UPDATE DAMMIT

Well, I wrote that we would be going to Mexico City for the weekend, but that isn´t exactly what ended up happening.

Friday night we were waiting to see wheter Rudy might have to go into work or not. He didn´t, but Franki had a basketball game at 9am Saturday.

It would get over at 10ish and we could go to the bus station. But, things weren´t really planned out, and we didn´t have a hotel, or really any idea what we were going to go see (which wasn´t a big deal because Annie lived there for a while, she and Rudy could come up with things on the fly), and people needed to pack, and we needed to find a bus with 6 seats on it....

So Saturday morning we were still planning on going, the opposing team didn´t show up to the game, but Franki´s team had to wait around to get the forfeit. They got back and we ate tamales and drank orange juice, and it just didn´t look like Saturday was going to work out. So, I settled in with Harry Potter 5 in the sun and chilled out.

Then we got the idea to drive up to El Paso De Cortez! The pass between Popocatépetl e Iztaccíhuatl. So everyone geared up and off we drove. We drove like an hour up this winding mountain dirt road full of rocks and bumps. It was pretty cool. We were also very late in the day, so we were there for the sunset and it wasn´t crowded at all. We were getting out and taking pictures the whole way up. This was the closest Annie, Rudy & co. have been to the volcano after many failed attempts. When you get to the pass, there is a little tourist house, and trailheads. I want to get back up there sometime and climb Iztaccihuatl. It is the sleeping lady. I have a TON of pictures I can put up later. But, it was pretty awesome to get up there. Then we stopped at the bus station and got tickets for the first bus leaving Puebla for Mexico City. 6am!!

Izta

To tell you the truth I was much happier going to the volcano. It was nice to finally be out of a city for the first time. I don´t know how I would have coped with 2 days in Mexico City after seeing it Sunday. Plus, now I know there is hiking in the mountains around here and where to go. It was tricky finding the place, they don´t really advertise, you just have to know its there.

Popo

5:00am Sunday: we´re up. 5:30 we´re on our way to the bus station. 6am - 8am: on the bus. 8:15-9something: subways in Mexico City. 9:20ish we´re pilgramaging with thouands of people to La Basilica!!!

The road up to it was just FULL of people going to church. They have masses at every hour, and even then, people are crowding outside the doors to hear. We ended up missing the one we wanted to get to at 9. At the 9 oclock mass they have singing, for teh others they used recordings. The place is huge. It is a whole compound of gardens, churches, museums, cemetaries and a gigantic open square for whatever.

The Basilica is actually falling into the ground right now. I don´t know, it is kind of sad, they build Mexico City on a lake, just filled it in, and then from watching a video at the Basilica, Mexico City pretty much drained the water table underneath it, so the Basilica started sinking into the ground. One of the most famous things in one of the world´s biggest cities, you´d think maybe they´d discuss anything about water usage, but they just keep plowing along, or look at a better way of doing things than reactionary measures. They have pillars in the ground underneath the new one so it doesn´t sink into the ground with the rest of the place.

Another kind of depressing sight was the tackiness of so much of the place. Inside the capilla, the best looking thing in the place, they have made a gift shop selling trinkets in the ´lobby´. And the floor is covered in old tape where they were taping down cords and peeling it up, but not getting it all. I don´t know. I was hoping for more grandeur, not paper Santa Claus faces hanging from the rafters...

You can´t really even go inside the Basilica, because all of the arches are all being held up with gigantic scaffoldings.

The current Basilica is insanely huge and so 1970´s you cringe. But, you can´t deny the size of the place, and how many thousands go to church there every Sunday. On Wikipedia it says there is sitting space for 10,000, and when we were in there, we were standing room only in the back with crowds outside the doors. And it never eased up.

They really love John Paul II too. Statues of him EVERYWHERE. Big and small.

After this, we went to El Zocalo. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh. My. God. There was some kind of demonstration going on, I honestly don´t think I will ever see the numbers of people anywhere else as I did Sunday. That was the big impression of Mexico City: PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE.

We hung around looking at the cathedral at the zocalo, which is much cooler than the Basilica, but the story at the Basilica is cooler. This place had columns the size of Seqoias.

We ended up eating lunch at a restaurant in a nice hostel. We hadn´t planned on that, but we were sp hungry we went to the first place we saw. Then, back on the subway to go to the FUTBOL GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the one thing I knew wanted to do on this trip.

We went to Amèrica v. Toluca in a stadium seating 105,000. Estadio Azteca hosted the 1968 Olympics and two world cups.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estadio_Azteca

This place was amazing. I bought a jersey for #9 and he scored a goal. They didn´t turn on the scoreboard at the game. I don´t know if they just didn´t, or they didn´t so that the fans couldn´t see the score and have something to either celebrate or be angry about. I thought we were up 3-1 when we left, turns out the game ended in a tie 2-2. We had to leave early because of the kids. Our cab driver told us 2 or 3 times to leave early because things almost always get crazy after the game. All I know is that I want to see more futbol games. It was awesome seeing all the barded wire around the stadium to keep the sections of the stadium separated. There were riot police surrounding the really rowdy sections and the Toluca fans.

We got to the bus station, bought more movies and then came back to Puebla. Then everyone crashed into bed. 5:00am - 10:00pm.