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So the morning got off ot a nice start with brekkie and gym. It is nice to hear from the folks about how much trimmer I look in these pics from the pics in Cambodia… pfftt… yeah as if!! Anyway, Ximena got to the hotel around 10 am, and I had a tough time trying to negotiate a car to go Teotihuacan. The concierge who was very helpful and friendly, politely suggested that I go with the tour, to which I initially refused but after some prodding and thought, I relented and went with the tour. It was a good decision.
One of my pet peeves with tours is that there is always a shopping “expedition” at the expense of the main attraction of the tour. So upon meeting my tour guide Roberto, I wanted to say this, but I didn’t until later. Our first stop on our journey was the Shrine of to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Although, this was not a religious tour, upon getting there, I was astonished by the number of pilgrims lighting candles and processions while we were there. Masses occur every two hours, and the mass that we saw was packed.
Outside the main church in the Shrine
Inside the Main Church looking at the mass
The story of Guadalupe goes something like this (which i have copied straight out of Wikipedia)
According to traditional Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparition, during a walk from his village to the city on December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a Virgin at the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in Nahuatl, Our Lady of Guadalupe asked him to build an abbey at that site. When Juan Diego spoke to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, he asked him for a miraculous sign to prove his claim. The Virgin asked Juan Diego to gather flowers, even though it was winter when no flower bloomed. He found Castillian roses, gathered them on his tilma, and presented these to bishop Zumárraga. When he presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth.
We toured around the area for a while, taking pictures and discussing the procession as well as going to see the cloth that has a couple moving walkways so that you can see the cloth enshrined with the Mexican flag also.
Once done there, it was on our way to the Maguay shop to see the process of Tequila and Pulque as well as to be hit with a fast, high pressure sales pitch. On the tour here, it was quite informative to get details about the Agave plant. What a wonderful plant that thing is, with Medicinal properties, makes good papyrus, the tip being used for needles with associated thread as well as giving the raw stock for Tequila, which is the use we best know it for right now. In addition, we got the whole process of making figurines from different types of Obsidian.
Agave plant with the center hollowed out, so that the sweet Pulque liquid can be extracted. A plant like this make 4L of the stock liquid a day!
Ximena with the associated needle and thread that comes directly from the tip of the leaf
After a couple sweet tequila shots, that were obviously meant to loosen your pockets, we were sent into the gift shop. I must say that there were some stunning pieces there from top grade obsidian, however, I was not tempted. I bought two small but practical pieces for the apartment and I relented and put on the tackiest of Mexican outfits with typical repose. I even got Ximena into it. No comments, please on how we look!!!
