In mid 2019, in conversation over dinner with a group of good friends, it was suggested (by one of the group who possessed Mexican heritage) we get together for a trip to Mexico City in early 2020. He had connections to resources and people who had extensive knowledge in the culture and history of the city and surrounding area. This suggestion, taking place after a few cocktails, fell on receptive ears - yeah, this sounded like a great idea. We all committed in short order.
After committing and over time some trepidation set in. At the time of the invitation, Mexico was getting generally bad press in the U.S. with drug cartel violence, alleged corruption, immigration and trade issues. But the American press generally paints a picture with opinion and selected facts that are engineered to produce ratings. We all are victims to some extent of making general assumptions based on what we read and hear. I’ve got to say in retrospect, this trip to Mexico City turned out to be one of the best and most rewarding I have ever taken. What we experienced firsthand was our reality. Every country has its problems, but Mexico is so much more than what you get from the mass media.
I had been to Mexico once before in the mid 1970’s when I was young and foolish. In school out in California and on spring break, two friends and I decided on the spur of the moment to take a road trip in my beat up Chevy Malibu. We crossed into Tijuana and headed down the Baja Peninsula to Santa Rosalia where we took the ferry across the Gulf of California to Guaymas on the mainland side eventually exiting Mexico on the Arizona border one week later. We camped on a beach one night and stayed in low-cost creepy motels - just a few long-haired college kids on an adventure and trying to get a feel for the country and experience life among the normal Mexican citizens, minimally concerned about any danger we might have gotten ourselves into. Not much of a baseline, but this was my only first-hand reference until the planned 2020 trip. But that’s a story for another time.
Mexico City was much more than I expected. This time my wife and I got to experience some of the rich history and culture of the capital city with some good friends (five couples). This was not an unscripted adventure as in the mid 70’s, but a guided tour by some very knowledgeable people. Luckily, we flew into Mexico City in January just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. There were no closure, mask, or social distancing requirements yet. The leader of our group had done research ahead of time and reserved all of us rooms at a wonderful little Bed & Breakfast called La Palomilla in the Roma section of the city. This was our base of operations - over dinner and mescal tasting we planned out our excursions for the next few days with our two excellent volunteer tour guides (architects, authors, and Mexico historians who thankfully were along for the ride). This was to be a concentrated dive into the art, architecture, long history, food, and ancient culture of this great city at the center of Mexican life. We were going to pack as much exploration as we could into the few days we had.
A minibus had been rented for our entire stay that would pick us up in the morning, take us wherever we wanted to go, and drop us off at La Palomilla in the evening. Our first stop the next morning was an art restoration studio run by friends of one of our guides. What a treat! There were many projects underway from building an intricate scale model of a cathedral to restoration of paintings and many projects in between. What a great start! This place was incredible. Our hosts couldn’t have been more inviting. They let us roam freely among many ongoing restorations and projects in development. I was in art heaven. I couldn’t imagine that the trip would get any better - but it did.
On this rainy day, we visited many of the buildings surrounding the Zócalo (Mexico City’s Main Plaza), stopping first at Mexico City’s iconic post office, the Palacio Postal or interchangeably referred to as the Correo Mayor. Designed by the architect Adamo Boari, the building had its first stone placed in 1902 and took five years to build. Despite regular earthquakes and the resulting major repairs, Palacio Postal has been in continuous operation since 1907. The exterior façade of yellow quarry stone and ornamental columns does not prepare one for translucent “chiluca” stone and intricate latticed gold-work inside. The post office is a wildly varied mix of architectural styles - Spanish Rococo, Venetian, Gothic Revival, Moorish, Neoclassical, Baroque, and Art Deco. Palacio Postal also houses a small museum dedicated to displaying the history of Mexico’s mail service. Of particular interest to me was an incredible huge mural of an eagle completely made up of stamps. Legend has it that the Aztecs, once a nomadic people, were told by the gods to settle where they found an eagle eating a rattlesnake perched on a prickly pear cactus on top of a lake. Here, Tenochtitlan was established somewhere in the 14th century, eventually becoming Mexico City centuries later. The image is an important symbol in Mexican culture and politics appearing on the Mexican flag and coat-of-arms.
