Mexico City and its birth the sword and blood

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Date: 13/12/2012 to 17/12/2012

The 08 November 1519 The meeting took place between Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma II. Almost two years later, the 13 August 1521, Tenochtotlan definitely fell into the hands of the Spanish and Cuauhtémoc was captured. As aptly put it Jaime Torres Bodet, such an event "was not victory nor defeat, was the painful birth of the mestizo town that is Mexico today ". (Templo Mayor Museum)

We left Teotihuacan Thursday, 31 December, rumo Mexico City. Besides we have already heard that the traffic in the city is chaotic, then it would be best to get there as late as possible, also told us that the city cops love foreign cars stop and charge fees, since the traffic laws of the city are quite restrictive and somewhat complex. De fate, prohibits the movement of cars with license plates from outside Mexico City during peak hours, but how many foreigners do not know or do not quite understand how this rule works, some police officers take advantage of this situation. Anyway, As we were driving through the night, would be more difficult to be identified as foreign. As we expected, we were not stopped by anyone and took an hour and a half to travel the 50km that separated us from our destination, due to the traffic that was in the city, although the time. A Lícia, André girlfriend, and her boyfriend Gabriel received us in his apartment, where we slept by 4 nights we stayed in Mexican capital.

Before continuing, tell you a little history of the city. Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, by the fourteenth century, existed in the local capital of the Aztec empire, city ​​that was called Tenochtitlan. At the time, the area was a lake with several islands and a main, was located where the main Aztec temple city, today called the Templo Mayor. The islands were interconnected with each other and the mainland by bridges and counted also developed a system of dikes. The Aztec city has become one of the largest cities in the world in this period, with more than 250 thousand inhabitants. In 1519 Spaniards arrive. Led by ambitious conqueror Hernan Cortes, who dreamed of the riches of numerous legends present in Tenochtitlán, Spaniards entered the capital and were greeted amiably by Aztec leader Moctezuma II, because this still was not sure who the visitors: could be sent from the gods or ordinary people.

After a few months, European invaders began the attack on the town. With the help of strategies provided by local tribes who were unhappy with the taxes levied by Moctezuma II and relying on firearms, the conquest of the territory was rapid and lasted only two years. The city was destroyed by the Spaniards, literally leaving no stone unturned. In its place, Cortez decided to found the capital of New Spain, and began construction of the new city on top of the old. Over time the lake that existed in the region was drying up completely disappear.

Unfortunately, extreme aggressiveness of the European invaders in the past makes today is not nearly nothing of the ancient Aztec capital and powerful, only small and destroyed ruins of what was once one of the greatest empires of all America.

Well, arrived on Thursday, 13 December, dined with the Lycian at the mall that is close to his apartment and went to sleep because, the next morning, Tana had a marked revision in Nissan. As programmed, spent the morning of 14 December with Tana at the dealership and after it is released, took her back to the building and left the Lycian subway to visit the historical center of the city, which also was located, there 600 years old, a capital Tenochtitlan Asteca.

As soon as we arrived we were already looking for a place for lunch, because we had not taken breakfast that day and we were starving. Following our guide Lonely Planet, fall at a restaurant on the second floor of a house, that had potential to be good and homey.

However, the menu in Spanish and English have already signaled that the site was affiliated to Gringolandia. Said and done: the food came on a wooden board, which was wrapped in a plastic bag to not make it dirty (horrible craze among some Mexican restaurants), and although it is not bad, faltava flavor and personalidade. Unfortunately most restaurants guide appointed by U.S. suffer from this same malady: what was once a local environment with good food, ends up becoming standardized today something to please the gringos. Over time we learned to better filter these options and just use the guide to find restaurants of the region, ourselves looking for the best option instead of going straight to the restaurant indicated by Lonely Planet. Then yes find the real gems of local cuisine.

After lunch we went for a walk around the city center, crowded with people walking to and fro and also some political demonstrations in front of government buildings. As the city is also the political center of the country, There is a mix of people shopping, people coming and going of people expressing their jobs and, all in the same space, which leaves the central region quite busy every day of the week. Walking through the center, near the Templo Mayor Museum, saw a street full of vendors on the floor, all shouting wildly to call customers, with products supported on cloths extended. The curious thing was that trade, apparently irregular, rode up on the sidewalk next to groups of police officers who apparently turned a blind eye to the issue.

Well, like any other portrait in the city, We were shooting the moment and, when least expected, comes a man asking to see the photo we had taken. We were not understanding anything, how well this guy wanted to see our photos? But in a few seconds longer grasp the message: man carried a radio communication and was apparently exchanging messages with someone who passed orders. What he wanted was for us deletássemos the pictures we took of merchants irregular, but did not want to tell us because he wanted that. We deduce that what happens is that the photos show, not be our intention, irregular trading on the sidewalk and the police in the background, two realities that should not coexist. Now, at the behest of the man who works, is left to the reader to conclude. Anyway, fingimos that shutdown tínhamos posts and we, seeing that there were at least more 2 people who were approaching tourists asking to erase the photos. Below is a picture that we take:

We continued walking and knowing the center, Indians crossed themselves where tourists and locals with their herbs. We also went by the beautiful post office building in the city, all recovered and retained.

Finally, we went to the museum of the Temple Mayor, which includes the ruins of the temple (as previously dito, the temple was almost destroyed in the Spanish invasion) and a museum that has several objects and information from the creation of the current Mexico City. Inclusive, the phrase that opens the post is written in one of these panels in the museum. The ride over the ruins of what was once a great temple is somewhat frustrating, to see how barbaric culture was annihilated by Spanish invasion. And to make matters worse, the new city built by the Spaniards was made using stones left over from the destruction. In other words, nothing remains.

In the following centuries the Spanish occupation, works in the city also ignored the historical importance of the Aztec ruins and did not bother to keep it. It is seen by the work on the pipelines that were installed in city water: he cuts to ruin the middle.

The tour of the ruins of the Templo Mayor disregard this evidence that the ancient rulers had with the region's past. Anyway, The museum focuses many parts of Aztec culture very seriously and explains the history of the ancient city of Tenochtitlan and the Spanish invasion, that we post early. Well worth the visit.

We left the museum in the evening and spent the Metropolitan Cathedral in Mexico City, giant, with an altar adorned with gold.

We walked around town and took a walk along the Alameda Central, park where we met several couples enjoying the late afternoon, before taking the subway back to the area where the apartment was the Licia, we were getting.

We had dinner crepes in the same shopping the previous day and went to the apartment to shower and sleep, after long days.

The post about our journey through Mexico City continues in the next reporting!

To see more photos of this post, click here!