Double Decker Discoveries…..
….in Mexico City…..
While the private guide is the best way to understand the local’s perspective of a specific part of a city, the best way to get a broad overview of the whole city and to cover a lot of ground is to take the double-decker bus. Every large city that I have ever visited has one. Mexico City was no different. Passengers get on the bus at a central location, take a loop around the city and get off at any one or more of the many city sites on the route of the bus. Our exploration on the first day revealed that we could get a ticket for the day for $8. We would drive through the neighborhoods with a recorded commentary…..and……we could get off at the Anthropology Museum, which was our museum of choice for this trip.
Sold!
We climbed on board and started out through the Zocalo district and headed out towards the Chapultepec neighborhood that houses the Anthropology Museum. On our way, we rode through many of the neighborhoods……
…..to include the Polanco, which is famous for its high end shopping, hotels and restaurants.
Two hours later……really bad traffic……we reached our destination at the Anthropology Museum. The area where the museum is located was fashioned after Central Park in New York City. On one side of the street was a man-made lake where people were pedaling small boats.
On the other side of the street was another park area with vendors selling snacks and trinkets.
It was quite reminiscent of my stroll through Central Park on my trip to New York City this past summer.
At the museum, we learned all about the ancient cultures of Mexico. As is the case when we visited Peru, I was amazed that these ancient cultures were able to produce such detailed and intricate artwork without any real tools. They were highly skilled in mathematics and logistics.
Check out the little faces in these flowers…….
It was incredible!
In addition to the art, we also found some displays of the old cities and some of the pyramids near Mexico City.
On a previous day, we had visited Teotihuacan….
….one of the old cities housing some of the pyramids of the old cultures. It was interesting to get the tutorial here at the museum. At the museum we learned about the old cities and at Teotihuacan we were able to see…..up close and personal…..examples of the handiwork of the ancient Mexican cultures. The stars here were the architecture and the well-preserved murals.
Unlike what we found in Peru, the stones that made up the city walls were connected together with mortar studded with smaller stones.
The city is anchored on one end by the pyramid of the moon and on the other end by the pyramid of the sun. Both pyramids house the remains of early rulers of Teotihuacan. 242 stairs ascend one side of the pyramid of the sun, which is the one our tour guide encouraged us to climb.
Why not?!
The stairs were straight up and had a very uneven rise making it very difficult to find a balance.
It felt like we were scaling a wall. We lifted our knees high in order to make the rise and huffed and puffed our way to the top. Then, we came back down via our butts taking a slide on the steps.
Really challenging!
My tall travel buddy had a particularly difficult time on the way down. She’s much further from the ground than I am which added to the challenge. But, it was well worth it!
Our experience on the double-decker bus and at the museum were worth it, too! It was a great couple of days!
This was the end of our tour of the delights of Mexico City as described by private guides, seen from double-decker buses and experienced through simple observation.
I loved every minute of it!
I will be back!
Travel With Betsy 
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