Mexico- Pacific Coast, Oaxaca, Mexico City - November 2002 |
aztec carving museum mexico city
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cathedral mexico city
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church of guadeloupe mexico city
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church of santo domingo oaxaca
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diego riviera mural in government building mexico
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mexico city from old presidential palace
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surf at puerto escondido
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pyramid of the moon teotihuacan
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oaxaca
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We left Acapulco just as it started to rain. TV showed flooded streets in Acapulco. We headed to Puerto Escondido in the bus. The trip was notable for the speed humps at every village, which made it a very slow 9 hour trip. We traveled through mountains and jungle past many subsistence villages. There was a lot of junk in particular plastic bottles lying around. Also the bus ended up being full with no standing room available. It was the 1st of November (El Dia de Los Muertos), which is a very important day in Mexico, and most people go home to visit family. Some people stood for four hours- others were left standing in the rain.
At Puerto Escondido we stayed in a fairly upmarket resort, which overlooked the fantastic beach. A beautiful place to relax if only for one day. There were few other guests, another consequence of Sept 11.
From Puerto Escondido we flew in a small plane over the mountains to Oaxaca which was the start of the cultural element of our trip. We went to Monte Alban a Zapotec ruin built between 200BC and 900 AD. The combination of architecture engineering and astronomy resulted in a series of extraordinary structures. They were built on the top of a hill giving excellent views over the surrounding valleys.
We also visited the Church of Santo Domingo. Its internal decorations are almost beyond belief. The amount of gold leaf involved would allow us all to retire comfortably.
The museum next door had a display from one of the tombs at Monte Alban. There were numerous pieces of gold, silver, jade, amber, pearls and other precious stones. Quite outstanding. The surprise at the museum was the botanical garden, which was laid out in classic style and featured over 20 different types of cactus. Oaxaca is a maze of markets selling just about everything. The open-air carcinerias were fascinating. In Oaxaca we stayed in a hotel, which was a 16th century house. It had beautiful tiling and interior decorations as well as many objets d'art.
On to Mexico City where we stayed in a hotel overlooking the Zocalo or main square. Again the hotel is beautifully decorated particularly its tiles which run all the way up the spiral staircase. We went to Teotihuacan which was the main city of the Aztecs. It features two major pyramids with the largest of the two about three hundred feet high. We climbed both with some effort because of the steep high steps. They were built between 300 BC and 800 AD and are amazing structures. Apparently they were decorated with red stucco and magnificent murals. Parts of these were on display in the museum.
We went to Chapultepec Park where we went through the Museum of Anthropology which has excellent displays on all of the major civilisations in Mexico. We also saw the Voladores who descend from a 100 foot pole by a rope attached to their feet a bit like a slow bungee jump. We also went to Chapultepec Castle which used to be the presidential palace. Once again magnificent decorations and landscaping.
It was Sunday in the park and so the park was full of people and sellers of everything that you can imagine. Mexico City is fascinating. It is either alive or full of people or it is dead, worse than Adelaide on Sunday night.
On Saturday night we went to the Plaza Garibaldi where numerous Mariachi bands play continuously. There was plenty of life and activity here. Then we walked back to our hotel about a kilometre. By the time we got back about 10.30 everything around the hotel was closed.
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