El Zo'colo

Yesterday, we took a trip to the Zocolo to
celebrate Independence Day. Independence Day in Mexico is next Tuesday, September 16th. The Zocolo is the heart of Mexico City and has been the heart of Mexico since Tenochitlan, the ancient capital of the Aztecs. It is the third largest plaza in the world. The first is Tiennenmen Square in Beijing, the second is Red Square in Moscow and the third is the Zocolo in Mexico City. The picture to the right and below are of a portion of the square. The square and the flag are HUGE. The picture does not do it justice.

On one side of the Zocolo is the Metropolitan Cathedral. After the Spanish conquest of Tenochitlan, Hernan Cortes began the construction of a church on this site. I'm not certain what happened to the original structure, or the one that came after it, but the cathedral to the right (and the following pictures) was begun in 1626.

After touring the Zocolo and the Cathedral, we stopped for a bite to eat. Here is a picture of the street where we ate. It is typical of a street in this part of town.

Across the street from where we ate was a street muscian. They are fairly common and always very good with the violin. I was impressed with the guy to the right. While we were eating, a TV camera and reporter appeared. He played for the TV audience and for us!

I took the next picture through the bars on a fence to show the difference between street level and the entrance to a cathedral. The difference was about 5 feet. There is a sidewalk that goes from the street into the entance of the church. Inasmuch as Mexico City was built on a marshy lake bed, large buildings have a tendancy to sink (and they continue to sink). For this reason, many of the roads and the sidewalks are in difficult conditions. It takes a lot of effort to keep up the infrastructure.

Our last stop was the park next to the Metropolitan Palace for the Performing Arts. There were hundreds of street vendors and the kids wanted to do some shopping. After shopping we stopped outside the Performing Arts buildng for a couple of pictures.

Well, that's it for another beautiful day in Mexico. We miss the family and friends but we are doing our best to see all the wonderful things this Country has to offer. Love, David