So less than a week from when Dave's mom left, Amy and Vinnie came to stay with us. Amy is Dave's cousin and Vinnie is her Irish (now) husband. They arrived late on Wednesday night. Dave had to work on Thursday so I was the lowly tour guide. Unfortunately, Amy had arrived with a nasty cold which put her out of commission most of the day. When she was up and feeling a little better, we headed to the one of two places I feel like I can navigate myself to, besides the stores in our neighborhood, the Sky Mall (La Cuspida). This mall overlooks the mountains and a greater part of the Mexico City area. The stores there are not that great, but there are many restaurants and it's worth going there just for the view.
On Friday, we went to the other place that I have driven to, the Pyramids. (On a side note, I hate driving in Mexico City and pretty much refuse to drive anywhere, yet, I have driven over an hour out to the Pyramids twice.)
Teotihuacan is an enormous archaeological site of some of the largest pyramids built in the Pre-Columbian Americas. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan) This was my first time to the pyramids so I wasn't sure what to expect. It is a huge complex and we parked in the first parking lot that we came to, which was close to the museum and the area known as the Citadel. Between the Citadel and the Sun and Moon Pyramids is the Valley of Death. I have to admit that I wasn't that interested in going to this tourist site, but once you get there, you are overwhelmed with the enormity of the place.
By this time, I was almost 5 months pregnant and starting to show! We climbed several small structures in the Citadel and dodged all the natives selling crafts and other trinkets. Then we hiked the mile down the Valley of Death to the Sun and Moon Pyramids. Claire climbed almost to the top of the Sun Pyramid. She stopped one landing short of the top, partly because I was afraid for her to go that high (the last leg is pretty much straight up) and also because she was tired. She stayed with Vinnie while I climbed to the top to meet up with Amy. There is a spectacular view and even though I am afraid of heights (and swear to never even go up the Eiffel Tower again), I enjoyed the view and just stayed clear of the edge!
I was so thankful to go the first time with Amy and Vinnie because they were so helpful in getting Claire up and down the pyramid. Going up is actually the easy part, it's looking down and trying to walk down crumbling steps without railings that is super scary. We all started heading towards the Moon Pyramid when Claire started complaining about wanting to go home. I knew this was my clue to head back towards the entrance with her. Overall, she was good and did so much walking, but as the day wore on, it started getting hotter and I knew she had to be getting tired. Amy and Vinnie headed off to the Moon Pyramid, while I hiked back with Claire on my shoulders through the mile long Valley of Death, again. (Now we know that there are several parking lots and it is quite easy to drive to them so you are not walking this mile while pregnant with a child on your shoulders!) We checked out the very quaint (and by quaint, I mean small) museum that consists of four rooms of artifacts (They have just barely scratched the surface of this archeological site) and waited for Amy and Vinnie to return, which was surprisingly a short amount of time considering they climbed another pyramid!
Saturday started off as it normally does when we have visitors (and sometimes even when we don't have visitors), we headed to Bazaar de Sabado. Amy and Vinnie loved checking out the vendors and I think the big purchases were Mexican wrestling masks for Vinnie's friends! After the bazaar, we headed to the neighboring city of Coyoacan. We parked near a plant nursery and decided to try and fit in the Frida Kahlo museum which is nearby. Claire had fallen asleep, so Dave, Amy, and Vinnie went and bought basil plants (something that I had been hunting for since we arrived) and then on to the museum. When Claire woke up, we navigated our way to the museum as well.
The Frida Kahlo museum is one of my favorite museums for several reasons. First of all, it is a small museum that is situated in the house that Frida grew up in and later shared with Diego Rivera. Second, it is such a quiet, calm place that it doesn't even feel like a museum. The house is an old hacienda that has several rooms with paintings by Frida, photos of Diego's travels and work, and photos of Frida when she was a child. It also has many of her belongings and it is set up as it most likely was when she was alive. Her studio has a large library, desks with art supplies, her bed that she spent a large majority of her time in, and the kitchen and other rooms are also staged. It was so nice to sit in the courtyard and chill for a bit before heading home.
Sunday was our last day with Amy and Vinnie. We headed down to Xochimilco, which is a series of canals and all that remains of the ancient Lake Xochimilco. You travel on trajineras (boats) that can hold between 20 - 30 people. When we got into the town heading towards the canals, we were bombarded with men on bicycles trying to flag us down. Dave was doing his best to ignore them and concentrate on driving, but they just kept looking in the car windows and showing us lanyards with pictures of boats around their necks. I said, "I think they are trying to lead you to the boats." So we picked one of the guys and followed him to his parking lot. They gave us a driver and we went to pick out our boat. This was our first time to Xochimilco and we were not versed on how much it should cost. They pretty much took advantage of this fact and we paid an arm and a leg for our boat ride. We have later learned that there is another area that you can leave from that has a set (and much cheaper) price. The other area also has a large market area that sells Mexico's finest! We also did not know that you could bring all your own food and drinks so Dave and Vinnie bought a bucket of beer to bring along with us.
We set off on the canals with a traveling time of two hours. Also, with you out on the canals are vendors selling flowers, fresh grilled corn, and other trinkets and mariachi bands that will tie up to tour boat and play you some songs for a small fee. We traveled down the busy canals that are lined with plant nurseries and refreshment stands selling ice cream and drinks. We passed an area of trees that were covered with old dolls and stuffed animals hanging from the trees. Legend has it that a young girl died there and was said to haunt the place. Shortly after her death, a man purchased the land and when a doll washed up on shore, he believed it be a sign of her spirit so he hung it in the tree. He started collecting more and more of these dolls to appease the girl's spirit. Later, he also passed away in a mysterious fashion and was found dead in the same vicinity that the girl was found. Now, if you go to that area, you are suppose to bring a doll as a peace offering and the place is still considered haunted. (Here is a link to the story: http://www.suite101.com/content/the-island-of-the-dolls-a169586)
It was a great day out on the water, although a little chilly. Amy got suckered into purchasing some jewelry from a vendor that hopped on board our boat. We enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the experience.
On Monday, Dave, Claire, and I had to head into Mexico City to meet with the company lawyer to sign some forms for our Visas and since Amy and Vinnie were continuing their vacation by staying at a B and B in downtown for a few days, we all went together. After a short stop at the Visa office and another photo shoot for Claire's Visa, we drove into the Centro Historic district to drop Amy and Vinnie off. They stayed at a great B and B for a few more days enjoying the closer proximity to many of the sites of Mexico City.
We enjoyed their stay with us, especially since Amy is also a vegetarian!!! They were great guests and it was nice to have another couple to hang out with for a few days.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
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