Puebla and Cholula - Mexico

Puebla and Cholula – Mexico

Post published:2 January 2014
Post category:Mexico North America

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Angelopolis, the City of Angels

Moving on to some other stunning cities while we traveling across Mexico we reach the jewels of Puebla and Cholula, some of the most wonderful places the country has to offer. Two cities right next to each other, the smallest volcano in the world, and the largest pyramid by volume in the world. Plenty to see and do, ideally on a two day visit although if time is your limitation, a well planned one day visit will be good enough as it was in our case.

Both cities, but specially Puebla, the 4th largest city in Mexico and a wonderful UNESCO World Heritage Site listed old town, do follow the usual Spanish colonial orthogonal street planning with a central square, usually named the Zocalo, home to the cathedral and City Hall buildings along the sides. From all the cities we visited, plus the many villages we passed by travelling on buses, this was repeated on and on. Having such city planning, it is almost impossible to get at any point lost.

The best way to fully discover and enjoy the countless historical buildings and sights all around is by doing spirals or zig zags. Both ways are quite self explained. After all the sizes of this places are small and straightforward.

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Teotihuacan - Mexico

Teotihuacan – Mexico

Post published:1 January 2014
Post category:Mexico North America

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Place Where Gods Were Born

Greetings from the stunning ancient city of Teotihuacan. Being the most visited place in Mexico there is no doubt to wonder why. Every visitor to Mexico City should include this place in their list, not only if you are just visiting DF or if on a wider tour around other cities across the country. It is one of the highlights of the American continent and for civilization lovers, it is one of the greatest places in the world. Included on any list of to-dos in a lifetime, of course listed by the UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

As opposed to what most people think, this is not a city from the ancient Maya, but from the Aztecs, although still unknown who precisely founded it. All that is known is that at the time, over 2000 years ago, it was already one of the largest cities on earth.

Today you can still admire such an impressive pyramidal structures, and the crown jewel of all, both the Sun and Moon pyramids; everything symmetrically organised along the Avenue of the Dead (Calzada de los Muertos). Incredible to think of such engineering and impressive techniques to build such enormous monuments. And consider that all you see there today are the stone constructions; now imagine how it would be looking in the ancient times with the countless homes made of wood surrounding the complex. Big! Yes, very big and overwhelming.

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Xochimilco - Mexico

Xochimilco – Mexico

Post published:31 December 2013
Post category:Mexico North America

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The Colorful Trajineras

The incredible UNESCO World Heritage Site listed Xochimilco is a place like no other. No visit to Mexico City can be completed until you come here. Those are the original canals and lakes built by the Aztecs that connected most of the settlements on the Valley of Mexico. Nowadays it is world famous for the colourful wooden boats taking locals and tourists alike up and down. The boats are called trajineras, and they are for rent on several options depending on size and time.

Having seen it in the movies, adverts and travel catalogs everywhere, it is somewhat one of the main images we have in mind when talking about Mexico. Colours, flowers, canals and boats, an unique experience not to be missed.

There are over 170km of canals and artificial islands all over Xochimilco. Of course the boats won’t take you any farther than the main canal and others on the side, but this is more than enough to appreciate the place and get to see how people also live on the shores. Watch out for the beautiful birds too but mostly, enjoy the quietness and music from the many mariachi boats passing by.

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Mexico City - Mexico

Mexico City – Mexico

Post published:31 December 2013
Post category:Mexico North America

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Ancient Tenochtitlan, capital of New Spain in colonial times

The long awaited winter trip finally came to a reality. Not only the excitement of going again on a long holiday, but for going to places in the world never been before and wishing so much for long to go. A tour from Mexico to Panama via Belize and Guatemala. It was the very first time travelling to the once called “New World” and now that I take the chance to make some further updates to this guide 6 years later, aiming for Central and South America is somewhat a priority with another 4 times and more to come.

So coming to stunning Mexico City, or simply DF. The massive place that rivals Tokyo, Seoul and Mumbai as the largest metropolitan areas by population in the world. Only with the approach when landing at the airport is a sight on its own. A continuous and massive net of streets, perfectly defined orthogonal streets and avenues without an end. We got to see the night when landing, but the day when taking off. It is even difficult to believe the infinite expansion of this city.

Now, forget those erroneous stereotypes, negative nicknames and bad reputation you have heard and read about. Mexico City is not as dangerous as such as any other city can be, like for example London, Paris or Barcelona. Yes you read this right. I am in fact more cautious when carrying my camera in other cities in Europe than I have been in Mexico City. Yes, of course the city is enormous, but the areas any tourist is ever going to be are totally safe, day and night. If anyone decides to go where they’re not supposed to be and something happen to them, then acts like this should not really be included on any rating deprecating the city’s reputation as unsafe. Or do you go to any dangerous area in the city you are living in? I take that for a no.

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