After Teotihuacan, we went to Mexico City, Federal District. It was a packed weekend, so I am going to write probably three installations about DF, partly because I can only upload 5 photos at a time and partly because it would get too long and no one really wants to read that much in one sitting.
Fast facts about Mexico City:
1. With 20 million inhabitants, it is the largest metropolis in the Western Hemisphere. As a reference, 20 million is the number of inhabitants in Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota COMBINED.
2. Mexico City is sinking.
3. It's sinking because it's built on a lake.
4. It's built on a lake because the conquistadores took over the Aztec civilization Tenochtitlan, which was a city of canals and rivers.
5. The Aztec people chose this lake (Texcoco?) because it is where they saw an eagle eating a serpent on a prickly pear cactus. Ever wonder where the picture on the Mexican flag came from? Now you know.
6. There are big pollution problems in Mexico City. Note the smog.
In these pictures are a few of the things we saw: I can't remember if that's the cathedral or the basilica or what, but there it is big and old, El Palacio Nacional, the view from the Torre lationamericana, Bellas Artes, and the Latin American Tower.
After touring around, we explored a little around the neighbor, outside of the centro, which was really cool. We got to see where people really live, the less touristy part. It was loud and crowded. Vendors with random things stood on corners shouting what they offered, so loudly I couldn't hear what they were saying. There were stores packed with stuff and streets stuffed with people. We walked around a block or two just to see and then headed back. It was cool to see, but I don't want to live there.
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