Week two coming at you straight from South of the good ole USA.

The second week here was incredibly welcoming. Things started to become a bit more familiar as we would wander the streets. The nerves of being in a new country and barely knowing their languages started to fade a bit, and I was able to start to use and learn more Spanish. I have a personal goal of being near fluent by the time I leave here. It’ll take a good amount of work, but hell, I’m likely never gonna have an opportunity like this, so may as well try! I have a good friend of mine who’s always saying, “Fuck a comfort zone,” and well, yeah. We’re gonna do just that.

After a nice week of work and doing fun car things, Alex and I wanted to focus more-so on the exploration of the natural wonderers of Mexico city. The main two fun things we got to explore this week were Chapultepec and Teotihuacan.

Chapultepec

Chapultepec is literally a forest in the middle of Mexico City. At nearly 1700 acres, Chaputltepec is one of the largest city parks in the whole Western Hemisphere. The park is not only drop dead stunning, but incredibly necessary to Mexico City. With the city being in the middle of a volcano, smog and air pollution collect, degrading air quality in the region. Chapultepec assists in getting rid of some of that CO2 and pumping out that good ol O2 back into the air. Thanks tree-homies.

At the center of Chapultepec, there is a giant Castle (Castillo de Chapultepec), which serves as the focal point and the main attraction in Chapultepec. The castle was resided in by Mexican government officials and soldiers off an on throughout the centuries, and even was taken by the US in their quest for manifest destiny. The castle, needless to stay is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS. The bottom floor shows majority of the living quarters of the residence, with grand piano rooms, couches in marble-coated bathrooms, and an entire overlook of all of Mexico city, all from the bedroom. Wouldn’t mind waking up in my PJ’s and just overlooking the city, doesn’t sound too shabby to me. Now the second floor is what had me stunned. The second floor of the castle makes you feel isolated, boasting a beautiful garden and a separate room containing the most gorgeous stained glass windows I’ve ever seen.

I Call This One: Jon in Three Moods

Apart from the castle in the dead center of the park, Chapultepec is swarming with life. People are always out and about, be it on a daily walk, to have a picnic, or in our case: throw a frisbee

One of the immediate differences I’ve noticed between Mexico and the United States is Mexico’s welcoming of street vendors. Street Sales are a part of everyday life in Mexico, be it food, trinkets, or clothes. Mexico readily accepts these vendors, where I feel people trying to sell you something on the streets in the US is just blown off. Throughout Chapultepec there is one of the largest open street markets I’ve ever seen. You walk through this large market to find a giant square and a lake with boats!

Now we haven’t hopped on a boat, yet. But rumor has it that once a month they show a film on this lake and everyone sits on paddle boats and the such. Gonna try my best to go to one of these, and well, we all know that Swan Boat is calling my name.

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Teotihuacan

The next day, Alex and I decided to go on an adventure. We figured, “Hey, we’re pasty, pale gringos. Why don’t we go climb a pyramid and see how much we can burn in an evening.” So we hopped in our car and traveled to Teotihuacan to visit the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon.

So the fun and exciting part about Teotihuacan is that nobody really knows who built it. Historians have tried tracking the origins, even potentially having theories that it may have been built by a group of immigrants that came across the land after a volcano eruption. Who knows! Regardless there is a variety of cultures that went into the making of this beautiful monument, founded in roughly 400 B.C.

So when Alex and I went, we went solo. Personally if I were to go back, I’d probably like to go with a tour guide or some type of AirBNB group so I can learn more about the history, as theres not much information on site. I would highly recommend doing this if you ever get the chance to travel here.

Pyramid of the Sun

The top of the pyramid showed some really pretty views of the land and really shows you how dried out the surrounding area is. Teotihuacan used to be a lake, then a prairie and is now completely dried up and is desert all the way around. There was something really curious up here though. At the dead center of the pyramid, there seemed to be a hole where all the locals would press their jewelry against, one piece at a time. I couldn’t find any information on why or what this was, so if anyone knows, please shoot me an email!

Pyramid of the Moon (The Star of the Show IMO)

I mean, no disrespect to the Sun at all. Sun, you’re pretty cool and all, but I’m an astronomer guy, and the Moon and just always been cooler to me, and in Teotihuacan, it’s no different. The Pyramid of the Moon is the smaller, sister pyramid at Teotihuacan. Although smaller, the pyramid of the Moon was in our opinion prettier and just a cooler experience.

When walking up to the base of the Moon, you are surrounded on each side with high walls, almost as if you were walking up to a throne of a king. Alex and I were imagining walking through this thousands of years ago with rows and rows of archers ready to mow you down, and nearly having to pee yourself if you were an enemy. Obviously this wasn’t the case because this was a place of worship, but hey, imagination helps keep us young.

Long story short. This place is pretty neat. I heard a rumor that all of the vendors at Teotihuacan have had to have lived in the village for x amount of time, and have ancestors that used to sell. Basically is a giant grandfathered in queue to ensure authenticity within the area. I don’t know if this is true or not, but thought it was a fun fact. So come visit, support the vendors, and enjoy the sunburn.

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Typical Jon Photos

So Madison and Alex essentially coined a term, “A Typical Jon Moment” during a few photos throughout all our escapades. Figured I’d just throw some of these from the week of here. Enjoy