Mexico City, Mexico
We’re not in Mexico anymore. That rural landscape filled with wandering dogs, and horses, and cattle, where tiny shops and taco stands seem to be everywhere. That place where nothing seems new, but everything is charming in an old dusty kind of way. Where people are kind and caring and family seems to predominate. Where every town has a big church and a central square.
No. We seem to have left all that behind when we entered this new land – filled with Starbucks, and electric vehicles, and Walmart grocery stores that look more like fancy Lunds and Byerlys, with in-house bakeries, with European and American tourists around every corner, and with dogs on leashes and even professional dog walkers – catering to a monied class that definitely does not exist in any major way outside of the big cities.
The airbnb we are renting overlooks a green space – the Bosque de Chapultepec – filled with big, fancy museums, water fountains, and grand statues and public artwork.
I went to get Diana a cup of joe yesterday and the place I visited is one of those ultra-swanky coffee shops with custom-made pour-overs. (It took like five minutes to get the coffee . . .) This is in contrast to the normal Mexican java: here’s a cup of hot water and there’s some instant Sanka on the table – help yourself.
If not for the $55 per night that we are paying for our airbnb I would swear we we were staying on the Upper West Side of Central Park.
Kind of culture shock really.
It’s like a vacation from our actual journey. And, I guess, that’s how we’re treating it. It doesn’t hurt that for some odd reason three of Diana’s extended family members happen to be here on actual vacations right now, and a loyal member of our blog community – Laura B – is here for a week, taking a crash course in Spanish. Meaning that we have had opportunity to stroll the boulevards with friends and talk about the meaning of the election like we were normal people still in the U.S.
Yesterday we visited two big museums – the Museo Nacional de Antropología, and the Castillo de Chapultepec, a super-impressive castle that houses an also-impressive Mexican history museum. Thanks to Google Translate’s photo feature you can read virtually all the interpretive stuff in the museums like you were a native speaker.
We learned a lot about Meso-America (which is, I guess, defined roughly as an historical region that comprises most of Mexico, and parts of Central America), the history of New Spain, Mexico, and the territories of New Spain that later became Texas and most of what we think of as the Western United States today.
Some of what we gleaned:
- There were a number of big societies/empires that rose and fell before Columbus ever reached these shores.
- They seem to have mostly been located up in the high plains – the Puebla area, the Mexico City area, El Tajin, and the Oaxaca area being a few prime examples. (I’m thinking that the temperate climates where agriculture could flourish helped foment the establishment of these more complex social structures.)
- Like most societies, they all seemed to be built around a unique religious/spiritual world view, or mythology.
- Many of these societies seemed to believe that human sacrifice was important.
- The Mexicas (also, I think, known as the Aztecs) were big believers in these sacrifices, and in the decades before Cortes’ arrival were not necessarily nice to their neighbors. I guess one of the Montezumas (there were a few, I think) led raids on the neighbors and used some treachery to take territory and find new people to sacrifice. It was for a good cause – pleasing the gods and all – but still, not a great way to make friends.
- When Cortes arrived these neighbors were more than happy to help the Spanish vanquish the Aztecs.
- The Spanish ruled what is now Mexico, along with vast territories to the north (roughly comprised of present day Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and California) with the Catholic Church playing a huge role in governing, and, of course, in converting all the indigenous peoples.
- It’s all still murky to me, but it seems like the Spaniards and the Catholic Church were more astute at absorbing the indigenous peoples and, in fact, in ending up with a much more blended culture than we have in the U.S. (Of course, in our current world, making any type of cultural assertion is bound to get someone upset. But if you ask me the Mexicans did something right here in ending up with people that carry forward parts of the cultural heritages of both worlds – thus, making a whole new and unique culture of their own.)
- In the early 1800s people in Mexico begin to look around – they saw what had happened in the U.S. with our revolution, they learned of the French Revolution, and they realized that they were sick of Spanish rule. A priest named Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla wrote a Mexican version of the Declaration of Independence and, after an eleven year struggle, the Mexicans gained their independence from Spain.
