Day three, Mexico City: Into the past

Our cousin took us to nearby juice stand that also makes light milkshakes called licuados. It is an interesting store as it is run by a family and the two brothers making the jugos and liquados are blind. My cousin met the family years ago and said they used to do that on the street before the stand. They asked him for help on getting a store and he did.

Organization is the key for them. They know where everything is in their stand. They even take phone orders and are ready for deliveries made by the staff. If you didn’t know they were blind, you would have never thought about it. There drinks were really good too.

My cousin took us to make a run for his restaurant. He went to buy meat at a meat market area. If you like seeing a lot of dead meat, you would have been living a dream.

After he dropped the meat off at work, he picked up his wife and made a stop to the Basilica de Guadalupe. It is two churches in one location. The first church was built centuries ago and is slowly sinking in the soft soil of Mexico City so a new one was built and completed in 1976. The first church was closed when the new one opened but has since been reopened as they have been able to stop the sinking, although it is tilted. The church is also the most visited in the world; well, at least that is what the tour book said.

The next and final stop was a trip to Bosque de Chapultepec, a park in Mexico City host to the anthropological museum and the Castlio (castle) de Chapultepec.

When we arrived at the park we were in for a treat as natives were performing high atop a poll playing music. My dad told me to watch them. As I was setting up to record them, and right before I hit the record button they jumped off. They were tethered to the poll and hung upside down playing music as they slowly descended for about four minutes. It was an amazing site.

If you ever enter a museum or park like we had done yesterday at Teotihuacan you have to pay 35 pesos if you want to film. It is an interesting fee and something that might be hard to enforce since my camera doubles as a video camera.

There was so much to see about the history of Mexico before the Spain arrived. We walked around to learn more about Teotihuacan and they had some replica architecture there along with models of how the city looked.

The further you walk in the museum down each hall, the closer to our time it gets. At the midway point was the Aztec hall which was the biggest since they had the most artifacts. One of the biggest actual artifacts was this giant human sacrifice stone with a channel for the blood to flow out so it wouldn’t splatter all over the place. After several hundred sacrifices, you learn to do it efficiently. The hall also contained an actual Aztec calendar carved out of its location.

We then walked down to the Mayan hall where they had examples of their architecture. I was told it was accurate by my cousin and I believed him when I hit my head on the doorway.

On the way to the castle on top of a steep hill, we stopped off at a monument called the Monumento a Los Niños Heroes that honored six students – all teenagers – of the school that died defending the castle when it was a military school. The last survivor took the Mexican flag off pole and jumped off the cliff because he didn’t want it to fall in the U.S. hands.

The trip up the castle is a long walk uphill or a 13 peso ride up; we opted for the ride. The castle not only served as a military school but also a presidential palace. The castle is now a museum and it picks up right where the anthropological museum stopped; the history of Mexico with European influence. The building is preserved well and all the paintings and murals were beautiful, not to mention the view of the city.

I was pretty tired when I got home, mostly because I’ve been up since 8 a.m. local time, 6 a.m. PDT where I live. Tomorrow, we are going to do some shopping then go to the historical center of Mexico City where the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Palacio National and Templor Mayor are.

Day two, Mexico City: Amazing architecture, steep steps

I woke up after an hour of sleep with a huge headache. It felt as though someone was hammering a spike from the top of my head to my eye. I remember reading somewhere that a common aliment for someone that travels to a higher altitude is headaches. After almost an hour, the pain went away and I went back to sleep.

We went to the Pyramids of Teotihuacan at about midday and they are an amazing site. Walking up to the Pyramid of the Sun, the biggest of the pyramids, is intimating. My father and cousin stayed behind while his wife and two children came up with me.

The first main assault, or stairway, takes you half way up the pyramid. Now, the ancient Mesoamericans could not have been taller than five and a half feet tall, yet they made the steps so steep. I brought a set of walkie-talkies for the hike up so I could communicate with me dad because he told me he was going to stay behind. When we reached the half way point he asked me how I was doing. I told him I was winded.

The second assault wasn’t as bad since it wasn’t as long but the third one began with the steepest stairs I’d ever seen; almost latter like. Once past that, the stairs went back to “normal” and you’re on top. The view is amazing. You get to see the entire city of Teotihuacan with views of the other pyramids. I took a video and several photos and we began walking down as carefully as we could.

We then walked down to the Pyramid of the Moon. On the way we saw an ancient mural and ruins of the former city. My cousin’s son and I walked up the second pyramid. You can’t get to the top of that pyramid because it is closed off. You still get a nice view of the other pyramids and down the Avenue of the Dead.

We walked outside of the park and went to a nearby restaurant. As soon as we walked out of the gate we were met by met by at least eight food vendor vultures (for the lack of a better word) trying to get us to go to their restaurant. They just swarmed us and wouldn’t stop until we went to a restaurant. While there, I ordered enchiladas rojas and they looked like enchiladas café. The molé looked like chocolate, but they were very good.

We spent the rest of the day with family around the house. My father caught up with his sister. It was also my sister’s birthday. She visited here in months ago and they remember her so I turned the yahoo messenger on and had her have a webcam video conversation with the family here. They especially loved seeing her son talk on screen.

