September 2017
After arriving Thursday evening, we ate a ridiculously good meal at Pujol. Our hotel was on the rooftop of a building right next to el Parque Alameda Central. The park was packed with visitors throughout the holiday weekend.
El Zócalo is Mexico City's main square, located in the center of the historic district. Prior to Spanish conquest, it was the main plaza of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. This weekend it was filled with decorations and extensive security, since the President of Mexico would be reciting el Grito de Dolores during the independence day festivities. We stopped at la Taqueria Los Cocuyos to try tacos de cabeza, lengua, y ojo (head, tongue, and eyeball). Later, we tried some spicy chapulines (grasshoppers) prepared in the traditional Oaxacan style.
Next we headed to the massive park, el Bosque de Chapultepec, for the afternoon. We stopped at the famous statue el Ángel de la Independencia on the way, and then visited el Museo Nacional de Antropología to learn about Mexico's indigenous civilizations. The museum also houses the impressive Aztec Sun Stone.
On Saturday, el día de la Independencia, we took a tour to see the ancient city of Teotihuacan. Established around 100 BC, it was the largest city in the Americas with a population of 125,000 or more. Today, three major pyramids along the avenue of the dead remain standing. Many sculptures of the feathered serpent and Tlaloc (the god of rain) remain in excellent condition on the pyramid of the plumed serpent - some of the sculptures even show colors from the original paint. We climbed the pyramid of the sun, the largest at Teotihuacan, which measures over 200 feet tall.
Finally we returned to the Zócalo to visit the Templo Mayor ruins and museum. The ruins are the remains of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan which eventually became Mexico City. According to legend, the Templo Mayor is the site where the first Aztec people saw the sign from the god Huitzilopochtli that they had reached the promised land. The iconic symbol was an eagle perched on a nopal cactus with a snake in his mouth, found today on Mexico's flag.
Taco de ojo: 8/10, taco al pastor: 10/10, taco de cabeza: 6/10, taco de lengua: 9/10
Click here for more photos
© 2017 Will Krieger