Claudia was supposed to take me to the pyramids, but ended up going to the hospital for a large burn on her leg…anyway I headed back out to the center of Mexico City to see some things I had missed Saturday. I saw the Catedral Nacional, the Templo Mayor, el Palacio Nacional and a couple other random things. All of these sights are very close to one another and so on top of those tourist sights, there are lots of people selling crafts. The streets are filled with vendors and lots of people dressed in indigenous looking clothes. 
It was an interesting and very long day. I arrived around 10:45 am and walked around the Zócalo, which is an open space surrounded by historic buildings, Catedral Nacional and the Templo Mayor.
The Cathedral is huge and there are always people around it. When I arrived there was a mass taking place so I didn’t wander inside. I walked over to the Zócalo and watched a concert for a little while and then headed over to the Templo Mayor. The Templo is what remains of the Aztec pyramids and city that Cortez and the Spanish conquistadores took over. The Templo was built over and also used as a dump for many years. It wasn’t until the 1900’s that the pyramids were found, of course it was on accident because they had been forgotten for so long. Only the foundations are left of the pyramid, but it’s still amazing to see the size of it! There’s a museum next to the Templo which contains other artifacts left behind. While I was looking around there were young students taking notes for their classes; I remember learning about Aztec and Mayan culture and thinking how interesting it was—I still can’t pronounce the names of any of their rulers or cities!
As I mentioned in my last blog, being a foreigner here is like wearing a sign that says “come talk to me.” During my 6 hours in public I was approached numerous times and asked frequently where I was from, what I was doing in México, etc. I was “interviewed” by two separate groups of students whose homework it was to interview an English speaker and tape it. So I’m probably on the internet somewhere…The first time it was cute b/c it was two mothers and their daughters and they genuinely seemed interested; the second time it was 4 high school age boys that just stepped in front of me and bombarded me with questions (in bad English).
I was also followed by two different men at separate times. The first one was older; he wanted to help me read a map and I said no thank you, but I kept seeing him in different places (entering the museum and leaving it), so I decided to loose him before he robbed me or tried to impose himself on me in another way. The second guy was walking down the street and slowly came up next to me and started a conversation out of thin air. It was small talk, but he had obviously picked me out as a foreigner and started asking me if I had seen certain places. He was younger and although he didn’t want to sell me anything, he was definitely interested in me…I continued to insist that I could do these things alone and didn’t need help, but it wasn’t until I had to tell him “Por favor, no me toques” that he finally got it that I was not equally interested in him. He was a younger guy, about my age I would say, but when he asked where me where my hotel was, I made up my mind about him. Don’t worry, I got home perfectly fine, I was just exhausted.
It was an interesting and very long day. I arrived around 10:45 am and walked around the Zócalo, which is an open space surrounded by historic buildings, Catedral Nacional and the Templo Mayor.
The Cathedral is huge and there are always people around it. When I arrived there was a mass taking place so I didn’t wander inside. I walked over to the Zócalo and watched a concert for a little while and then headed over to the Templo Mayor. The Templo is what remains of the Aztec pyramids and city that Cortez and the Spanish conquistadores took over. The Templo was built over and also used as a dump for many years. It wasn’t until the 1900’s that the pyramids were found, of course it was on accident because they had been forgotten for so long. Only the foundations are left of the pyramid, but it’s still amazing to see the size of it! There’s a museum next to the Templo which contains other artifacts left behind. While I was looking around there were young students taking notes for their classes; I remember learning about Aztec and Mayan culture and thinking how interesting it was—I still can’t pronounce the names of any of their rulers or cities!
As I mentioned in my last blog, being a foreigner here is like wearing a sign that says “come talk to me.” During my 6 hours in public I was approached numerous times and asked frequently where I was from, what I was doing in México, etc. I was “interviewed” by two separate groups of students whose homework it was to interview an English speaker and tape it. So I’m probably on the internet somewhere…The first time it was cute b/c it was two mothers and their daughters and they genuinely seemed interested; the second time it was 4 high school age boys that just stepped in front of me and bombarded me with questions (in bad English).
I was also followed by two different men at separate times. The first one was older; he wanted to help me read a map and I said no thank you, but I kept seeing him in different places (entering the museum and leaving it), so I decided to loose him before he robbed me or tried to impose himself on me in another way. The second guy was walking down the street and slowly came up next to me and started a conversation out of thin air. It was small talk, but he had obviously picked me out as a foreigner and started asking me if I had seen certain places. He was younger and although he didn’t want to sell me anything, he was definitely interested in me…I continued to insist that I could do these things alone and didn’t need help, but it wasn’t until I had to tell him “Por favor, no me toques” that he finally got it that I was not equally interested in him. He was a younger guy, about my age I would say, but when he asked where me where my hotel was, I made up my mind about him. Don’t worry, I got home perfectly fine, I was just exhausted.
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