If I could travel back in time ...

...I would travel to Mesoamerican Mexico. And that is not just the history major in me, the ancient Aztec ruins and the pyramids at Teotihuacan are incredible. Those civilizations had to be so amazing! The architecture that remains is architecturally imposing and on a huge scale. The original buildings were painted bright colors and decorated with gold and precious gems. Walking around the pyramid complex I tried to imagine what it would have been like to live during that time as well has imagining what the Spaniards must have thought upon arriving in a land so full of wealth and culture and knowledge. This weekend I traveled to Mexico City with the entire CIEE group. The pyramids at Teotihuacan were my favorite place that we visited. It was so much fun to climb the massive steps of the Moon Pyramid and the larger Sun Pyramid and then to look out over the entire complex. I wish I could have been there at that civilization's peak even for just a day. Below is a photo that I took from the Moon Pyramid of the Sun Pyramid. The smaller pyramids are thought to be for different deities. Next to these pyramids are grassy hills that have grown over several smaller pyramids (unfortunately you can't see them in this picture).

Mexico City was an interesting experience on a number of levels. It really opened my eyes to the Mexican identity. Mexico City not only has a lot of indigenous history that Mexicans are very proud of, but the capital also has a huge religious significance as the location of the Basilica of the Virgen de Guadalupe. Millions of visitors and pilgrims stop at the Basilica to pay homage to this major icon of Mexican identity. The city has both the very rich and the incredibly poor. The wealthy people live in the middle of the city where the national buildings are located around the main plaza which is called the Zocalo. The poor live in what is basically a garbage dump and what has become home to some 3,000,000 people. Mexico City has skyscrapers, massive cathedrals, museums, cafes, bars, hotels, and taxis everywhere. It is a fun city despite having a reputation for being dangerous and dirty (both of which are a reality). And if Spanish was not the language heard everywhere, you could almost imagine you were in New York City or London. I really enjoyed the time I spent there, and I learned a lot. However, I was glad to return to Guanajuato at the end of the weekend. To the left is a picture from the gardens at the Basilica of the Virgen de Guadalupe. You can see the homage being paid by the indigenous people to an equally indigenous version of the Virgin Mary. Below is a picture of me in front of one of the churches honoring the Virgen de Guadalupe with Mexico City in the background.


Comparing Guanajuato and Mexico City is like comparing night and day. The language is pretty much the only thing the two cities have in common. Mexico City is arranged on a grid system with straight roads and square intersections. In Guanajuato there is no such thing as a right angle. The streets follow the shape of the land and the buildings follow the streets. Mexico City is full of bustling people who are in a rush to get where they are going. Businesses are located in tall skyscrapers and people live in tall apartment buildings. There are policemen at every intersection because the traffic lights are not capable of managing all the cars, trucks, and taxis. Guanajuato has worked hard to preserve its colonial appearance and to maintain its small town feel. People know each other and stop to chat with each other. Businesses open whenever the owners feel like opening. The houses and buildings are painted bright, cheerful colors and traffic is funneled through tunnels under the city so that cars are not clogging the streets. Mexico City does offer a lot that Guanajuato does not have access to. The museums in the capital are much larger and have bigger displays and more information. One of the first things that I noticed in Mexico City were the number of bookstores. In Guanajuato there are two very small, limited bookstores. Instead, a book fair comes to the city every so often and people can buy and sell books for two weeks before the fair moves on. The two cities are so very different, and while both have a lot to offer, I definitely feel more at home here in the mountains, in Guanajuato.