Mexico City, Part 2

Day 3

Saturday was truly our day of adventure! I had researched how to take the local bus to Teotihuacan, an ancient city with the third largest pyramid in the world. Knowing that it was going to be a full day, we wanted to start our day out with a great breakfast, so we headed back to the gf/df bakery. There happened to be a normal bakery next door to the gluten free one, so Ben bought his breakfast pastries there. It made me laugh to see him walk in with this flowery box! 

Then, we took another uber to the central bus station in Mexico City. Now that was a crazy place! Imagine an airport terminal, only this one is for buses: there were hundreds of taxi's lined up in front, hundred of buses of all different shapes, colors, and sizes and SO many people traveling all over North America. We found our ticket counter, our gate and our bus and left within 15 minutes of arriving at the bus station...thankful that it all "worked." All the boys were so excited to be riding on a bus! Oh, and let it also be noted that first thing this morning when I referred to Josh as my "baby," he informed me that he's no longer a baby, but a kid.

The bus ride was about an hour long, and it took us through "real" Mexico, not the rich suburbs or downtown centers that we have been experiencing. It was fascinating (and sad) to observe beautifully colored cement huts with corrugated metal roofs, hanging laundry, smaller than small square footage, all packed closely together. We saw (and smelled) a lot of garbage. We saw a lot of poverty.

Then the city slowly turned into more countryside, with rolling hills, then a small town, and then Teotihuacan and the pyramids.

Here's a short history lesson from what we've learned of Teotihuacan. The city dates back to around 100 BC and it is unknown who the inhabitants were and why they eventually deserted the city (600-800 years later). At it's peak, it's believed to have housed around 125,000 people. There are two enormous pyramids, as well as the ruins of a city. Our initial impressions were: first, the pyramids were even bigger than we could have imagined. Second, the haggling of the street vendors was something fierce. Each vendor had his own goods that he aggressively showed us why we needed to buy it immediately. The coolest souvenirs were various carved "calls," of jaguars, tigers, eagles, and owls. Later, we would be suckered into buying one for each of the kids. I say suckered, because between the pyramids and home, just about every appendage of those animal whistles broke off.

We decided to start our tour with the Pyramid of the Moon; although it is the smaller of the two pyramids and you can only climb half way up, it has a view of the whole valley from the platform that you reach. The stairs were incredibly steep and tall, but the kids did great. The view from the top was spectacular!

It's hard to describe how steep the stairs were, but hopefully these pictures help tell the story

Joshy went up most of this one by himself

The (bigger) Pyramid of the Sun is behind us as well as the ancient city

I'm pretty pleased with these family pictures. It's not every day you get to take a picture on a pyramid!

As we did the equally hard climb down (with Ben carrying Josh), I think that we all wondered how in the world we were going to climb the 248 steps of the Pyramid of the Sun.

We made an effort to take some cool artistic pictures of the boys "touching" the Pyramid of the Moon. I'm not sure that we succeeded.

Seth, Sam

We sauntered over to the pyramid, parked the stroller and decided to take it slow. Ben and I weren't sure that we'd be able to make it all the way up with Josh, but we just decided to take it one section of stairs at a time. As you can notice in the picture below, you are allowed to climb all the way to the top of this pyramid, and it is taller than the last one! The people on top look like ants.

The big boys at the bottom of the first staircase. Look at the incline of the pyramid shown by the people climbing the stairs behind them!

Josh did some of the climbing and Ben carried him some of the way. Bit by bit, we worked our way up, each time more and more amazed at the view.



We took periodic sitting breaks on the way up...we'd just plop down right on the side of the pyramid.

Sam

Does this give you a perspective of how big the pyramid is?

I love this next one!

And this one too!


In the end, we all made it all the way to the top--to the top of the 3rd largest pyramid in the world! That felt like a great family accomplishment!

And although Ben had to carry him a lot...

We were pretty darn proud of Josh for getting to the top with us! Let's just say that there weren't many three year olds up there (and maybe not as many crazy parents either).

Thankfully, we all made it down the steep decent as well. Those are some intense stairs!

By the time we got to the bottom, we were hot, tired, parched, and starting to get sunburned. But we did have to stop for one more family picture in front of the Pyramid of the Sun, the third largest pyramid in the world!


We didn't tarry much longer at the pyramids; we bought a few souvenirs, ate lunch, and caught the bus back to Mexico City. A funny memory is literally being chased down the street by representatives of at least five different restaurants, all shouting loudly at us to visit their restaurant. We were surrounded by them and they were all shoving menus in our faces. Ben thought it was hilarious, I thought it was embarrassing and awkward.