On this first day of exploration, we also visited a number of museums and cultural sites surrounding the Zócalo. The Palacio de Bellas Artes, originally designed by Adamo Boari, began construction in 1904, but soft subsoil and the Mexican Revolution caused problems and stopped construction by 1913. Mexican architect Federico Mariscal resumed construction in 1932, completing the building in 1934. The building is best known for murals by Diego Rivera and others. The Museo Nacional de Arte is the Mexican national art museum and is recognizable by Manuel Tolsa’s equestrian statue of Charles IV, Spain’s king prior to Mexico gaining its independence. The museum’s permanent collection gives a view of Mexican fine arts from the early colonial period (mid-sixteenth century) to the mid-twentieth century.
The Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de la Santísima Virgen María a los Cielos dominates the north side of the Zócalo. It was built over two centuries (1573 to 1813) and is the largest cathedral in Latin America. After the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, Hernan Cortes and the conquistadors decided to build a church on the site Tenochtitlan’s Templo Mayor to consolidate power over the conquered territory. Due to centuries of construction the cathedral features a combination of Renaissance, Baroque, and Neo-classical styles. Several churches in central Mexico City display intricate ornate facade design. We were just getting started. After visiting many of the buildings and museums surrounding the Zócalo, we decided to call it a day and save the Templo Mayor excavation and museum for the final day of our trip. It was time for dinner and another mescal nightcap.
On the road again the next morning, we headed toward the Museo Nacional de Antropologia (Mexico’s National Museum of Anthropology). The visit would be an excellent introduction to Mexico’s pre-colonial history and some of the sites we would visit over the next few days. Located in Chapultepec Park, this museum contains a large amount of archaeological and anthropological artifacts from Mexico’s pre-Columbian heritage. Designed in 1964, the current building contains 23 exhibition halls surrounding a courtyard with a large pond and a giant concrete umbrella (el paraguas) fountain. The museum also contains gardens with outdoor exhibits and covers almost 20 acres.
Exhibits include a wide variety of Aztec artifacts such as the Aztec Sun Stone and the Disc of Mictlantecuhtli. The Aztec Sun Stone (Piedra del Sol) is one of the most famous works of Aztec sculpture depicting the five consecutive worlds of the sun from Aztec mythology. This is clearly a product of a sophisticated culture. Measuring 141 inches in diameter and weighing over fifty-four thousand pounds, modern research indicates it was carved some time between 1502 and 1521. After the Spanish conquest, the sculpture was buried in the Zócalo and rediscovered in 1790 during repairs on the Cathedral. It was mounted on the exterior wall of the cathedral until 1885. Mictlantecuhtli was the most prominent god of the dead and king of Mictlan, the lowest and northernmost section of the underworld. Mictlantecuhtli was such an important god in the Aztec myth because, as ruler of Mictlán, all souls would one day meet him face to face, for it was believed that only those who suffered a violent death, women who died in childbirth or people killed by storms or floods avoided the underworld in the afterlife. This Aztec god is artistically rendered in various ways, usually as a skeleton or covered in red spots representing blood. In the Disc of Mictlantecuhtli, the god is depicted with his skeletal jaw open to receive the stars that descend into him during the daytime.
Just outside the museum, we happened upon a crew getting ready to preform the Danza de los Voladores (Dance of the Flyers). Fascinating and death-defying, this Mesoamerican ritual has survived ancient times. Believed to have originated from the Mexican state of Veracruz, the Danza de los Voladores has deep spiritual and ritual significance associated with fertility, corn, and the harvest. Four voladores (flyers) and a fifth member of the group, the caporal, dressed in colorful outfits climb a very high pole to its apex. Each of the four flyers ties his ankles to one of the four corner ropes. The caporal begins to dance in circles playing a drum and flute on a square platform at the top of the pole as the four voladores launch themselves headfirst into space. Rainbow ribbons trail from their headgear as they descend, each spiraling a total of 13 rotations toward the ground to the cadence of the drumbeat and rhythm of the flute. The troupe are intended to impersonate birds representing the gods of earth, air, fire, and water. The geometrical arrangement of this ritual represents a symbol found throughout Mesoamerican culture. It was believed that the horizontal plane of the universe had four directions, each associated with a color or a bird. At the center of the quadrangle was an axis point connecting the terrestrial plane to the heavens above and the underworld below. Videos of the ceremony can be found on the internet.
