9th Sept. 2016
Whilst we had been talking of another trip to South America for some time, it was the opening scenes of the latest Bond film, Spectre, at the dia de los muertos celebration in Mexico City that firmly planted the idea of coming here. And so here we are on Day 1 of our trip, still bleary with jet lag but up early and heading for the Zocalo, the main square in the historic quarter.
Instead of the Day of the Dead, we find that they are setting up for Independence Day – boy, do they take that seriously here. It isn’t for another week, but already they are erecting stands on one half of the square and have huge green, white & red decorations on buildings surrounding the square. We’ve chosen not to be here but in Guanajuato for Independence Day and that is ever more seemingly like a smart decision – I think it will be bonkers here.
Looking out over the square is the (equally enormous) cathedral and that is to be our first stop – especially as we can climb the bell tower. Whilst the cathedral can’t be overlooked, finding the way in proves to be more problematic and we end up walking pretty much around all four sides – and even then, went in the wrong entrance. There was no mistaking when we eventually found our way inside. Where the exterior is a little grubby and careworn in grey stone, the interior is as ornate and gilded as only a Catholic cathedral could possibly be.
Finding the entrance to the bell tower was our next challenge and it did require some persistence and asking officials in our best (least bad) Spanish. It turns out that the tours are guided and so we sign up for the next tour and use the interval to go and get a coffee. As the tour was in Spanish, much of the explanation went over my head (I think that the largest bell weighs 12,000 kilos), but it was easy to appreciate the up close view of the bells themselves and then the view from the rooftop in-between the two bell towers. Whilst we were on the roof, we were treated to a pealing of the bells. The pealing was simultaneously haphazard and structured – at one point the big bells in both towers were being rung seemingly full pelt – but then there was a more musical peal on the smaller bells all rung by one man. As the tour cost MXN$20 (£0.80) it was great value in anybody’s money.
One of my top travel tips is always to get a local SIM and load it up with an Internet data allowance and so our next stop was to find a phone shop. Around the world, the bureaucracy surrounding SIM purchase varies widely. Mexico turned out to be at the easier end of the spectrum, though I did get lucky by finding a helpful assistant at the first attempt. I had just enough Spanish that we could understand each other and 15mins later, I had a SIM in my phone and 300MB of data for MXN$150. Sorted!
Definitely lunchtime by now and once again we got lucky. As we walked around, we passed plenty of small taco stalls almost always surrounded by a knot of people clutching plastic plates and rolling up tacos with fillings of all sorts. Whilst not averse to a taco, we really fancied a seat and a rest and so when we passed a small café specialising in seafood and with soup on the menu, it was too good to resist. A great choice, the soup came in large bowls and was proceeded by a plate of saltine crackers and halved limes and accompanied by a large plate piled high with chopped onion and chopped coriander and a bowl of diced chilli. The soup was tasty enough as it was but with added coriander and chilli (albeit nearly too much chilli!) it was just excellent.
After a bit of a siesta at our hotel (the very excellent and highly recommended Hotel Historico Central), Janet announced that we had only accomplished one of the four items on her tour itinerary for the day and so it was back out again. Once again, we were going to prove the old adage ‘never assume’ and fill in (yet) another hole in my understanding of the world. Whilst we had seen plenty of Aztec ruins when in the Yucatan (e.g. Coba and Chichen Itza), I had assumed that Mexico City was a Spanish creation. But no, the Aztecs were here first and furthermore, Mexico City was the site where the eagle was seen perching on a cactus with the snake in its claw that is now the national emblem. To the Aztecs, this apparently was the centre of the universe. Templo Mayor is the remains of a huge (what else!) Aztec temple right beside one corner of the cathedral.
Although the Brits were no better, the Spanish didn’t go in for cultural sensitivity and as we have seen in Seville and Cordoba, were prone to building cathedrals on top of or in place of buildings of conquered people. This time, it was only a portion of the temple that was built over and the remains of the rest were covered over and are now being restored. There is now a walkway around the site where you can see some of the walls and some reconstructed / restored statues and stonework – whilst now not as imposing as (esp.) Chichen Itza it brought back some good memories of our last trip and was a taster for some of the temples we will see later.
By now we were flagging and the jet lag was really starting to get to us and after a shower, we could face nothing more exotic than pizza for supper as it became a matter of trying to keep going and stay awake as long as possible. We did have to go revisit Zocalo and take some photos of the now illuminated Independence Day decorations before heading back with matchsticks in our eyes.
So that was Day 1 in Mexico – sights great, food great, people friendly & helpful. We are going to have to watch that Bond film again though!