Introduction

Today we will be taking an adventure-filled field trip throughout the country of Mexico. Many of you may just know Mexico for its beautiful beaches and probably for how bad some people say the country is. Yet, underneath it all many of you will find that the country of Mexico and its cities that we are going to be visiting today are full of life and rich history that makes Mexico the country it is today. We will be making stops starting from the capital city of Mexico, to our last stop of Chicenitza, located along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Mexico CIty

The first stop on our amazing field trip will be Mexico City, the capital of all of Mexico. Mexico city was not a municipality until 1524, but 200 years earlier the Aztecs had already inhabited this great city. We can even go further back in history 2000 years before that with the ruins of Teotihuacan. In Mexico City we can find the "Palacio Naccional" which is the national palace and home of the President of Mexico. Unlike the United States' White House the "Palacio Naccional" was created out of stones taken from the Aztec Pyramids, on which the majority of Mexico City sits. Located directly adjacent to the president's palace there are still ruins which are beneath the city which have been revealed to show how the city is literally built right on top of the ruins. The "Palacio Naccional" is located in the city square known as "Zócalo" meaning pedastal. This is the largest city square in the city and where many people congregate throughout the day. Adjacent to the "Zócalo" is a cathedral, but what makes this cathedral unique is the fact that it is sinking slowly into the ground. This is because Mexico City was built over the Aztec ruins, which were strangely enough built over a giant lake that never completely drained. Thus, the sinking cathedral

Mexico CIty

Here you can see the "Palacio Naccional" in the early evening. As you can see it is always full of activity.

Here you can also see the sinking cathedral adjacent to the "Zócalo" town square. It is not entirely obvious in this picture, but if we were to enter the cathedral we can see how far down one must step down to get into the cathedral, it isn't street level anymore.













Located below is an overview of the entire square. With the "Palacio Naccional" on the top right of the picture and located adjacent to that would be the sinking cathedral.

Teotihuacan

On our next stop through the beautiful country of Mexico, we will be leaving Mexico City and heading north. Here we will find more of the Aztec ruins which we saw earlier in the trip. These ruins are located in what is now known as present day San Juan Teotihuacán municipality in the state of Mexico. There is much speculation as to who actually built these pyramids, whether it was the 'Toltec" natives, the "Cuicuilco" natives, or the "Totonac" people. What we do know however is that the city of Teotihuacan was at one time the largest city in the world, even larger than Rome, during the 5th and 6th century. Housing as many as 250,000 people. As we walk down the "Avenue of the Dead" you can see the many smaller pyramids to the side of you. These are just ceremonial pyramids, the one we are heading to is knows as the "Pyramid of the Sun." This is the 3rd largest pyramid in the entire world, and yes that means bigger than some of the pyramids in Egypt.

Teotihuacan

Here is what we came to witness, The Pyramid of the Sun. Now be careful since the steps towards the top are very short, these steps aren't as big as the ones we are used to. Construction on this site was started sometime around 100 A.D. It is about 738 feet across and 246 feet high. This pyramid is located at what was once the heart of the entire city. As you can see by it's size, this building was very important to the Aztec people. It was once covered by brightly painted murals and at one point in this pyramids history had an altar on its top, but has since been either destroyed or eroded away by mother nature. As you can see many tourists and locals still climb the pyramids on a daily basis.

Gunajuato

For our next stop on our field trip we are going to need to take a trip up north to the state of Guanajuato where we will be exploring the capitol city of Gunajuato (yes the capital and the state have the same name). Guanajuato was one of the first areas in all of Mexico to be colonized by the Spanish back in the 1520's, for its very rich silver deposits. To this day, Guanajuato still is one of the richest silver mines in the world. Historically, Guanajuato was the first city where Mexico's battle for independence took place. So as you can see it is rich in history. What makes this city so unique is that it is literally built on top of all these tunnels that run throughout many of it's cities. At one point, the state of Gunajuato was known for building a new tunnel for each one of it's countries presidents, so you can only imagine how many tunnels there are. There are two major places where tourists go when visiting Guanajuato. The "Teatro Juárez" named appropriately after Mexico's most famous president, Benito Juárez". As you can see it is a magnificent theater which is now over 100 years old.
Another famous stop which tourists love to show their affection on a daily basis is, "El Callejon del Beso" or as it is known in english, "Alley of the Kiss". There is a reason behind its name. I will give you the short version however. It is basically a tragic love story similar to Romeo and Juliet, except in this case only the young man dies. Before the young man's death on the opposing balcony, he planted a kiss on his lover's hand to show one last time how much he loved her. So that is the sad story of the young lovers.

Guanajuato

As you can see, here is just one of the many tunnels that are located beneath the city of Gunajuato. Make sure you don't get lost!