De Efe

Hey! It's a special guest episode of the Ferguson blog, written by that other guy! Jessica has a ton of homework and I have been blessed with a slightly lighter workload. I always give Jess a hard time for writing such long blogs, but I am finding out first hand how difficult it is to summarize these kinds of experiences.

This was our view of
Mexico City from the plane 

Bueno, this weekend we went to Mexico DF, which is around a 3 hour drive to the city, then another 3 hours to the other side. It's the world's second most populated city next to Tokyo, but the world's most dense city. Jess and I got a pretty good glimpse of the immensity of the city when we flew in a few weeks ago; buildings as far as the eye could see, including two separate strips of skyscrapers.

There's a lot to see and do in DF, as it's basically Mexico's Washington DC and New York all in one, only with more history and people. The city was built over the top of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecan capital from the 14th century until the Spanish conquered it in the 16th century. Tenochtitlan was built on an island in a lake. As it's population increased the Aztecs built little floating islands, primarily intended for gardens and small houses. The Spanish went ahead and built the whole city (skyscrapers, castles, and all) over the entire lake, and it sinks about three inches every year.

Atop the Pirámide del Sol
looking towards the Pirámide 

de la Luna 

View of the Pirámide del Sol and
the center of the city

First, we went just north of the city to Teotihuacan, the religious and cultural capital of the parent culture of the Aztecs and Mayans. The city's peak era corresponds with that of Rome's, and it was one of the biggest cities on Earth at the time. It was one of the only major sites of antiquity not destroyed by the Spanish when they arrived because it had already been deserted and was covered by dirt, so much that until 100 years ago people thought the massive pyramids there were just hills. There are several different kinds of temples and buildings: one temple to Quetzalcoatl adorned with amazing sculptures, and two pyramids that are much older; el Pirámide de la Luna (moon) y el Pirámide del Sol (sun). I climbed them both, but Jess was dealing with a sickness that messed up her ability to breathe (Mexico city is much higher in altitude than Querétaro, which in turn is much higher than Eugene). It was a neat experience that I'm glad I took part in, but the multitudes of tourists and people trying to (successfully) sell me trinkets stole a little of the ambiance. The vendors had some pretty humorous tricks to catch the gringo's attention. They would shout “One dollar!” or “Great prices! Almost free!” switching between English and Spanish as they liked.


There were multiple museums throughout the trip, and I don't think I could successfully differentiate between them well enough to be worth the effort. There is one at Teotihuacan that is stuffed full of artifacts found there on site (check out our pictures for more details). The next spot is out of chronological order, but it fits well here. Just about 3-4 blocks away from where we were staying, around the corner from the city's main square and gigantic church, is el Templo Mayor. In fact, the church was partially built using stones from the temple. This was the most holy site in all of Tenochtitlan before the Spanish arrived. There was an enormous two-pronged temple there in honor of two different gods. Here, we saw many of the same things we saw at Teotihuacan, but because this site was still in use when the Spanish arrived and was purposefully covered up, there are parts that were more preserved than the dust-covered Teotihuacan. There is a pretty great museum there as well.

We also went to the Castillo which sits on a hill overlooking a beautiful park that leads the eyes further to the city's skyline. When the French emperor Maximiliano was living there in the 1860s the skyline would have been dominated by towering churches. Today it's dominated by skyscrapers, but I suspect it's equally as beautiful. The Castillo is surrounded by castle walls that were built into the hill and covered by trees. Other than those walls it is far more like a mansion than a castle. Most of the main halls and staircases are covered but also open to the outside, it was hard to differentiate when we were inside or out. There are ridiculously magnificent gardens out front and one on the roof near the emperor's habitación. The halls and great rooms have been converted into museums dedicated to Mexico's immense and complex history of colonization, independence, and revolution.

One of Diego Rivera's Murals in the Palacio. They are so 
left-leaning that the conservative politicians of the current 
party have to walk by with their heads turned the other 
direction.

One of the most famous muralists of all time, Diego Rivera, lived and painted in Mexico DF. He was married to the artist Frida Kahlo, whose famous blue house we were able to tour as well. Rivera's murals are in some of the most important places in the whole city, including the Presidential Palace where he painted murals depicting the history of Mexico and the direction he wanted it to take in the future. Frida and Diego founded the Mexican Socialist Party so there are a lot of anti-capitalist, pro-proletariate themes with appearances by Lenin and Marx throughout. His murals are also a permanent fixture in the Palacio de Bellas Artes, an amazing building built in the 20s that screams of the prosperity the nation saw at the time.

The trip overall was great, but there were times we were on the bus for hours just driving through the city. It's huge and apparently doesn't have sufficient freeways. At one point the bus got stuck taking a corner too tight and we had to ask someone to move his parked truck. We blocked traffic at that intersection for a solid 5 minutes at least. On the way home we hit a big traffic cone and had to pull over to get it out from under the bus. I could go on and on about the frustrating parts of the trip, but I'd rather not because overall it was amazing.

One of the infinite moments
we spent on the bus

Catedral de México DF

Part of the ruins of the Templo Mayor

PS: We're halfway done. 3 weeks until we come back then another day until we leave for Europe.

Oh also, there was an indigenous lady selling guajalotes in the major plaza of the city. We wanted to take her picture but she wouldn't let us.

Keep track of our Twitter accounts for periodic updates or pictures. Mine is @the_ferg_says and Jessica's is @JessicaPestika. A new update will be coming as soon as we have time. So until then, my friends!

On a party boat in the river with beer and mariachis