Aztec Cleansing Rituals and Churches

After a broken sleep last night we had breakfast in the hotel and then headed out for our unconventional Christmas day. Luckily the metro was still running and we headed to the Zocalo, the main square of the city where the Catedral Metropolitano and the Palacio Nacional are. The streets as we left out hotel were really quiet, as they were last night, which was bizarre. Of all the things I exepected from Mexico city, quiet was not one of them. Christmas eve and Christmas day are family times here though, so we had real difficulty finding a restaurant to eat in last night. I also got the impression that being vegan for the next wee while might be rather difficult, and my mum has been trying to convince me to just go back to vegetarian. The metro is quick and easy, and costs about 35 New Zealand cents a ride. In the station we transfered in, when they were building the metro in the 60s they uncovered the remains of an Aztec temple or shrine and so the metro station is built around the remains.

Once we got to the Zocalo it wasn't as quiet, there is a market, and Aztec dancers. This was where I had my Aztec cleansing ritual done. A man of Aztec decent dressed in a combination of what looked like a fox draped over his shoulder and a hat made out of alligator claws, blew incense on us, hit us with herbs, made us stomp on them and then hit my chest with a wee stone whistle while asking the gods to bring us peace and love and happiness and prosperity, and not to forget the rivers of blood that have been spilled, in reference to the rather brutal suppression of the indigenous people of Mexico by colonisers.

We went inside the Catedral Metropolitano, which is lopsided and sinking into the ground because Mexico city is built on a drained lake.

After walking through the Zocalo we wandered up a pedestrianised mall where most things were closed for Christmas day, but we found a restaurant to have lunch in, and luckily they made me yummy vegan enchiladas once I explained/lied that I was allergic to dairy.

Kevin had got us some spending money for Christmas which he gave us at lunch, me and Ruben had already given our presents to each other and our parents at breakfast.
After lunch we walked further up the mall towards another square called La Alameda, where there was a huge Christmas market and carnival. The noise was overwhelming, the food smells sometimes amazing and sometimes vomit enducing. The candy floss machines sent fluffy pieces of sugar flying all over the fairground, and you had to watch it didn't get caught in your hair. Kids as young as six shouted over the noise trying to sell gum, lollies, cigarettes, and, frequently, pipes. I don't know if people actually smoke tobacco out of pipes here or whether they are designed for more illicit activities..I'm inclined to think they're not for tobacco.

We walked the length of the enormous market, carefully clutching our bags so they didn't become a target for pickpockets. We saw the Monumento a la Revolucion before getting back on the metro to come back.
We're staying in what is called the Zona Rosa, the Pink Zone. It's the touristy area, with lots of hotels and streets named after European cities, but is also the gay zone. This means that you see lots of same sex couples holding hands and kissing in public which is, in my experience, UNHEARD of in Catholic, Latin American countries. Makes me happy.

Off to find some dinner now, hopefully more places will be open tonight than last night and we won't have to walk around the same five blocks for 45 minutes again.