thru this tunnel, you emerge at a large circular pool where the main pipe replenishes the hot water several times a day. The custom is to stand under the cascade for a minute or two and just let the warm water roll over you. Can't begin to describe how wonderful it felt.


This will be our last night in our pretty little hacienda. Catching the bus tomorrow afternoon to Mexico City where we'll be staying for a few nights. Our flight home leaves Wednesday afternoon, and we should be back in Washington around 10 PM that night.

Really sorry to be leaving SMA, especially when I read about what's waiting for us on our return to Vancouver - cold, rain, and the usual gloom of a Pacific Northwest winter.

The longer we stay here the more we enjoy the relaxed pace of life and, of course, the never ending series of warm sunny days. Here are a couple of "last looks".



The view from our dining room on a sunny morning. The bougainvillea has been in full riot for the last couple of weeks, and the rest of the garden has been sprouting new flowers seemingly by the hour. We're actually leaving just at the beginning of La Calendaria - the Festival of Flowers they have here every February. Parque Juarez was jam packed with hundreds of vendors setting up for their two week run, during which time you can buy virtually any sort of flower, plant or tree you can imagine. Walking thru all of the flowers today brought back memories of Hawaii.


And a last look down on the city from El Mirador. Boy do we hate to leave this place.

Excursions

Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary

A couple of weeks ago we sprang for our big side trip on this visit to Mexico and booked a long day-trip to the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary in the neighboring Mexican State of Michoacan. We saw a National Geographic program on the Great Migrations a few months ago that featured the long annual journey of the Monarchs from their summer nesting areas in Eastern Canada and the US and so were interested in seeing the colonies in their winter quarters here in Mexico.



Here's what we came to see. The journey takes them something like two years to complete, and it takes several generations of butterflies to complete the migration. How they manage to follow the ancient routes when none of the individuals have ever made the trip before is a mystery, yet they do - always returning to the same area in the mountains of Central Mexico every year. They're here for about 4 months before heading north again with the onset of warm weather in March.



This is how they look on a sunny day...which we unfortunately didn't have. Gleaned this photo from the WWF website since our day was only partly sunny and pretty cold. The colony would just start to take flight when the sun emerged from behind the clouds, then they would head back into the trees and go dormant again when the sun went away. Pretty frustrating since we only got a glimpse of the show that you see here.



The sanctuary covers several hundred acres in the mountains and apparently is home to three distinct colonies of butterflies - each containing hundreds of thousands of individuals. The trail starts at an altitude of 10,500 ft and works its way up a mountain trail for about a mile and a half to an altitude of 11,000 ft. There were horses for rent at the trailhead for those who were too winded to hoof it themselves, but we opted to hike the route and frankly enjoyed the pretty walk in the crisp mountain air as much as we did our stay at the top...shivering in the cold and hoping the colony would actually get airborne.

All in all it was a very enjoyable (if long) day - just a little anti-climactic since the weather didn't really cooperate very well. Too early in the season I guess.


Queretaro

Last week's excursion was to the colonial town of Queretaro, which is the capital of the neighboring Mexican state by the same name. Beautiful place. Although the city has more than 1 million inhabitants the Old Town section where we stayed was as quaint and charming as ever, with lots of pretty squares, parks, fountains and plazas.


A street scene a block or two up from our hotel.


It's another city of monuments. This one is dedicated to La Corregidora - the wife of the town's Mayor in 1810 who apparently was in league with the Insurgentes as they plotted against the Spanish government. When the conspiracy was discovered on the evening of Sept. 15th the Mayor (who was getting his paychecks from the Spanish) locked her up for her own safekeeping, ie to keep her quiet...and to keep those paychecks coming. According to legend, she called a trusted servant to the door and whispered thru the keyhole that he should ride thru the night to warn the conspirators in San Miguel that their plot had been discovered...which he did. Warned in advance of Spanish plans to capture them, they initiated the revolution the next morning and the rest, as they say, is history. If you look closely you can see a keyhole in the center of the monument just below her figure.


Looking at the Church of the Holy Cross and a statue of Father Serra...the Franciscan priest who later established 21 missions in the new territory of California, and who began his career here in this church. Could be a scene from Mallorca, which happens to be where he was from in Spain.



The symbol of the city is this aqueduct, built in the 18th century to bring fresh water from a spring about a mile away into a convent, and later the growing town.



One of many of the beautiful plazas in the city - this one with a statue honoring the man who funded the building of the aqueduct out of his own pocket...and then just donated it to the people of the city. Needless to say he's rather highly regarded to this day.



This is the entrance to one of the andadores, or pedestrian thoroughfares in the center of the old town section. The town was sparkling clean and a pleasure to walk around.

There's not nearly as much tourism in Queretaro as there is in San Miguel - or most other Mexican cities for that matter. We were there on a Sunday afternoon, and the place was full of Mexican families with their kids just enjoying being out and about in an especially beautiful city. We were here for a couple of nights and hope to return for a longer stay on a future visit to Central Mexico.

Our time here is drawing to a close, unfortunately. We'll be in San Miguel until Sunday the 29th when we hop a bus into Mexico City for a few nights before we catch our return flight to Portland on Feb. 1st.