Mexico City - Day 4: Teotihuacan, Birthplace of the Gods

Bright and early start today -- we were up and out of the rental by 7:30 so that we could beat the traffic to the ruins of Teotihuacan, or as they commonly referred to around here, the pyramids. Today we rented a private driver and van through Journeys Beyond the Surface. The pricing was quite reasonable, for an 8 hour trip from Polanco for a nice van that fit the 8 of us, it was only $275 in all. We tipped about 10% so all in around $300. Full freedom in itinerary (ie, we made him drive around to basically every gate). Feel free to email them at journeysmex@gmail.com! Here's a pic of our very luxe feeling ride -- very clean, tons of water bottles provided, chargers for everyone's phones and a super nice driver! His English wasn't the best but good thing we had L & R! (I'm sure you could manage with Google translate too).

The trip was only about 75 minutes, and that included a bathroom stop because of some small bladders/bumpy roads. 

We decided that since we had a van at our disposal, we would take a somewhat inefficient route. We asked to be dropped off at Gate 3, at the very top by the Pyramid of the Moon so that we could get that climb over with early while it was still uncrowded and cool. Then we would walk down to the Pyramid of the Sun and to the museum at the back and out of Gate 5. Then we would be driven down to Gate 1 to visit Temple of the Feathered Serpent before heading to lunch to close out the pyramid visit. 

So, after stopping to get the tickets (cash only! 240 pesos per person, no discounts for students/seniors unless you had student or Mexican IDs), we were off and into our first stop, the Palace of the Jaguars. So named because of these preserved murals on the walls. Can you make out the jaguars? I confess I cannot. At best I get that they are some type of animal. 😆 But I trust the archeologists!

We also wandered into the Palace of Quetzalpapálotl and then the Temple of the Feathered Conches. It was pretty cool going into the earth into these underground tunnels with the preserved rooms and murals. Kind of sad we have so little information about the rise and fall of this lost civilization. 

Upon existing...we catch our first frontal view of the Pyramid of the Moon!

Clearly any large structure that is reasonable scalable is just beckoning the twins to go climb it. No safety ropes for these two!

Very nice uncrowded views at the top.

It also offered some really breathtaking views of the larger Pyramid of the Sun down the Avenue of the Dead:

For those willing to get up to the edges, great photo spot!

The climb back down was both easier and harder -- easier because you can lean back so less fear of falling, but harder because you have to keep shifting your feet so it's less natural. 

I managed to go up all the pyramids in one continuous climb thanks to all the stair climbing training every day at work!

We walked down the avenue a bit, admiring the platforms that used to house other religious buildings and royal mansions and such -- or at least thats our best guess -- before arriving at the main event: Pyramid of the Sun.

I wish I took a video of the two seconds before this shot -- the twins have this absolutely hilarious practice of often being a bit reluctant or half hearted in agreeing to come be in photos, so they will walk over with these sullen expressions, clearly annoyed...and then as soon as the camera/phone is raised, their expressions immediately transform to a super happy very picturesque pose. It's so funny to watch! 

Parting shot of the Pyramid from the back, where you find the entrance to the museum and the botanical gardens. 

The museum has this pretty cool exhibit showing the whole Teotihuacan area right against a window to the real thing:

They also have some very good examples of art, sculpture, pottery, etc that were uncovered in the ruins over the years. I was really impressed by how well preserved things were!

The last part of the area we hadn't explored was the southern section, with the Ciudadela and Templo Quetzalcóatl - temple of the Feathered Serpent. This might have been my favorite of the three pyramids. It was the smallest but the most interesting in terms of the cool designs built into the pyramid all around. Note that you only saw this after climbing up the first pyramid level -- it almost had this "hidden/secret" ruin type feel, which probably increased its appeal for me. 

Check out the cool crocodile and serpent heads:

From the top of this temple, you could also see off in the distance the Sun and Moon pyramids. This was our last stop or the Teotihuacan day -- we ended up spending about 3 hours in all here -- weather was never too hot because there was always a nice breeze. But we are glad we did most of the climbing earlier in the morning when the sun was less direct. 

We had all worked up quite an appetite from all the climbing. So great timing to now be headed to lunch. Some folks tried the chicken flautas -- conclusion: guacamole amazing, flautas a little too hard/crispy. It was a little funny how Jiujiu kept trying to get out of the shot and yet still kept photobombing. 

Our eyes were perhaps a little bigger than our stomachs. This was basically an entire plate FULL of meat. 

Laolao went back to the club sandwich -- old faithful!

