To Puebla!

It's not all that clear, but in the screenshot above is a typical freeway intersection on the outskirts of Mexico City.  It looks like spaghetti, or braids, or a new-agey Rorshach Test, one of those old psychoanalysis tools that you try to interpret to bring out your subconscious.  What do you see in the picture above?  I see a bus taking us out of the city.

First we said goodbye to Antonio, our wonderful host who guided us around the city, was patient enough to talk in Spanish even though his English was great, and was overall incredibly accommodating.  Mexico City would have been a whole lot different for us without him in the picture.

Antonio also helped me find new shoelaces

The only question was to where our bus would go; never before have we had so many options!  One possible option was the Paso de Cortes, an 11,000+ foot high pass between the two immense volcanoes just east of the city.  It would be a climb and away from the crowds, something we've both been missing.  Yet that area just out of the city has a horrible record for crime, and while there's a fine line between intelligence and paranoia, sometimes it's just better not to take the chance.  

Another option was a bike path south of the city.  The "Bike Highway" is, I believe, the longest in Mexico, and it also, I'm sure, would have been great.  But that area too has a terrible crime record, so we decided against it.  And then to Puebla to went, to a new state and a city far from the utter craziness of the city.

Upon arriving in Puebla, a nice guy on a bike, Marco, saw us on the street looking up directions and led us to the center of town.

 We enjoyed chatting with him then headed onward to some bike shops and the picturesque main plaza.  On this eve of Valentine's Day, there were high-school aged people walking around giving out free hugs!  Balloons, music, a wedding at the cathedral, it all had a very festive vibe.

We called up a Warmshowers guy kind of last minute, and he was nice enough to let us crash at his studio.

Teotihuacan

Today we visited the ruins at Teotihuacan!

The Zócalo

This morning we slept in and enjoyed a delicious breakfast before heading out into the city with Antonio. Since Antonio works as a private teacher his schedule is flexible and was open today. Thus, we aquired an incredible tour guide without whom I would have felt quite lost. 

Thank you again Antonio! 

Visiting the centro of Mexico City is not as easy as it might seem. This is mostly because the central area is so big and there is so much to see! We spend almost all day wandering around, learning about and observing the buildings. 

Here are some pictures- they'll speak more than my descriptions.

Monumento de la Revolución 

This monument stands in the middle of a giant square surrounded by tents. The tents are populated by teachers who are protesting wages and workin conditions. Antonio says there is always someone here, protesting something.

It not for Warm Showers, we could have camped out here!

The glass pillar you can see in the middle is a (pricey) elevator that takes you to the top.

Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Arts)

What an amazing building! On first glance the architecture appears European (and of course it was European inspired), but when you look closer, every small detail is related to indigenous gods and important figures in Mexican culture. In particular there is an emphasis on the importance of water. Inside are enormous, beautiful murals. 

Palacio Postal

This is the home base of the unreliable Mexican mail system. It's a pretty incredible building. Every metal and marble component was shipped from Italy by boat.  It seems to me that they should put less effort into construction and more into actually delivering mail. 

Antonio and Danny admiring a giant meteorite outside the Palacio de Minera. These meteorites were found in various regions of Mexico and this one weighs  upwards of 14 tons! 

I can't remember the name of this building, but it's wonderfully eclectic, decorated with a combination of Chinese style blue and white porcelain tile, European style columns, and Mexican murals. In the second picture you can kind of see the metal poles which have been installed to support the old foundation. 

The Palacio Nacional, a government building that houses the offices of the president and the treasury, and the giant flag in the main square. It's one of the biggest central squares in the world. 

A tremendous cathedral also borders the square (of course). 

Check out that organ!

Next to the cathedral are the remains of the Templo Mayor, the original Aztec temple, the ancient beginnings of this city.

Now it doesn't look like much more than some piles of crumbling rocks, but it's pretty neat that there are ruins here, in the middle of this modern city. 

Since Mexio city was built on lakes and a marsh, many of the old buildings (built with huge, heavy rocks) are slowly sinking. Some are sinking evenly, others not so much. Many, like this tower, are leaning significantly. 

We end our day by riding an elevator up 39 floors in La Torre Latinoamericana. From here we have an amazing view. Houses and buildings stretch so far in every direction that we can't even see where the city ends! From here, the cars look like toys, the people like ants. We can truly appreciate the grandeur of this place. 

-Tamara 

 

La Ciudad

The city.  In Mexico, there's only really one.  It has 20 million people, which sets it firmly among the largest in the world.  The arrows on the highway point only to "Mexico" as if the rest of the country weren't there at all.  

This, of course, is Mexico City.  Our original plan was to avoid it entirely.  Then, after hearing from so many people that the city is everything in this country, we decided to bike around it and take a bus in.  What really happened was neither of those.  This morning, after a horrible night's sleep due to loud, drunken singing during the night, we started our ride here:

Three lanes of trucks.

There are smaller roads, but we're not particularly interested in prolonging our time in this huge, densely-populated populated region.  So, rather than suffer through a few days of traffic, we hopped on a bus and found ourselves a few hours later in Mexico City!  Biking in this concrete jungle was actually pretty easy due to the abundance of bike infrastructure and the city's grid-like layout.  We're staying tonight with an amiable and welcoming warmshowers host, Antonio, and we'll spend the next few days getting to know the city (one or two of the gazillion museums, ruins, and historical centers).

Cobblestones, A Forest Fire, and Traffic

The three words of this post's title somewhat summarize our day.  A forest fire?  Hang on, I'll get there.  

But first, a laugh.  Maybe this guy we saw on the side of the road is really worried he's going to get a flat tire, so he has to carry some extras

Our day began in San Miguel de Allende at the beautiful winter home of Audrey and George, two friendly Canadians who spend two months down in Mexico every year.  It was wonderful spending time with them and learning history through cinema (we watched The Imitation Game, and it's really good so you should too).  Thanks, Audrey and George, for making San Miguel feel like home!

Audrey and George

Similar to Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende has incredibly old and picturesque buildings, tons of history, and very steep, narrow, cobblestone streets.  Our trek out of the city involved us pushing our bikes up what must have been a 20% grade.  A slow start for sure.  

Sign interpretation: the streets are too uneven to walk on safely, so, when crossing the street, be sure to float.

Once we got out of the city, pavement reigned again and we were happy to get back on the bikes (I was riding on the cobblestones for a bit but there's just no point when it's so steep).

As we went south, we entered the state of Queretaro (pronounced care-ATE-are-oh) but decided to skirt around its eponymous capital city.  There was quite enough traffic without being in the city.  We had chosen the toll road again, and they haven't been badly trafficked until now, about 100 miles from Mexico City. Anyway, about 50 miles into our ride, we saw thick smoke ahead.  

As we got closer we could see flames, too, on the other side of the road, for about 100 feet next to the shoulder.  The people driving by didn't seem to care; if they even noticed the fire they didn't show it.  Luckily it was windy, so the smoke didn't stick around too long and we were able to get through the forest fire (okay, I may have exaggerated) without issue.

Worn out and with the sun going down, we found a cheap hotel for the night in the city of San Juan del Rio.