THURSDAY 4TH - MEXICO CITY

 

Much has been said to us about how busy and disorderly Mexico City would be so we have been pleasantly surprised to find that, although busy, we have certainly experienced worse.

 

We had a full program with our tour guide Mario today and he was absolutely in his element, reliving his younger days when he lived in the city and enjoying sharing his memories with us. He showed us the 1920's built extremely grand Post Office, the National Arts Museum and the Main Square

 and took us to the very grand Mexico Cathedral .

Much of the day was spent with an excellent English speaking anthropology guide Alejandro found by Mario who gave us an remarkably detailed tour of the Mexico Cathedral and the National Palace.

He gave an incredibly detailed discourse on Mexican history. We are definitely suffering from information overload. What I can recall is that the Cathedral is in the Guiness Book of Records for four reasons – The biggest bells in the world,

the biggest church organ in the world,

the heaviest weight bearing wall in the world and the biggest statue made out of keys!

Mexico City is built over an ancient lake and is in an earthquake zone so many buildings including the cathedral are subject to movement and are noticeably out of alignment.

There was a significant earthquake in 1985 which resulted in the unearthing of many archaeological remains of former buildings which had been covered up by subsequent construction over them.

 As a result of subterranean movement Mexico City has its own leaning tower.

Today was our last day with Therese and Mario. They go off to join friends tomorrow and we will be left to our own devices until we leave on Monday. With the assistance of Mario and the hotel concierge, we have an excellent program mapped out to see more of the local sights including a concert on Sunday at the Palace of Bellas Artes.

We are incredibly grateful to Therese and Mario for the Mexican experience they have facilitated for us.