The restaurant, Mayahuel, also had some performers dancing and strumming guitars and such. Very entertaining. And impressive! These were real bottles filled with beer!

We had another birthday treat for Laoye - this time with a flaming candle!

And if that wasn't enough, it also came with a party pinata (also adorning flaming candles):

and a round of tequila shots:

After a couple rounds, it was time to head back to CDMX. Luckily, we had a little extra time still, so our driver agreed to make a pit stop at the Basilica de la Virgin de Guadalupe. Having taken 4 years of high school Spanish, the story of Juan Diego and the three miracles and the cape imprinted with Mary's likeness was seared in my brain almost as soundly as the quadratic formula. So it seemed a shame to drive right by without stopping to see the famous cape. We happened to arrive during religious services - the Basilica was huge!

Luckily the moving walkway made it possible to see the cape even during services. 

We didn't linger here for very long, we had to return the van by 3:30 so it was a very quick in and out event. 

Later that evening, Jiujiu and Jiuma went out for a walk and happened upon the El Moro chain for churros. Couldn't pass up the chance to pick up some churros! Again, I'm not normally a fan of churros at all, but I actually ate an entire stick without even realizing what I was doing. 

Glad I could cross the churros off my list! It was another night of some drama episodes...and then sleep. Tomorrow we have big plans!

Mexico City - Day 3: Bike Tour & Birthday Dinner

Perhaps we shouldn't have gone for that second episode of the cdrama last night...it is a bit hard to get the twins out of bed this morning. But I admit the show has been quite good! (Pursuit of Jade, for those who were wondering).

Anywho, back to our CDMX trip. Today, at the recommendation of an old friend and colleague, we booked a Centro Historico tour with Bikes & Munchies, combining history, eating, and a little exercise all at the same time. It did mean a slightly earlier start (9am meeting time), but honestly probably a good practice/warm-up for the 7:30 pyramid trip tomorrow!

The meeting point was in Roma Norte, at Bazar Fusion and we started the tour with a walk across the street for breakfast and coffee.

The first food item on the tour was a variety of chilaquiles, a very traditional breakfast dish always made with leftover tortillas. We had some chicken ones, some steak ones, some mushroom ones, and some egg ones. The first bite was delicious but as we dug to the bottom, the sauce got a little overpowering and overall a little bit sour for my tastes, but in my opinion still preferable to bacon and eggs!

With that, it was time to get fitted for our bikes and helmets and into our formation, two by two led by our leader Valentin. Caught a selfie at a stop!

I'd like to give a few rounds of credit here: first, to L, for wearing a backpack and lugging around her sketchbook the entire day. Second, to LaoLao and LaoYe for braving the tandem bike! And lastly to Jiujiu and Jiuma, for putting up with being last in a very slow bike caravan. 

Our first stop was the Monument to the Revolution, a which apparently doubles as a mausoleum to many revolutionary heroes, including Pancho Villa.

They happened to be setting up for a book fair right outside the monument -- in hindsight, I should have let the twins buy a Spanish book as a souvenir! Alas. Hopefully we will run into some more bookstores later on this trip. Language immersion moment Mama fail. 

Next we headed to the Palace of Fine Arts to check out some of the famous murals inside. It was truly a very beautiful space with some really amazing pieces of art. 

We got a bit of history on Mexico's famous muralists from Valentin. Here's Diego Rivera's famous "Man, Controller of the Universe" which he had to recreate here after the original was torn down in Rockefeller Center in NYC after Rivera refused to remove the prominent figure of Lenin.

Right outside the Palace of Fine Arts is the Torre Latinoamericano, a marvel of engineering famous for surviving four separate 7.9, 8.1, and 7.1 and 7.7 level earthquakes without even a cracked window! Even more crazily, the last three (in 1985, 2017 and 2022), all happened on the same day! The city actually holds a nationwide drill on Sept. 19 to commemorate the large 1985 earthquake, and the two later ones actually happened shortly after everyone finished the national drill. You'd think great they know exactly what to do, but some people thought the sirens were just a false alarm from the drill! In any event, as Laolao noted -- maybe best fo stay away on September 19...

After standing in the hot sun for awhile, we were feeling a bit wilted. Perfect timing for a juice stop! 

It smelled so nice in there - and everyone LOVED the juices. We had a mango passion fruit and a strawberry guava. 

Followed up with some tortas - one grilled veggies and one meat -- very tasty, every last bite was polished off. 