- There was a fancy new constitution in 1824 – but the Mexicans had a hard time holding the new republic together and there were something like 18 presidents over the next eleven years.
- In the meantime the Mexicans made the mistake of granting Stephen Austin some land in what was then the Mexican territory of Tejas. (The Spanish and the Mexicans had a hard time getting anyone to move to Texas because of the harsh nature of the land – I guess the rattle snakes and alligators and stuff . . .) Austin (and, later, Austin’s son) could bring in pioneers from the United States – but they had to either be Catholic or convert to Catholicism – or they couldn’t get any land. There were lots of pretend conversions – I think the pioneers had their fingers crossed or something when they were baptized into the Catholic Church – and eventually these new Texians – as I think they were called then – declared their independence from Mexico. The Mexicans tried to quell this rebellion – and they killed everyone after a long siege at the Alamo in what is now San Antonio – but eventually the Texians succeeded and left Mexico behind.
- Later – starting in 1846 – the U.S. and Mexico got into a dispute about where the border in Texas was. And the Mexicans weren’t happy that the U.S. was annexing Texas – which the Mexicans still felt was rightfully theirs. The U.S. was having none of it – and wanted to keep expanding anyway. Eventually, in 1848, the Mexicans signed over 55% of their territory to the U.S. – including all the Western stuff that we talked about before. (I don’t know about you – but I never learned much about this war. Seems like kind of a big deal since it landed us a huge chunk of our country.)
- The rest of the nineteenth century seems to have been marked by a series of different governments in Mexico. At one point – around the time of the Civil War in America – the French were in control and installed an emperor guy to lead Mexico. That lasted a few years before he was captured and killed by the republicans.
- One of the big recurring struggles – and continuing contradictions – involved the role of the Catholic Church in Mexico and Mexican politics. Today Mexico has a secular government – like the United States has (and hopefully still will have in the years to come) – but it took a long time for the Mexicans to get there . . .
- I’m even more murky on the last hundred years or so. We started running out of museum-steam at this point . . . We will have to do some more research – but I don’t think the Mexicans have ever had a particularly stable governing system.
So there’s your history lesson for the day . . . Feel free to chime in with additional facts, or with corrections or modifications to what we think we have learned.
One more day in the capital today before we head toward Oaxaca and then Central America.
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Exciting! I love spying on the dog trainers at Parque Mexico. Where did you eat?? If you have a chance to try El Hildalguense before you leave, it’s a real treat for barbacoa. It’s only open Friday/Saturday/Sunday (because they spend all week preparing the barbacoa) and the hours or 7AM-6PM. (It can be breakfast, lunch or dinner, as the hours imply.) It’s located at 155 Campeche in Roma Sur.
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Nice historical summary-museums always a good way to get some historical/cultural insights. Recently I know there has been some turmoil there with controversial judicial reforms.
Enjoy your time in the city with family and friends. Hopefully you get some well-needed downtime, and maybe find some new tires for Old Dan and Little Anne!
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Great episode/report, John and Diana! Keep up with your great journey! Mexico has a new Presidente, who values the planet and her people. Things will be different here in the US when you eventually return…. if you decide to eventually return….
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Hi John & Diana… Good to see you are well and happy on your trip. When I was able to enjoy rural Mexico about 25 years ago, it was, as is you are experiencing it now. Hope you et a chance to savor the delicious Qaxacan cheese AND…Oaxaca is considered “one of Mexico’s gastronomic capitals:
Dine on cecina, tlayudas, tamales, chapulines, squash blossom soup, and huitlacoche and adorn your tacos, tostadas, and memelas with local herbs like pitiona, hoja santa, chepiche, and epazote.” A book that I have read and I highly recommend you pick up in Mexico City is “1491” by Charles Mann. Its lengthy, but will give you great insights on your next countries for the kilometers ahead for the next few months. Given the upcoming, new status quo from the national election…If the expanded tariffs are adopted, the Peso will probably continue to devalue… HOWEVER: For all of those (USA) Christians out there:”For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)
One of the important lessons I learned on my international travels is the USA is NOT America… America consists of 34 other countries. Given the new Trump “Immigration Mandate” think it about it conversely… How likely would it be for a Mexican National to replicate your trip in the USA, be able to get across the border, and not get deported in 2025? I now seance Mahatma Ghandi daily for peaceful resistance and strength….Enough of my grieving… Charlie
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Thanks Charlie. Will try the Oaxaca cheese and other culinary delights for sure. Just put a hold on 1491 through my Libby app. Thanks for that.
