The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Mexico City!

The bus was there to pick up our group just before 8:30am. We were only located about 42 kms (26 miles) from the center of town, so you would think that it shouldn't take too long to do the drive, right?

Wrong.

It took an hour and forty five minutes to do that 42 km (26 mile) drive.

Welcome to the big city.

Our bus picking us up at Pepe's Hotel and RV Park in Tepotzotlan.

Finally made it to Mexico's Museum of Anthropology.

At the entrance. Mexico's symbol is the eagle with the snake in it's mouth.

Reproduction of one of the walls at ancient Tenochtitlan (Mexico City).

Original statue.

The Museum's central plaza.

We only had two hours at a museum that could easily take two days to explore. It's a world class facility, and Ruth and I have been there before on our own when we spent a half a day there. This time, our guide Rosalio took the group through a few of the most important rooms.

This is what the original Mexico City (Tenochtitlan) would have looked like.

Our group.

Our group with the Aztek Sun Stone.

After the museum, we were brought downtown and we met up with Garbriel, the owner of Caravanas de Mexico. We had lunch at a buffet style place called Mexico Viejo right across from the Mexico City Cathedral.

Then, we walked to the Hotel Catedral, only a block away from the Zocalo (central plaza) and the Cathedral.

We met up with our friend Paco. He and his wife Oti were going to spend some time with us, but Paco's mother was in hospital and so he had to go back to her. Shame, becuase we were really looking forward to seeing them. This is the couple who we see a lot of when we go to Valle de Bravo, one of our favorite spots in Mexico.

Anyhow, we enjoyed the half hour we had together. I had brought some RV parts down to him from the states for the travel trailer they just bought.

Decent hotel room. Location is fantastic.

The rest of the group went out on the hop on hop off bus tour, but Ruth and I decided to go out and walk around on our own. We needed some exercise.







We came across a Christmas exposition of some kind. Interesting artwork, especially the various manger scenes.




Then, to the Sears department store opposite Mexico City's Palacio de Belles Artes (Opera House). The department store is about 8 floors high, and has windows facing the arts center for a great picture taking opportunity...

Palacio de Belles Artes.

The Latino American Building.

Inside the main post office.

A giant piñata.

Ciudad Mexico. (Mexico City).

The Spanish Mexico City was built right on top of the Aztec Mexico City (Tenochtitlan). The ruins of the old city were rediscovered in 1978 when utility workers discovered a massive stone underground. They subsequently tore down an entire city block and excavated the current archaeological site.

The ruins of Tenochtitlan.

Amazing stuff, right in downtown Mexico City.

Our dinner at the famous Cafe Tacuba.

We had a fantastic group dinner at Cafe Tacuba. This is one of the 22 included meals in the RV caravan tour price. Really good, and Gabriel included a surprise musical group that showed up after dessert. 



Mexico City Cathedral at night.

You could spend a month in Mexico City and not see it all. So obviously this was just a quick taste for those who have never been here.

Today, the bus will pick us up at 8:30am, so we have to get out and have some breakfast! Then, it's off to the Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadeloupe Shrine, then the Teotihuacan ruins before heading back to the RV Park later this afternoon.

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And in Canada...



22 comments:

  1. I love the banner picture - great shot. I really enjoyed my time in Mexico City. Your post is bringing back some great memories.

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    1. Thank you! We love taking a picture of the Palacio de Bellas Artes from the Sears building, it is always a great shot. Happy that we have been able to back some wonderful memories for you.

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  2. Can you climb the pyramids in the Teotihuacan Ruins. I thought I heard they were out of bounds for climbing. We made the mistake of going to the ruins on a Sunday because you know they have a free entry for Mexicans on Sunday, hence a large crowd. We had to line up to climb the ruins.

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    1. Yes, you can climb both the Pyramid of the Sun right to the very top and up to the first platform on the Pyramid of the Moon. Quite a few of the platforms can also be accessed. Some of the ruins sites don't allow the climbing at least on some of the pyramids like the big one at Chichen Itza.

      Yes, Sundays are the busiest day followed by Saturdays.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks Peter! Yes, it is a very interesting city. We wouldn't want to live there but we sure do like to visit there.

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  4. Looks like a great city to explore!

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    1. Yes, there is so much to see in the city. We spent a week there six years ago and still missed seeing things.

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  5. I see that the skating rink and tube snow slide have been removed from the Zocalo, guess because Christmas season is over. Have fun climbing up the Sun ruins in Teotihuacan, we were lucky since there were no lineups at all :)

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    1. They are still working on dismantling it all, and yes it was just there for the Christmas season.

      We had a great time climbing both pyramids. Last time we were there in 2012 we pretty much had the place to ourselves, not this time!

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  6. http://www.museofridakahlo.org.mx, an awesome place to visit and fantastic neighborhood in Mexico City. On the weekends, they have a fabulous artist market to visit.

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    1. Yes, we know of the museum but unfortunately we just didn't have time to get there, perhaps another time.

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  7. The header photo is fantastic! The Museum is awesome.
    That post office looks like the inside of some of our capitol buildings. Gorgeous.
    Wonderful photos. Thanks.

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    1. Thank you! Kevin and I have now been to the museum twice and still have not seen it all. The two hours that we were there, I think we only hit two or three of the many rooms there. It is a totally amazing museum!

      The post office reminds me of Gringotts Wizarding Bank in the Harry Potter movies. It is really beautiful.

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  8. Lots of history at your fingertips in Mexico City. Beautiful pictures!!

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    1. Lots of history for sure! Thanks Connie and Barry.

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  9. Wow -- so impressive! I've certainly never seen a post office like that. Just amazing!

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    1. Very impressive! As I said in the comment above it reminds me of Gringotts Wizarding Bank in the Harry Potter movies.

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  10. Replies
    1. Thank you, glad you are enjoying the pictures! There are a lot more amazing sights to see.

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  11. You could easily spend a week in the Anthropology museum and several days at the Teotihuacan ruins.....both just spectacular places to experience! Mexico City is indeed one of the most interesting places to visit. We spent four days there in Feb 2015....obviously not enough time and the smog didn’t deter us from enjoying the tours.

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    1. Well I don't know about a week but, yes it would take a while to go through it properly. Definitely a world class museum!

      We love Mexico City as well, smog and all but we could never live there, something like London and New York City love to visit them but don't have any desire to live in any one of them.

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