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  • Day 16

    Centro Historico

    December 28, 2019 in Mexico ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Today we got our butts up and out of the hotel before 9:00 to take a guided walking tour of the Historical Center. We booked it through Strawberry Tours, who offer free walking tours of many major cities around the world. At the end of the tour, you tip the tour guide in accordance with the job they did. The tour started at 9:30 and covered about 3.5 kilometers, ending at noon. Brenda and I took one of their tours in Barcelona a few years ago, were very pleased with the tour and decided fo give it a go here.

    Our tour guide, Hermes, was a historian and provided a ton of interesting historical information on the city, the people and events that made it what it is, as well as his own personal opinions and feelings on many topics.

    We learned that Mexico City was founded by the Aztecs in 1325 on an island in Lake Texcoco. Starting in the 17th Century, the lake was drained and the city now rests on the lake bed's saturated clay soil. This soft base is collapsing due to the over-extraction of groundwater which supplies forty percent of the city's drinking water. Since the beginning of the 20th century the city has sunk as much as nine meters in some areas. This explains why so many of the buildings we saw have a little lean to them.

    Our first stop was at the post office which is undoubtedly the most beautiful in the world. It has polished brass cages throughout, a grand staircase leading to the second floor and a mosaic depicting the country's symbol, an eagle with a snake in it's beak, comprised entirely of postage stamps!

    He then took us through the magnificent Sanborn's department store whose floor slopes so much you almost feel as though you're walking downhill.

    The tour did not go into many buildings, but Hermes stopped outside all the key spots and
    gave us details, anecdotes and history on all of them.

    Next to the Cathedral, are the ruins of the original Aztec temples. There are also a number of indigenous shamans who will, for a donation of twenty to forty pesos (as suggested by Hermes), perform a cleansing ritual to remove the bad energy from our bodies. Brenda and I both went for it as we figured, for that price, what did we have to lose?

    After the tour we walked to VEGuerrero for lunch where I had the special Saturday buffet, Brenda had four tacos and we each tried a Victoria beer, as suggested by Hermes.

    We want to go back to Centro mid week to explore the Aztec ruins, the presidential palace and a couple of museums that were far too crowded on the weekend.

    All on all, a very educational and entertaining day.
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