On other topics… I am not a supporter of the Trump tariff idea – and I doubt it will happen – but I think the goal is not so much to punish foreign countries as to make big incentives for manufacturing in the US.
On the Mexicans doing a similar bike trip in the US, I just checked and it looks to me like Mexican nationals can get a six month tourist visa to the US. Again, I don’t support Trump’s plans, but I’m not sure we would do well if we crossed the border illegally into Mexico either…
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Are you sure that those were regular clouds blocking Popo? Back when I lived in Pachuca,Hidalgo, about 6 lifetimes ago, I always was surprised about how hazy it became whenever I visited the capitol. And how I always came home with a cough. How’s the pollution there now?
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I’m not sure if anything in Mexico. And it does for sure seem like there’s some haze from the City. But I do think it was just clouds around those mountain tops. Too high for haze. Pollution doesn’t seem bad now, but I’m not real sensitive to that type of thing.
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Something you wrote in one of your recent blogs about the resourcefulness of Mexicans made me think of a story from when I was there like 20 years ago. I had bought a little folding wooden chair for a child that was painted. Really awkward to figure out how I was going to travel with it back on a plane. Rosario said let’s go get a box for it. So we were outside of some grocery store in Guadalajara and found a stack of flattened boxes. I grabbed one that looked the right size and started to reconstruct it back into the shape of a box. The chair didn’t fit, I let Rosario know and she said….Ugh you’re so American, and took the box and wrapped it around the chair and taped so it was basically just padded by the box. She then let me know that Mexicans knew how to make things work! Literally, thinking outside of the box!! Hahaha Sarah Page
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That box story is the best story and pretty much sums it up!! I love it. Los mexicanos, however, haven’t met John yet, the man who can make a butter cooler out of a plastic jug and attach it as a basket on his handlebars. Haha. Enjoy the city John and Diana. Maybe stay for another day or two to see the Leon Trotsky museum and the Frida Kahlo museum and have a few more great meals with friends and family. Check. out NYTimes top 30 restaurants in Mexico City.
I just binge blogged and caught up on the last 5 blogs. Super fun to read. A nice distraction from the events in the US.
Rebecca
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Love it. That’s exactly it. So great to connect on the blog. And your trip sounds fantastic.
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No Frida Kahlo? Great place to visit. Oaxaca will seem small after Mexico City but it is a beautiful friendly city. Mezcal calls you. “The Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca is a botanical garden in Oaxaca City, Mexico. It occupies 2.32 acres of land adjacent to the Church of Santo Domingo.” Great tour, beautiful garden right in middle of Oaxaca.
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Funny. We just returned from a bike ride to the Frida Kahlo museum. Sadly, we couldn’t get tickets. But we had a great day nonetheless. Will keep your Oaxaca ideas on the list for sure.
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So great that you met up with friends and family! Kelly
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How we love your blog! You are an inspiration in this time when we need one. Joe says that the Comanche natives were a real force both to the Mexicans and westward US settlers in the lands of which you speak north of Mexico.
Keep up the cycling and the blog; we are addicted. 😊
Susan B
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Thanks for the history lesson.
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Wow beautiful and fun I’m sure you enjoyed seeing friends and family there as well almost like you planned it 😊 it’s interesting to learn actual details of history from the source instead of edited versions from sources that put their own spin on it! Like all countries it’s a shame just a few get to benefit from the vast wealth of the country, and we see it all around the world! As Ecclesiastes 8:9 points out man has dominated man to his injury. And proves the point of Jeremiah 10:23 which says, I well know O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step. I look forward to continuing exploration of Mexico a beautiful land and people! Have fun and stay safe!
Dave at the Lou😎👍😍
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