Time for lunch, rest, and time to catch our breath. Some of us ended the day with a stroll around the Roma neighborhood adjacent to La Palomilla. Beautiful little upscale area with artistic touches on every corner. There was a lot to take in although we didn’t wander very far.
The next day we headed out to visit a variety of historical sites away from city center in the Mexico City suburbs. Our first stop was the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine at Tepeyac Hill. This Catholic shrine is associated with a series of Blessed Virgin Mary apparitions - the basilica considered holiest church in Mexico. It is one of the most-visited sacred sites in the world, hosting hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year.
Catholic myth holds that the Virgin Mary appeared four times in December 1531 to Juan Diego, who was an Aztec convert to Christianity, and once to his uncle Juan Bernardino. During her first apparition she requested a shrine be built on the location where she appeared (Tepeyac Hill). Juan Diego approached the bishop who demanded a sign before he would take any action. Mary appeared again to Juan Diego asking him to collect roses. In a second audience with the bishop, Juan Diego opened his cloak, spilling the roses to the floor revealing the image of the Virgin Mary on the inside of his cloak. Critics of this event point to the facts that the bishop approached by Juan Diego makes no mention of him or Our Lady of Guadalupe in his writings and there is no documentary evidence for the apparition until 1648. It has also been theorized that something new was needed to fill the spiritual void created when Hernan Cortes and the Conquistadors overthrew the Aztec Empire in 1521. The Image of Guadalupe helped the defeated Aztecs make sense of New Spain and replace their elaborate spiritual system. Defenders of the Virgin of Guadalupe story (including a variety of Popes) accept the authenticity of the early documents and point to various oral accounts of the apparition. Devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe continued to grow over time, especially after she was credited with ending the deadly hemorrhagic fever epidemic that decimated Mexico City in 1736-37. Juan Diego has been canonized, Our Lady of Guadalupe declared the patroness of the Americas, and the status of basilica bestowed on the church by the Catholic religion.
Our Lady of Guadalupe has not only religious but nationalist significance as well. In 1810 Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla used her image on the rebel’s banners in their revolt against the Spanish. Emiliano Zapata’s peasant army carried banners with her image into Mexico City in 1914. During the Mexican civil war of 1926-29, rebel banners bore her image.
Today, the New and Old Basilicas surround a large plaza which can accommodate thousands of visitors. The Old Basilica was completed in 1709, having been built on the site of an earlier 16th-century church. The New Basilica was constructed after sinking foundations of the Old Basilica made it dangerous. The original image of the Virgin of Guadalupe is currently housed in the New Basilica.
Back in the van we headed further north to the greater Mexico City suburbs toward the ancient city of Teotihuacán with a stopover in Acolman. Acolman de Nezahualcóyotl was founded in the 8th century - according to myth, the first man was placed here after being taken out of Lake Texcoco. It was conquered by the Aztecs in 1396 and was important because it was the only place in Mesoamerica that specialized in the breeding of dogs. After the Spanish conquest, Acolman became the site of an important Augustinian monastery, Convento de San Agustin Acolman. Its construction was originally begun by the Franciscan order in 1524, ceded to the Augustinians in 1536, and completed in 1560. It still contains important art and architecture from that period.
From there it was on to Teotihuacán, about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Mexico City. This ancient city is the largest pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Americas. The city is arranged in a grid layout that covers about 8 square miles (20 sq. km). Its origins are a mystery - by the time the Aztecs (who gave it its name) found Teotihuacán in the 1400’s, it had been abandoned for centuries. This is a huge site that will take hours to explore. Two large structures, the Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon dominate the 130-foot (40 meter) wide road, the Avenue of the Dead (Calle de los Muertos), 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in length and the main north-south artery of the city. The Ciudadela (Citadel), a structure with high walls and a 38-acre courtyard, is situated at the south end of the Avenue of the Dead and contains the Temple of Quetzalcoatl (Temple of the Feathered Serpent). The avenue is oriented slightly east of due north and points directly at the sacred peak of Cerro Gordo.
