Oh well, like my father always said: never let the facts interfere with a good story.
First of all, the Aztec empire began sometime in the fifteenth century and flourished for less than one hundred years before the Spanish destroyed them. Most of the pyramids and ruins in Mexico were built far earlier by other tribes such as the Olmecs or Toltecs or Mexica (pronounced Meshica). Second, Teotihuacan was an incredible city with a population over 125,000 at its high point in the second century, making it the sixth largest city in the world at that time. The current "ruins" are in large part reconstructed, but that does not make them any less impressive. Here is me (really) on top of the Temple of the Sun with the Temple of the Moon in the background. Yes, I climbed up both of them.
Today I took Denni's advice and spent a sunny Saturday in Chapultepec Park along with thousands of locals. Chapultepec Park is the largest park in the Americas, bigger even than Central Park. It has several museums, a lake, a zoo, botanical gardens, and lots of places to walk or sit. Like the locals, I took the Metro, which set me back nearly twenty five cents. On my way to Chapultepec Castle, my first stop in the park, I came across some serious exercisers.
Weights? We don't need no stinking weights. They took turns putting their partners on their backs and doing deep knee bends. Later when I was walking up the hill to the castle, they passed me running up the hill carrying the heavy medicine balls.
Chapultepec Castle is the only castle in the Americas that was actually used by a ruling monarch. (I'm not counting Hawaii.) Today it is a Museum of Mexican History. My guide from the day before had given me an overview, but reading the explanations in the museum, it started to make sense to me. Mexico got its independence from Spain in 1810, and the Mexican Revolution began in 1910. Two interesting things happened during those hundred years. (Well, probably more than two, but these two I found the most interesting.)
First, in 1947, the US invaded Mexico because we said they came across the border and attacked us. Can anyone spell G-u-l-f o-f T-o-n-k-i-n? The US Army made it all the way to Chapultepec Castle. It was interesting reading about the heroes of the siege by the norteamericano invaders. I wasn't sure which side I was supposed to root for. Mostly the U.S. wanted Mexico's seacoast and room to expand in the west, so we settled for everything north of the Rio Grande: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Anyway, that is the way they told the story in the Castle. The American version might be a little different, but if I ever learned any of this in school, I sure don't remember it.
Second, the Mexican nobility wanted a monarchy, so Napoleon III obliged them by sending Maximilian in 1864. Maximilian was a Hapsburg and his wife, Carlota, was the daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium from the Saxe Coburg family. They were bred to be monarchs; they just needed a willing country. It was Maximilian and Carlota who moved into Chapultepec Castle where they ruled for just under three years. The Mexican nobility turned out not to like Maximilian so much. They withdrew their support and the writing was on the wall. He was tried and executed.
One other interesting thing happened in Chapultepec Castle on a personal level. A guide there asked me where I was from - which did kind of annoy me since everything was in Spanish and everyone there was Mexican. What gave me away? I was wearing lightweight khakis and the Mexican women wear blue jeans or black leggings despite the heat. Or was it the blond hair? Or that I am tall here? Anyway, when I said I was from the US, he asked me if I could explain a few questions he had about English. His English was very good - way better than my Spanish - so his questions were pretty sophisticated. One of the words he asked me about was "definitive." Should he say: Historians do not definitely know ... Or: Historians do not definitively know ... I definitely tried to help him but was unable to explain the difference definitively in any language.
After a break to sit on the grass in the sun and read, I then went on to the excellent Museum of Anthropology where some of the original ruins from Teotihuacan are exhibited. They also had exhibits on the pre-Aztec people.
On Sunday morning I took a tour to three local markets that included tasting various foods along the way. You really need a guide to explain the street food here. I thought we had Mexican food in California, but I don't recognize half the things on the menu of a typical local restaurant, and even less of the items being sold on the street.
I took one last walk around the Zocalo, the large open square in front of the Cathedral. The streets were empty when my tour began at 8:30. Mexicans don't get up to early on Sundays. But when I returned after noon, I could barely walk through because there were so many people. There was a fair with children's activities, musicians, dancers in native dress, demonstrators. There really are a lot of people here. I enjoyed a drum band in costume for a while.
And then it was hasta luego, Mexico City, and on to Cuernavaca.
