Ciudad de Mexico

It's confusing, you see.  There are three things people might mean when they say Mexico.  Mexico the country, Mexico the state, and Mexico the city.  So since Guadalajara there have been signs for 'Mexico'.  Which was a bit disorientating as we could have sworn we were already there.  But given we usually lack a coherent plan and have ended up all kinds of places so far we couldn't be totally sure.

This week, after hitching with a trucker who turned out to be going to Mexico State (luckily its around the city), but dropped us off at a bus, we have definitely been in Mexico City.  Which is also in Mexico, so we've been there too.  But not Mexico state.

As long as that's all clear.

Mexico city is big.  And it's busy and fast paced.  It's the only capital city we've visited so far and definitely one of the largest.  We're back in a world of crowds, a big underground metro, markets you could lose an elephant in, political graffiti, and a huge variety of people (with a tendancy towards loads of goths.  This actually makes sense when you consider the catholocism, which mixed with indigenous beliefs has created such a death-oriented society.  Add to that rebellion through fashion and consumption and the post-everything apathy of big cosmopolitian cities.  So they're everywhere, and it is far too hot for so much black, thick make-up and layers of metal and leather jewelry.  Yes, we both spent years in crowds of teenagers who didn't look so different.  It's not that we dislike it.  That's just it- they're ADORABLE.)

Also, the whole place is VERY slowly sinking, because it used to be a lake and has been filled in but then drained leaving insecure silt.  The cathedral is visibly wonky.

On our first night here our hosts took us out for some pulque, which is a fermented cactus drink that was invented by the Aztecs.  Except you weren't supposed to drink more than one cup or the god of four hundred rabbits possessed you and you went bonkers.  Ignoring this warning, we enjoyed several.  It has to be consumed within 24 hours of brewing or it goes off, so really we were doing the bar a favour.

Split between the next day and Tuesday we went on a mural hunt.  As we've said, they're a huge art form here and they're really amazing and interesting.  The Nacional Palace and Palace of Fine Arts are both free, and so is the Colegio del san Ildefonso on Tuesdays.  There are lots of artists but two big names are Orozco-

and Riviera (Frida Kahlo's fella)

that picture may not be totally clear, but thats because I had to use the Landscape setting and still didn't get it all in.  I just wanted to give an idea of the SIZE of the thing.  It's in the National Palace and is about the history of Mexico from prehispanic times to the 30s.  It's interesting that it's in no way slavishly devoted to Mexico, and there don't appear to be many good guys.  It's hard to imagine the UK allowing something criticising the wealthy of the country and the church and showing rape and murder of indigenous people to be up in such an important building for the state.  It's kind of strange, as it's not like the Mexican state has been any different in its actions to many others.  But it seems they have much less idyllic view of their history.  Perhaps its because at the time it was a very socialist country, and socialist art is different?  We certainly like how realistic and literal Riviera's pieces are (though still very aesthetically driven).  Orozco's need a little more context and some of the others stray a bit into the abstract for our liking.

On Sunday we also explored the Museo de la Revolución, which is under the big monument to said revolution.  It was going to be a gigantic palace for someone with lots of money and power but they only got as far as one big dome before the revolution happened, which was a bit awkward for a while until someone thought of turning it into a monument.  It was free on Sundays (some things are free only for residents or Mexicans, which we understand but means we had to skip a few things) and the info in there is really detailed.

On Monday, we visited Teotihuacán (the challenge is pronouncing it after a few pulques).  It was one of the first big urban and religious centres in mesoamerica, a contemporary of Ancient Rome and bigger than it was at the time.  The people there had no writing so we know little about them.  Yes, its completely stunning, and we're basically only looking at foundations and ruins.  It was deserted (lots of theories and most of them involve politcal unrest and some kind of uprising involving the burning of rich powerful men's houses, hooray) five hundred years before the Aztecs showed up the area, before the heyday of the Maya away in Chiapas.

We spent the whole day there and there was plenty to see, and a lot of walking.  It's so hard to know anything for sure about the place.  For hundreds of years the biggest temple has been called the Temple of the Sun, but now the theory is its much more likely to have been a storm and water god, and the Aztecs assumed it was the Sun God just because they were big on him.  How would it really have felt to be there?  Even if we knew the history better like we do in some other cities, you never really know.  In a hundred years if anyone digs up London they'll assume Starbucks was essential to government, we worshipped a God called Gap and everyone thought the Shard skyscraper was dead important to their daily lives (anyone heard of it and not lived in London?  Didn't think so.).  You get a sense of the majesty and size of everything, and a powerful sense of the years.  Even thinking about how little we do know seems important.

Wednesday, at the Museo de Anthropologia, it was information overload.  It's an amazing place.  It starts with the evolution of mankind as a species, introduces anthropology, and then talks about all the different peoples of prehispanic Mexico up until the invasion by the Spanish.  Upstairs there are just as many sections on where the peoples of modern Mexico are now and how they live.  We spent six and a half hours there and did not see it all properly by a long chalk.  It's interesting to see how eurocentric our education always is about these things.  Not that the museum has escaped its own social context, but they have made a real effort to explore so many different groups.  In Europe, you hear a lot about the Aztecs, but they were only around, mostly killing other people, for about two hundred years before the Spanish showed up.  South of them the Zapotec had huge cities lasting twice as long as that and the Mixtec developed metallurgy.

Tomorrow, we're leaving and headed for Chiapas, to study Spanish at the Zapatista-run language school (our classes start on Monday but we're still hitching so its better to be in plenty time).  We may not update for a couple of weeks.  This language school was a major part of our planning the trip and we're very excited to experience the home of one of the most inspiring groups in the world, and improve our Spanish while we're at it.  Wish us luck and we will see you in Oaxaca, where some friends are joining us for a bit of a change of pace :)