Back from Mexico

The MGM Tour: Monterrey, Guanajuato, and Mexico City

Jessica and I got back from Mexico last night and the benevolent airportmatt picked us up. We went first to a wedding in Monterrey and stayed with Jessica's relatives, who took us around their town. The picture on the right is a cool picture of us in Guanajuato--the next stop on our tour--a charming colonial city with windy streets and narrow little alleys or callejones. We (J, her cousin Elva, and I) spent a night wandering the callejones with a musical group who sang familiar Mexican songs. It was fun! The city had tunnels, mummies, and treasure, and felt like a place where pirates would hang out. Maybe the pirates live in those pastel color houses in the background. Wait. Pirates don't live in pastel color houses...

We also went to megalopolis Mexico City, or D.F. (de EFF-eh) as the Mexicans call it. Check out that huge Mexican flag in the middle of the city's main plaza, known as the zocalo. There's a stage in the foreground where D Fiesta is taking place, with free concerts by latinoamericano crooners. The background church is what Cortez and his crew built from the rubble of an Aztec temple where tens of thousands were sacrificied in order to appease the gods and keep the world from ending. As you probably guessed, the plan back-fired. Spanish explorers, coming from a medieval Christian background, saw the worship of false gods and sacrifices as demonic, and brought the Aztec world to a swift end (aided by guns, germs, and steel, of course).

Perhaps I can regale you with travel tales later. For now, I have to catch up with oodles of email. Also, looks like John is safely in Ann Arbor and has written a blog entry about what's going on with him.