Xochimilco

We went in the afternoon to visit Xochimilco, the series of canals and waterways that date back to the old city of Teotihuacan. On the way we had a nice lunch stop and visited the quaint town.

This shot shows the old church of St John the Baptist and the large fun filled square. There were lots of kids and family groups enjoying Saturday in the sun.

                                                Large impressive church.

We drove on to the waterways and boarded one of the hundred or so small boats called Trajinera or flat bottom boat that ferry tourists and locals around. It was Saturday peak hour on the water.
This area of Chinampas  or floating gardens has UNESCO World Heritage status
There were shop boats that specialised in flowers, food, music and much more.

There were dozens of mariachi band boats. This one was next to us and the rest of their group was standing on our boat. Great fun.

          Most of the time there were boats bumping into us..this was a quieter moment.

                    Back on shore Gail stands in front of the boats waiting for customers.

Our plan had been to return to the hotel but it is very busy in Mexico City. The streets were jammed with parades for the Day of the Dead celebrations and the Mexico Grand Prix F1 racing is this weekend. With streets deadlocked we went to a wonderful restaurant for pre dinner drinks and a great meal. It was a fun night,

                                                            A pair of bandidos

                                                     Enjoying the margueritas with a skeleton.

The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

The Museo National de Anthropology is a world rated museum and we were able to see many of the artifacts found in the Templo Mayor that we had visited yesterday. We also were able to see items from the Maya civilizations and other Mesoamerica civilisations.

We started with the city of Teotihuacan and models of the city replicating the universe along with its trade and the religious and political structures. We stayed about three hours and could have stayed the whole day!

                                       An Aztec temple face showing the feathered serpents.

                              The Aztec figures had depth of detail and were full of symbolism.

                                         Some of the original colour on this beautiful piece.

                                                             The front..

                                                     ..and back of an Aztec figure.

                                                     Coatlicue showing serpent details.

       The famous Aztec Sun Stone or Calendar Stone as it is often called. It was only found in December 1970 in the Plaza Mayor where we walked yesterday.  It is a gladiatorial sacrificial altar or
Temalacutl and there is doubt that it is meant to function as a calendar.

                                 A small gold Aztec figurine. These were often located in graves.

                                                      An Aztec burial mask and details

                                                      Another Aztec burial mask

The museum covered the various civilizations but we would need at least 2 days to do it all justice.
This is a small representation.

An Oaxaca Gulf Coast figure.

Maya pottery.

A Maya Stella from the Yucatan where we will visit next week.

A well known Maya figure.

A West Coast figure.

Cave paintings from North Mexico.

Northern Mexico pottery.

This museum rates as well as any that we have seen and the collection is housed in a remarkable building.

Day of the Dead

We moved hotels this morning after an early stroll. This took us to the markets as they were setting up and past modern buildings and historic churches.

                   Gail outside the Temple de San Hipolito. The street markets only sold religious items.

                                              Rob with the colours of Mexico.

                                       As we checked out of our apartment. Rob is looking tired!

We arrived at our new hotel in a more upmarket part of town to find that it was in the middle of celebrations for the major Mexican festival, " The Day of the Dead" The street nearby hosts a display
of "Monsters" that were created in a dream or rather a nightmare. They were spectacular and there
were literally hundreds of them. This is just a few. More about the festival later as we will attend the parade on Sunday.

                                This little girl was having her face paint applied!

Rest assured, they were friendly monsters and we are only bringing a few home.

The Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, the Templo Mayor and the Metropolitan Cathedral

We had a good flight from Miami to Mexico City and have a great apartment overlooking Alameda, the main city park in the Centro Historico. The night views are fantastic with key buildings illuminated and the shanties of the "farvella" twinkling in the mountain foothills.

                                         The Opera House or Palacio de Bellas Artes at night.
Directly opposite our room is a large monument also illuminated at night. The park was a picture !

                                                             The view from our room

We set out to explore the remains of the largest Aztec temple located in the centre of Mexico City. Had lots to see on the way! The first stop was the monument that was occupied by a group protesting. Not sure but think it was Chile politics. Then it was the fountains and park buildings.

                                                   Fountain in the park.

                         Another fountain. It was a little cool with the high elevation hence the jacket.

Our first major stop was at the beautiful opera house and museum of fine arts. A wonderful building. We missed a folkloric performance last night but the building was interesting as was the museum.

                                                      A grand colonial building.

                                                     The plush interior.

We then walked up to the main square or Plaza de la Constitucion or simply Zocalo. This is the site of most of the major buildings in Mexico City along with the temple ruins and the church that replaced it.
The Metropolitan Cathedral is a grand church and would feel at home in any major city of Spain or Europe. It was built on a grand scale.

                                                  The entry to the Cathedral.

The gilt of the interior. Enlarge this to see the Black Jesus common throughout Central and South America.

                                           The detail in the workmanship is excellent.

Out in the Plaza there were lots of Aztec dancers performing. They were also performing smoke
ceremonies and collecting a few pesos.

                                             Colourful costumes and interesting rituals.

                                                                   A close up.

The absolute highlight was our visit the the ruins of Tenochtitlan and the Templo Mayor. This city was the largest in the world and the height of civilization until it was conquered and destroyed by Cortez and the Conquistadors.

The most important political and religious buildings were clustered in the sacred precinct of Tenochtitlan. A platform 460metres by 430 metres with four entrances surrounded the sacred space. There were 78 temples within this area. The architecture and spacial arrangement adhered to a strict cosmological plan as the sacred precinct replicated the universe itself.

The Templo Mayor or Great Temple was considered to be the navel of the cosmos, the centre radiating out on four causeways symbolising the direction of the universe.

Following the defeat of the Aztec empire this complex was destroyed! The cathedral was built on top of the site. In recent years much archaeological work has been undertaken and many incredible finds unearthed. I ran out of memory in the museum there were so many treasures to photograph!

                                                                Part of the Temple site

A diagram to show the relative size of the main temple and the cathedral that replaced it along with
the pyramids of Egypt, The main Maya temple, the Parthenon in Athens and the Colosseum in Rome.

                                                  A serpent figure at the temple.

                     I do understand that I am not the centre of the Cosmos!

The different rulers added to the temple complex and in all there were seven layers like those remaining. Most has been destroyed.

                       
                                               Lots has been unearthed in recent digs.

                                          Where possible they have been left in situ

                                                           The wall of skulls

                                Pot with image thought to be the God of Fire.

                               Huitzilopochtli.  He was a strong ruler elevated to God status.

                                                  Another treasure unearthed.

It all came to an end on 8/11/1519 when Cortez arrived! So to finish, a photo of the temple ruins along with the Metropolitan Cathedral.