As for tomorrow, we plan to go to the marketplace to purchase meat for my cousin’s restaurant. After that we go to the Bosque de Chapultepec, a park that is home to museums – such as the Meuseo Nacional de Antropologia – and other monuments.

Day One, Mexico City: My height gave me away

I met my father at Los Angeles International Airport; he was wearing a black Stetson hat one of my sisters bought for him before my trip.

We checked in and without even leaving the country I had already failed my first Spanish quiz. I let my dad go in front of me and heard everything he asked and how my dad responded so it should have been a slam dunk. Wrong!

When it was my turn, the attendant assumed I spoke Spanish and got away with it for about 10 seconds. The second thing he asked my dad was: How many bags are you checking in? I knew that question and yet for some reason I didn’t get it. Within seconds my dad ripped me. So we already had a good time without even leaving.

My dad and I arrived in Mexico City at approximately 3:40 local time. We had our customs paperwork filled out before we landed but there was one more to fill out, a H1N1 flu questionnaire. It asked about how you felt two days before your trip and needed to be done before entering the country. If you answered yes to any question (Have you had a fever? Have you had sore muscles and so on) there was a doctor there to check you out.

I had an easier time with my luggage than my dad. By the time we got there my bag was there, my father wasn’t as lucky as he had to wait another 10 minutes. Once we got our bag we had to go through one more security check point and have our bags scanned again. Then there was a random check and you had to push a button and it either gave you a green light or a red light. I got the green. My dad got the red so he needed his bag check one more time.

Once we got out my cousin, who I have never met, stopped me and said, “Andres?” I said yes. He soon saw my father and embraced him. Every time I go with my dad to meet family, my father is always treated with the utmost respect. He introduced me to his wife and son and we got into his van to go to my Aunt’s place. Getting there was quite the adventure.

Now, I’ve just started playing the video game Grand Theft Auto for the past month and the one thing I can take from that game is that there are no traffic laws in that game. Run over pedestrians, rear end a cop, it’s usually all good. My cousin was a former taxi cab driver and drives like that video game. My sister had posted a video of his driving and it was pretty amazing. Experiencing it first hand was unbelievable. It was just like GTA, mainly because drivers are doing what they want. There were times that I had no idea who had the right of way. And just like the video game, he would pass the police with little hassle. I just sat there in awe.

Also, this was the first time in 20 years I didn’t wear a seatbelt. I realized I was the only one buckled up when we were almost at our destination. Apparently it is not a law.

We arrived at my aunt’s and meet more family. It was a Spanish style house with a center court. It’s a pretty inviting style and comfortable too because it was cooler outside than it was inside. More family came by to see my dad and later on my cousin took me and my dad to a nearby restaurant that he runs where I meet more family.

The typical response after meeting me was, “You’re so tall.” At just under six feet, I don’t consider myself tall although on average I am. The average height for an adult male in Mexico is about 5-5. For a Mexican-American it is 5-7. So, I have been getting some looks and I’m sure that is going to happen to me for the rest of the week.

The only real downside about today is that I’ve been real tired. I went to bed last night at 2 a.m and got up at 6 for the flight. Beyond that, I’m having a great time.

Tomorrow we go to the pyramids at Teotihuacan. I plan to walk to the top of one and hopefully, I won’t be suffering from any altitude sickness since I moved up from about 50 feet above sea level to more than 7,400 in the span of a day. The smog won’t help either.

Almost in Mexico

I’m a few hours away from flying to Mexico City, my second international trip.

This time instead of going with a friend I am going with my father. I’ve been told by some of my sisters that he is looking forward to me going with him and I can say the feeling is mutual. After taking my father to Las Vegas I know we are going to have fun.

I was told by my dad that he would be staying with my aunt and that I would stay with my cousin, which is fine. I just wonder how I’m going to tour the city and if I am going with my dad or I’ll be going at it alone. I’m sure everything will be worked out.

I look forward to whatever happens, even if that means me going out on my own. That does present me with a kind of a problem I’m ashamed to admit: my Spanish isn’t as it should be. The last time I went out of the country it wasn’t a problem since I was in Tokyo and people helped you as best they could. Now, I’m not saying the people of Mexico City won’t help me, but they will just look at me and assume I can speak the language. I can speak, but it is so remedial. I just feel it is going to be embarrassing for me because I should know more and don’t.

I know my family will help me as much as they can, maybe a little protective. I’m going to be grateful for that since this will be the first time that I meet some of them. I have a feeling I’ll know just enough to get by.

I plan to go to as many museums, parks and monuments I can and hopefully my dad will be with me. I know we are going to Teotihuacan and look at the pyramids there. But the big highlight, well at least for me outside of spending time with family, is going to the World Cup qualifying match at Estadio Azteca. I’m going to be among the up to 105,000 spectators cheering for their nation as they take on El Salvador. A win clinches a berth in the 2010 World Cup with a match to play.

As a journalist, especially one that works in sports, it can’t get any better. I’ve been in stadiums where there are professionals playing for a club. This, however, is for national pride and I can only imagine that I’ll feel the entire nation in there with me.

For now, I’ve taken every precaution in regards staying well and have taken a lot of advice from how to deal with the thin air, pollution and personal safety. Soon enough it will be time to put that in action.