Semana Santa (1)

Trip Start Jan 07, 2008
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Trip End Ongoing


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Flag of Mexico  ,
Monday, March 31, 2008

Spring break this year was a lot of fun.  I traveled Mexico City with a group of 8 (5 Americans, 1 French, 1 French-Canadian, 1 Mexican). Semana santa (Holy week) is the equivalent of our Spring break.  During this time, most Mexicans go to the beach, so Mexico City was relatively "empty." An empty Mexico City still has more people than Chicago, so I can't imagine what it would be like with everyone there. We stayed in a hostel that is right next to the famous cathedral and Zocalo plaza.  It was really cheap ($10/night w/ breakfast included).  We stayed there for 4 days.  Mexico City was a lot different than any place I had ever been.  In the center, there are temple ruins mixed with Spanish colonial buildings, some of which were built from stone taken from the ancient temple. The Spanish influence is really strong. Although I've never been to Europe, much of the city looks like it belongs in Europe.  There is also modern development in form of skyscrapers and the metro.  The metro was especially interesting for me.  It only costs 2 pesos to go anywhere in the city.  For this reason, it was incredibly busy inside the hostel
inside the hostel
 .  People walk around in the metro cars selling gum and bootleg CDs. If you know where you want to go, the metro is the best way to get there. We used it everyday without any problems, and it saved us a lot of time and money.  We visited many museums, the campus of UNAM, which is the oldest university in the Americas, and a few of the suburbs.  We also took a tourist bus around. This was a good way to see most of the most notable parts of the city.  On the third day, we went to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, which was the largest indigenous city ever built in Mexico. Another memorable event was a public demonstration against current government.  There were probably about 25,000 protesters.  Overall, Mexico City was great. It was extremely interesting and not at all what I expected it to be.
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