After this food stop, we headed to the central Zocolo for the large number of historical and politically significant buildings and sights there. Here is the National Palace, where the President lives. Because it is a real residence, public access is more limited so we won't be able to see the Diego Rivera murals there this trip.  

I couldn't help but snag a photo with the Supreme Court building. 

Some of us also got a quick glimpse of the inside of the National Cathedral - very pretty, decked out for Easter.

But the real star was the Templo Mayor and the collection of ruins. 

We didn't have time to go see the actual ruins, but we got a little bit of a history and archeology session standing from the National Cathedral plaza. Here's the depiction of what the site would have looked like in Aztec times...so much bloody sacrifice. Though Valentin was quick to point out that even though the decapitations and live killings seemed barbarian, the loss of life and brutality of modern warfare is arguably much much worse. 

There were a bunch of folks dressed in native garb offering to do purification cleanses for a small fee. Valentin said it was mostly a trap for tourists, but interesting to watch regardless!

At this point, we headed to our  last food stop, tacos and more fruit waters. I forgot to take a photo of the tacos, they were this 24 hour long cooked pork, with fried and non fried versions. We would have eaten more except we had a dinner reservation for 4pm, so "second lunch" was a bit restrained. Two thumbs up again from all though!

And finally, we circled back to the starting point for a mezcal tasting. Conclusion: I am not a fan. Not sure anyone was a REAL fan. At least half of us mixed it with the fruit juices. 😆 

Valentin is a part time author as well and in honor of Laoye's birthday, he gifted him a copy of his book of ghost stories:

I would say all in all we were very satisfied with our bike and food tour experience. I would highly recommend as a great way to see the sights for a family who doesn't actually want to spend hours at the ruins or looking at art. This was a quick in, quick out type of thing -- checks the boxes on history and culture in a novel, memorable way. Certainly this was the longest L&R have cycled in their lives so far, after learning during pandemic, so good to know they still remember how to use a bike!

After the tour ended, we were in walking distance of the Ciudadela market, which I had read was worth checking out. So the half of us more interested in souvenir shopping went for a stroll to the market while the others headed back for a nap. I managed to find a couple more hair clips and R got herself some bracelets. It was a more manageable market than Coyoacan, in my opinion. 

By now it was time to do a quick wardrobe change and then head to Laoye's birthday dinner. 70 years, pretty momentous! We picked Esquina Comun for the occasion, a fairly small restaurant but the dishes were packed in flavors! 

Thanks to Jiujiu's Chase Reserve card, we were able to snag a reservation -- cheers to having the in!

Food-wise: in reverse order:

Donut with ice cream. We found the donut a little dry, but the ice cream got high marks. 

Steak with pea sauce, served with corn and bean cakes. I liked it...but it wasn't my favorite. Though I often wonder if I like mains less in larger meals just because I've gotten too full already. 

Calamari over rockfish, with cherry tomatoes, squash, and various spices. This was probably my least favorite dish to the evening. Not bad, just nothing to be that excited about. 

Shrimp crudo with avocado, roe, and fruit/citric juices. This was very good - I loved the light sweetness of the cerviche style cooked shrimp. It wasn't overly sour or sweet just a nice mix of flavors. 

Our favorite dish of the evening: stracciatella with squash blossom dumplings, sweet potatoes, and other root vegetables served over bread.  We liked it so much we ordered a third serving. 

 

Tuna poke - served on a corn tortilla cake thing. I liked the flavors, though I am a fan of poke generally so this would have been a hard one to miss for me. Such beautiful presentation!

To start, I think this was a carnitas or barbacoa tostado-y thing with avocado and radishes. Maybe their twist on steak tacos. The sauce was a little spicy for some of us but still a very tasty way to start the meal. 

Group photo -- we tried to use "Add me" from the pixel phone but failed...so got a passerby to do it the old fashioned way. 

We were within a few minutes of a Walmart at this point so we did another grocery run - yogurts, candy, veggies and fruits. R picked up about a half dozen mangoes. Much cheaper than the vendors...though she reports not as good. Must need to ripen them a little longer...

At this point, some of us were feeling the time zones again, so the original nuclear family headed out for a nightcap at Limantour. The drinks were nice...but definitely did NOT feel like a worlds top ten bar. That or I just don't appreciate alcohol enough!

Thankfully it was only a 12 minute walk from the rental, so at least we got another walk in for the day. Took us past this lovely establishment (took the photo for Baba):

By the time we got home, it was now after 10:30. So to bed we all went. Tomorrow is an early start for the day at Teotihuacan!