Hola!
This weekend, the International Programs office organized a trip to la Ciudad de Mexico, or Mexico City! We only went for one day, Saturday, and it took us 2.5 hours on a bus to get there. We didn't really go to see the city though, but the National Palace (chepultepec) and the pyramids (teotihuacan).
Chepultepec is the National Palace that was built by a Virreino or Viceroy of Mexico in 1785 as his Summer home. It was then used by Emperor Maximiliano and his wife, Carlota as their palace in the 1860's. They were foreigners who came in to rule Mexico, but were expelled eventually by the Mexican army. Cinco de Mayo celebrates one of their military defeats.
Another important story is that of Ninos heroes, or boy heroes. In a battle against the United States in 1847, these boys died guarding the palace and are revered as great heroes in Mexican History.
After the expulsion of the French, various Mexican presidents used it as their residence, the most well known being Porfirio Diaz. He added murals and much decoration to the palace. In 1939, it was converted into a museum, as it remains today.
Then, we went to the pyramids! Built by the Aztecs, they served religious purposes for a long time. The two main pyramids are the sun and moon pyramids. Each one aligns perfectly with the four points of the compass. It is really amazing to see how they built them so perfectly so long ago. They decorated them with elaborate carvings of their gods and other art as well. Their main purpose was to have a place for human sacrifices, so it was strange to think of that while being up there. We climbed three, the Moon pyramid and two smaller ones. They were so steep! It was hard work! But it was worth it to get to the top. As you probably know, Mexican pyramids are different than the Egyptian ones, and actually aren't technically pyramids because they are not triangular. They have steps, and have a large platform at the top instead of coming to a point. So instead of the sides looking like this / they look like stairs. I also have pictures: http://ginasadventuresinmexico.shutterfly.com/ and the same password: Mexico.
It was also my birthday on Sunday! It was a great day! In the morning, two friends and I went to a real Mexican market called Mercado de la Cruz. It was crazy! There were people everywhere and all sorts of things for sale from birds to soccer jerseys. We had a blast wandering around and haggling to buy inexpensive things at an even cheaper price. I think we still paid more because we were American, but we didn't overpay for anything. Then we went back to my house for lunch and had lasagna and flan! It was so yummy! My host family was awesome and sang me the Mexican happy birthday song, called Las Mananitas. After that, a group of about 20 of us went bowling, so that was a blast too! Then to top it off, we went to a Creperia (crepe store) and had "birthday crepes" instead of birthday cake : ) It was a full day, but very very fun! Everyone was so nice to me so I had a great birthday!
If anyone has any questions or is wondering about anything specific like food, school, whatever, just leave me a comment and I will post about that!
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