Sad to say but we succumbed to convenience and actually booked a tour!!??? It was pretty much what I expected, a chaperoned way of relieving you of cash without, at the end of the day, actually giving you much more than an easy ride direct from the hotel and back.
That is not to say we didn’t get much out of it but the reality is we got about 1.5hr in Teotihuacan which, even being philistines such as ourselves, was not enough.
We also spent about 30 minutes at the Basilica de Guadalupe which in theory is the most frequented church in all Mexico. Bearing in mind that this was a Thursday and we arrived somewhere around 10:30am it was amazing to see a service in process and about 500 people, maybe a thousand, in attendance. So I would say that theory is reasonably accurate in this case. There are actually three churches in the complex: the original, very small church at the top of the local hill, then the second church down at the main plaza level which has a pretty impressive four foot or so change in elevation from one corner to the other across the front face creating a very noticeable tilt to one side.
and then there is the new church that can hold 12,000 people on a crazy day (December 12 being the craziest). Church #2 is undergoing restoration to limit the unequal settlement, fix the broken bits and generally restore the majesty. Church #1 was outside of our window of opportunity so if we want to see it we have to go back under our own steam and since it is way North is unlikely to happen on this trip. Too bad since it seems to me that the more interesting parts are to be seen between and including Church #1 and #2. The new church is important simply because it holds the catholic relic (a poncho) which actually got this complex started almost 500 years ago.
Guadalupe (Christ’s mother) appeared to a man and told him that a church needed to be built upon that spot. When the Spanish priests did not believe him (surprise, surprise), he went back to the spot to get evidence that he’d actually seen Guadalupe. She told him to go to a certain spot and collect roses there. He did, put them under his poncho, and when he took the poncho to the priests, the roses became an image of Guadalupe. The priests were convinced, and, viola! they decided to build the first church.
We were able to view the actual poncho which is now beautifully framed and displayed in church #3. We had to walk down a level and stand on a short conveyor belt so that we could look up at the poncho and photograph it. We did this with a number of other visitors and all the while, did not disturb the sermon which was being presented right above us under the poncho.
You may be wondering why I am focusing so much on the Basilica? Well, let me tell you. That is because for the most part that is where the guide gave us the most information. By the time we had gotten to Teotihuacan (pronounced te o tea wa can by the way) the knowledge imparted was no more than I had already read at the Templo Mayor the day before (see previous post) and from, of all places, the Lonely Planet guide.
Suffice to say that the “guided” part of this tour was limited and a waste of money but the convenience of hotel pickup/drop-off was pretty nice.
The place itself is pretty amazing particularly when you know that it was started nearly two thousand years ago. Of course what you see today is actually a reconstruction done in the early 1900’s which in itself is an amazing feat. Apparently the archeologists had bumps in the landscape to look at covered in trees and cacti (there are still some today). Removing the accumulated vegetation and earth unveiled a pile of rocks overlying more earth. That what we see today was extracted from this pile of rubble is amazing. Just think of the manpower and money that was brought to bear on this.
We finished the day walking around our neighborhood, getting some cash from the ATM (Darcie’s card appears not to work but thankfully mine does) and sharing a bottle of Argentinean wine ( a delicious Tempranillo) and basket of fried potato products: papas soufflé (thin slices fried till they puff) in a basket essentially made of potato chips all sitting on a bed of skinny French fries (clearly a non-Atkins item). The dish is really meant as an accompaniment for a main course but we made it dinner. I got the feeling that the waiters were not amused. I was interested in trying some of the other dishes but neither Darcie nor I were really that hungry.
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