Today was spent visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is 2 cathedrals, the old one and the new one. I have pictures in the Mexico City file. The old cathedral is sinking, as you can tell in some of the pictures. This a huge Catholic shrine that many people make a pilgrimage to. The new cathedral seats a large number of people, 2000 I think. Many people bring their children for their 1st communion or to be baptized.
After leaving the cathedrals, we headed to Teotihuacan to see the pyramids. On the way there we saw the hills covered in homes. They are cement buildings that immigrants live in. These people are from other Latino countries. It was amazing to see how many hills were covered with homes!
When we arrived in Teotihuacan, we had a woman show us what this area is famous for. There were huge Agave plants everywhere. She showed us how they cut the middle piece out. A sweet water forms in the "cup" as they scrape it daily. That water is used to drink because it is full of nutrition. They also ferment the water and make an alcoholic drink from it. It was sour and didn't taste very good. They also make tequila from the agave plant. The tour guide said that in order for tequila to taste good it needs to say 100% pure from the Agave. I do not care for tequila but the taste I had of theirs was really good. She also showed us how they can use pieces of the agave plant to write on. In addition, the pointed part that was originally cut off can be used as a needle and thread.
Next we went to walk through the remnants of the pyramids. It was incredible to see how the details were so intricate. As we started to walked towards the big pyramids, the rain came crashing down. After a few minutes it stopped and we continued on. I didn't walk up the pyramid because I didn't want to have to walk back down! There are no handrails and the steps are not wide enough to put your whole foot on--you have to walk sideways! I opted to take pictures and shop.
There are many shops and many very pushy people. They don't like to take no for an answer. When I finally told a man, very firmly, that I was not interested in what he was selling, he said, "Pobre me" (poor me) and began to pout. I almost burst out laughing. I did find some other items that I bought and found that I was kind of good at playing the bargaining game. I didn't really bargain, I just acted indifferent and started to leave. The price began dropping rapidly. :-)
On the way home we stopped at a Mexican buffet. It was good food that came with some entertainment. A very scantily clothed man played the drums while a woman danced. It was very interesting. I had not seen anything like it before.
When we arrived back at the school, we caught a taxi home. For some reason the taxi drivers have a hard time finding the address we give them. Brandi and I were very proud of ourselves because this time we could point out the turns instead of looking confused, shrugging our shoulders, and saying, "No se" (I don't know). :-)
**I have pictures uploaded of today's events in my dropbox file. They are separated into folders. For today's pictures, look in the Mexico City file.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gcr4z38twgf53i1/AADLqelnTedP9TFySW8yjjgEa
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