On the return bus ride we got the whole back row to ourselves. It may have been more bumpy, but Ben and I were happy not to have to have Josh on our laps (on the way there we only had 4 seats instead of 5). We snacked, rested, and Ben I wondered how the kids were still chattering away?! I think that he and I would have preferred a nap!

It was only around 4:30 in the afternoon when we arrived back at the bus station, and we all had just relaxed for an hour or so on the bus, so Ben and I decided to push for a bit more touring that evening (since it was our last full day and all). Next stop was an uber ride to Palacio de Bellas Artes, which is a beautiful building that houses an art museum in the historic district of Mexico City. It is also an enormous park/plaza connected to a pedestrian-only street. This was one of the craziest things that we did with the kids, as the entire place was packed with people. Ben estimated that there was at least 10,000 people in the immediate area. When we would cross the street, there was probably at least 200 people lined up on each corner, crossing one another's paths as you walked. It was pretty stressful keeping track of the twins, but they did awesome and took all the busyness in stride.

Isn't it just beautiful?

There were beautiful statues all around

Getting ready to cross the street!

Pedestrian only road

While in front of Palacio de Bellas Artes, we were stopped by a young man and a 10 year old boy. They were cousins and the older was having the younger practice his English with us. He did a interview with Ben and the boys and did a great job overcoming his shyness. It was a neat experience.

In this plaza there is also a 42-story skyscraper where you can take an elevator to the top observation tower. The view from the top was spectacular!

We could see all of Mexico City, and finally could even make out outlines of the mountains (the smog of the city is awful, so although it has mountains all around it, you could barely ever see them). It was pretty amazing to see the expansive city of 23 million people. We could also see a unique perspective of all the people within the plaza and all the cars driving around it. I'm really glad we made this little unplanned detour to the tower!

It's pretty cool that the boys got to see such a massive city

Looking down on the roof of the Palacio de Bellas Artes

Check out all the cars!

A picture from the outside observation deck of the tower. It was freezing (as you can see, there's a storm blowing in behind Ben and the boys).

Day 4

Our final day in Mexico City also happened to be Mother's Day. It was the first morning where we didn't needed to rush out of the hotel, so we cuddled, played and slowly ate breakfast in the room (we had bought extra pastries and fruit the day before). We only had a couple hours before needing to leave for the airport, so the only thing we did was visit an artisan street market. I wanted to be able to shop for presents for each of our moms for Mother's Day, as well as pick up some souvenirs for our family. It was a really fun outing! We arrived just as people were opening their shops, so we some of the few people wandering the corridors of the market. I loved all the colors, textures, and variety of goods. We found presents for the moms, a Christmas ornament, and even a small nativity set for our home.

Shopping at a market was a great present for me!

The shop where we bought Diane's present (a plate). I made Ben do all the negotiating...it makes me uncomfortable!

Honestly, by this time, we were all exhausted and ready to go home! Ben, Sam and Seth were all having a bit of diarrhea (maybe bad ice, food or something?) and we were just tired. It was a really busy 4 days. When our jet landed in Monterrey, we couldn't believe how great it felt to see the mountains of the city and some open spaces. Wherever you look in Mexico City, you only see gray cement, cars, people, and maybe a hint of overcast, smoggy sky. I guess it took us visiting a BIG city to realize how much we like Monterrey. It was the first time that all of us really felt like we were going "home" to our apartment here. It was a good feeling.  

A couple final thoughts about our Mexico City trip: first of all, Ben and I kept being reminded of our trips to Turkey and Europe (8+ years ago). This made us realize that we are finally traveling and adventuring again! How exciting! And this time with kids...even more crazy and special. The second note that I have to make is that the kids did absolutely amazing the whole trip. They  really surpass all expectations each time we make a trip like this. Sam and Seth walked and walked and walked with us--around 6 miles each day! All the boys adapted to rapidly getting in and out of uber cars, sitting in some of the worst traffic in the world, walking through thick crowds of people, and being in countless situations that they had never been in. It is a delight to expose them to places such as bus stations and plazas filled with people of a different culture. And we are so proud of them! And while we kind of felt like the Lord was throwing us into a trip like Mexico City before we thought we were "ready," we are thankful for His perfect timing as it helped us realize how much we value the city that He placed us in!