Ancient Ruins (December 22)

(Map of the day!)

We had breakfast at the beautiful Casa de los Azulejos (House of Tiles). I wonder where they got that name:



The Sanbornes chain of stores (like an upscale The Bay) owns the building. The serving staff wore ridiculous looking uniforms that I suppose were supposed to be 'traditional Mexican costumes' but instead looked horribly uncomfortable.

We had a 'traditional' breakfast of eggs in a dish with a tomato sauce, cream, and cheese. It was okay. A little heavy. The interior of the building is covered in murals and tile-work, and is very striking. A shot of a window; note the stone work:



From there, we headed towards Templo Mayor, but more on them in a minute. On route, we passed through the city's Zocalo, which is the main public square. This is how they chose to decorate this main thoroughfare in honour of the season:



In the square, which was crammed with people, were Christmas festivities, including an absurd kid's ride which entailed them riding around a track on little snowmobiles:



We arrived at the temple, which is a series of 7 temples, all built atop one another over the course of about 200 years. They say the site was discovered in the 70's by a telephone company workman digging around in some tunnels. The temples were built successively because the previous one would sink into the marshy ground -- but also so each successive ruler could demonstrate his power and influence. The site is fairly large, and you can clearly see each 'stage' or layer of temple:



Here's a more detailed shot of what the steps of a temple look like. What looks like stairs running into a wall is actually an older temple on the right, and a newer one that had been built atop of it, on the left:



Carvings of a snake and a frog on the outermost (ie: newest) layer:





On the innermost platform, there was a stone block for human sacrifices. The Aztecs really seemed to love running, spilled human blood. Note the carved face near the bottom:



This carving is near to the human sacrifice altar. We saw similar carvings at many of the temple sites we went to throughout the vacation.



This wall is from an area where it is supposed a death cult hung out. Whatever gave that idea?



Next, we headed for the great Metropolitan Cathedral. The stonework on the enormous church was unlike anything we'd ever seen.



We couldn't really even get the whole building into one frame for a picture.





There were armed guards manning the gate in the fence that surrounded the complex, turning people away that were inappropriately dressed I guess. The building we entered was kinda small, although nice. We then realize that we had only entered an annex to the actual cathedral.

Inside was the real deal, complete with parishioners doing their thing (including chanting). There was a large altar with pews directly when you walk in the main cathedral doors. The building went on forever behind it, with little chapels along the walls. The little chapels were open rooms, some with pews, some without, each with a massive altar, all of them dedicated to a different saint/purpose/I'm not sure because it was all in Spanish. The backside of that large first altar consisted of another alter, with more pews.

In the middle of the building was a large organ/choir corral. You could enter it through a little doorway; inside were seats for the choir and two pipe organs were reached via little stairways. The pipes stretched up to the cavernous ceiling. The entire corral (for lack of a better name) was carved of wood, and completely enclosed. Here's an organ:



A shot of where the choirmaster would stand. The organs are slightly up and to the direct left and right. The sides of this corral are the carved seats for the choir members:



A closer shot of the seats:



Further down, at the very end of the church, there was another altar, of carved marble. This was for the main congregation, and where the choirmaster looks out to for his cues. Behind this alter, comprising the very back of the church, was The Altar of the Kings. The entire thing was floor to ceiling carved, and every inch of it was gold. The carvings were so ornate, and the statues adorning it so numerous, that it cannot really even be described. Andrew and I sat on a bench in front of it for about 30 mins. This picture really doesn't do it justice, as it all didn't quite fit into the frame; click for a bigger view:



We also paid money to go on a mini-tour up to the bell tower and roof. The steep, carved stairway wound higher and higher -- with no railing to help steady us. The bell room on the roof had about 10 large bells, and another rickety wooden staircase going even higher (no access allowed though). Note the Christmas decorations:



We were taken onto the roof; looking over the worn stone edge to the pavement below was vertigo-inducing. This is the Zocalo from the cathedral rooftop:



All told, we spent about 3 hours in the cathedral -- it was that big.

We left, and made our way to the National Palace, which houses the country's government. This is a pic of a tiny piece of the palace from the top of the cathedral:



I had forgotten that we needed photo ID to get past the military gate guards, and we were not in the habit of walking around with our passports (which were in the hotel safe). So, we flashed them the only ID we had on us: our Colegio Ingles teacher ID cards. It worked. Rest assured, that's all you need to access the main chambers of Mexico's government.

The palace was large, of colonial influence, and had many colourful murals by Diego Rivera. The main themes in his work seemed to be the desecration of the Natives by the Europeans &/or communism. You really need to click on this image to see the detail; this is but a part of one of his biggest murals:



This is the main courtyard; note our sunburns:



Our day ended with noting a three-year-old boy, sitting by himself on the sidewalk begging, while his bedraggled mother kept an eye from across the street.