We entered the site near the Pyramid of the Moon, the second largest structure in the city. It rises 140 feet (43 meters) and measures 426 by 511 feet (130 by 156 meters) at its base. Some of us climbed the main stairway to the first level; it’s hard to imagine how steep the climb is unless you have been there. We then made our way to the Pyramid of the Sun that dominates central Teotihuacán from the east side of the Avenue of the Dead. Measuring 720 by 760 feet (220 by 230 meters) at its base and 216 feet (66 meters) high, we were too old, hot, and tired to climb that monster. It was awesome to realize that this amazing site was constructed many, many centuries ago by a sophisticated people. Recent archeological findings in tunnels under sections of this site are starting to reveal a glimpse into its ancient history. It was back to Mexico City at the end of another enlightening and incredible day. Dinner out, wine, and a little mescal - it was again time to recharge our batteries for another full day. So much to see - so little time.
Back in the van again for our last full day of site seeing - the highlight was to be Chapultapec Castle. Located in the Bosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Park), the castle is located at the top of Chapultepec Hill. We had been to Chapultepec Park earlier in our trip when we spent a good part of our day at the Museum of Anthropology. The park is one of the largest parks in the Western Hemisphere measuring just over 1,695 acres. The park is centered around Chapultepec Hill. Over the centuries, the hill has played a prominent role in Mexican history. The name Chapultepec is the Nahuatl word chapoltepēc which means "at the grasshopper's hill”. Here, after consolidating power in the Valley of Mexico around 1325, the Aztecs built a religious center and residence for its rulers. After the Spanish conquest, a chapel was built in 1554; the Spanish viceroys began construction of a summer palace on the site in the 1780’s. The castle was abandoned during the Mexican War for Independence (1810 - 1821). In 1841 it became the site of the National Military Academy. In the 1860’s during the Second Mexican Empire (1864 - 1867), the emperor Maximilian beautified the surrounding park and rebuilt the castle. In 1882 the castle was declared the official residence of Mexican presidents until 1940 when it was converted to a museum.
Upon entering the park, we climbed the the 200 feet to the entrance of the castle at the top of the hill via a long winding walkway. The castle/museum took much time to explore as there was a lot to see. The building itself boasts a good example of neo-classical architecture. It contains several large, beautiful historical murals painted by important Mexican artists, including Juan O'Gorman, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco. An ornate horse-drawn carriage used by Maximilian and his consort Carlota along with artwork and much of their living quarters have been preserved and are displayed. Incredible stained glass and a beautiful rooftop garden were also highlights.
One tiled walkway contains statues of the famous Mexican Los Niños Héroes, a major symbol of Mexican nationalism. The Battle of Chapultepec in September, 1847 took place near the end of the Mexican - American War (1846 - 1848). After heavy bombardment, General Winfield Scott’s American forces attacked the next morning. Mexican defenders, which included cadets from the military academy, resisted in hand-to-hand combat. Six cadets, all under 20 years old, were among those killed in the fighting. Legend has it that one of these cadets, wrapped in the Mexican flag, leaped to his death from the castle wall to keep the flag from being captured. These Los Niños Héroes are celebrated with a civic holiday and several monuments.
In a historical memorabilia section of the museum was an exhibit of particular interest to me. There among a group of military artifacts was a battle flag captured by Santa Anna at the Battle of the Alamo near San Antonio de Béxar (modern day San Antonio) in March 1836. I have visited San Antonio and the Alamo on several occasions in the past. Growing up in New Orleans and loving westerns as a kid, I knew that Davy Crockett and some Tennessee volunteers were there (thanks to John Wayne and a Disney series). But I hadn’t realized there was a detachment of New Orleans volunteers at this seminal battle in Texas history. Go figure.
Down the hill and into the van we headed back to the center of Mexico City. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Zócalo. The restaurant was on an upper floor of a building facing the National Palace with a panoramic view of the plaza. This was the last full day of our trip and the site of the Templo Mayor was the last major destination on our to-do list. Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City, was built in a group of marshy islands and covered an estimated 3.1 to 5.2 square miles on the shallow Lake Texcoco. The Templo Mayor was the primary temple of the Aztec people and dominated the central sacred precinct of the Aztec capital. According to myth, the Templo Mayor is located in the exact location where the god Huitzilopochtli gave the Mexica (indigenous people who ruled the Aztecs) a sign that they had reached the promised land - an eagle on a nopal cactus with a snake in its mouth. It was the center of the Aztec world where coronations and many human sacrifices took place to to appease the two great gods, Huitzilopochtli (god of war) and Tlaloc (god of rain and agriculture). Each of these gods had a shrine at the top of the pyramid with separate staircases. The temple rose about 200 feet high and was topped by a great platform that measured approximately 262 by 328 feet. Also the center of the Aztec religious world, the levels of the temple are aligned with the thirteen levels of the heavens (Topan) and nine levels of the underworld (Mictlan).
Construction of the first temple was begun sometime after 1325. Little is know of this version as the high water table of the old lakebed prevents excavation. It was improved and rebuilt six times as layers were added after 1375 - each layer built on top of the succeeding layer as each new Aztec ruler desired to upgrade the temple to emphasize the growing greatness of Tenochtitlan. Upon the Spanish conquest, Hernán Cortés completely destroyed the top levels in 1521 to build a new cathedral. Although these facts were known, the temple’s exact location was forgotten. It wasn’t until the early 20th century when part of the southwest corner of the temple was discovered and some of the finds put on display. At the time, its location in an upper-class neighborhood, further excavation received little interest. Throughout the century further discoveries were made - but it wasn’t until 1978 when extensive excavations were begun shortly after electric company workers were digging near the main plaza and discovered a huge pre-historic monolith. This monolith turned out to be the Coyolxauhqui Stone, a carved stone monolith that displayed the decapitated and dismembered sister of the god Huitzilopochtli. This famous artifact is related to the birth myth of this important Mexica Aztec war god. It was identified by archeologists to be located down the sloped stairway at the base of the final version of the temple. By 1982 the Templo Mayor Project to fully excavate the site was authorized by presidential decree. To excavate the site 13 buildings in the area had to be demolished. During excavations, more than 7,000 objects have been found and are housed in the Templo Mayor museum built in 1987.
The site of Templo Mayor is located just off the Zócalo behind the cathedral. The excavated site consists of the temple itself with models (showing its stages of development), a model of Tenochtitlan with the Sacred District at its center, and the museum which houses the recovered artifacts which continue to be discovered. The temple is still in the process of excavation. One can view the serpent wall (coatepantli) that surrounded the Templo Mayor and walk through some of the ruins at the base of what was once the great temple. The museum contains many incredible artifacts recovered from the ongoing excavation over the last few decades. The massive Tlaltecuhtli monolith is housed on one floor. Tlaltecuhtli was a Mesoamerican earth goddess associated with fertility. Considered the source of life, she was worshipped by the Mexica (Aztec) people who felt that she constantly needed to be appeased by blood sacrifices, especially human hearts, that would ensure the continued order of the world. Tlaltecuhtli is usually depicted as a toad-like creature, with claws, crocodile skin, and an open mouth with a river of blood flowing from it. The museum also contains the Cuauhxicalli, a large carved eagle vessel thought to hold human sacrificial materials to include human hearts. There is also a carved representation of a skull rack (tzompantli). Documented in several Mesoamerican cultures, this rack was used for public display of skulls of war captives and sacrificial victims.
OK, this day was definitely a contrast to the more contemporary artistic sensibility and spiritual beliefs we saw on our first day in and around the Zócalo - but an interesting contrast nonetheless. It was time for a short walk to the plaza as dusk was setting in. The van was in-route to pick us up and deliver us to the apartment of one of our architect hosts who lived in Mexico City. He kindly had us over for drinks and light snacks on our last night in the city. Good conversation and camaraderie made a fitting last night in Mexico City. We can’t thank our hosts enough for their guidance, obvious love for Mexico, and help in making this a great trip for all in our group - and of course our main man for making this all happen - you know who you are. You are the best, even though we like your wife better.
Over the course of this week, we saw more than was mentioned in this blog - the Toy Museum, Frida Kahlo Museum, Modern Museum, and a number of great restaurants - not to mention lots of conversation and laughter with good friends who we don’t see enough of. I only hit the major highlights (according to me). This trip to Mexico was a world of difference from the one I took in the mid-seventies. With age and means this trip was taken with much more planning and comfort - but both trips provided perspective and a minor slice of what Mexico is all about. This trip greatly expanded my appreciation for what Mexico is - a great country with interesting people and many centuries of upheaval, art, architecture, and culture - indigenous as well as European. It has been said that Mexico City is a “complex layering of modern and pre-colonial history.” I can attest to the truth of that statement and hope that I have given you a small taste, with words and pictures, for some of the flavor of this great city. We packed a lot into less than a week. I’ve spent much more time happily researching what I saw. To good friends and a great trip.