Pre-Aztec era in Mexico

A lot of 'Gracias', 'Senorita', 'Por Favor', 'Amigo', and 'Hola' throughout Day 2's tour, we finally picked a few of the in-vogue words. I cannot put my finger on the highest point, yet I would say the experience at the Pyramids were supreme, along with tasting deer for the first (maybe only) time ever, and the Latin dance at the local market in the evening. I almost felt like joining the dance, where there were people from all ages moving to the lovely tunes.

The day started at 10.30 am. We had booked a day-long private tour to Teotihuacan, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon. Considering it was $160 for both of us, a quite reasonable deal for an entire day's trip. A brief and pleasant 45 minutes' drive later, we reached the grounds of the Pyramids.

Our chauffeur of the day was Roul, an 'English-speaking' Mexican, as specified by the concierge. Yeah, he did manage to communicate with us and take us through various anecdotes and historical significance of the country. The first stop was at the artifacts emporium, which was information galore! The rock formed as a result of cooled magma (the parent material) is called Obsidian. Found here in abundance, the various colours of the rocks were formed due to the difference in pressure level. The black version is the hardest and was used to make weapons by the Aztecs. Then there were quartz, purple, etc, along with the golden rock that is the rarest of the lot. The artisans still make beautiful mementos and sculptures out of the rocks, which are sold at government approved prices.

The next set of admiration was reserved for the multi-purpose cacti that are grown here, most of which were used for survival. They used to get fruits and juices from a cactus that gives it's produce for 2-3 months, after that the leaves and thorns are used for papyrus, threads, aloe vera, and needles used for anesthesia and stitching. Larvae deposits on the cacti leaves were crushed to get a red hue and some leaves give the yellow colour - these were used by the Aztecs to colour their murals. The juices are used to make the local alcohol called pulque, which is still made here to taste and sell. For me, the most interesting fact was that Tequila is made from these juices and the Spanish method of distillation results in modern day version of the alcohol.

While we were still processing the gallon-load of information, Roul drove us to the actual destination. We did not really know what to expect, and you cannot make out anything from the parking lot, mainly because of the tall, thick, stone boundary that cordoned off the area. By the time we reached the top of the wall, we forgot all about the cacti and rocks, blown away by the grandeur in front of us.

Standing tall at 70 meters high, with 248 steps (each approx 1 feet tall), the mammoth structure of the Sun Pyramid welcomed us in all its glory! To the left of the Sun Pyramid, almost a kilometer away is the Moon Pyramid, which is not as tall but possesses it own beauty in structure. The pyramids were made by pre-Aztecs, potentially the Olmecs around 400 BC to 700 AD. The very top of the Sun Pyramid was a temple, which was blown away by a dynamite during excavation.

I somehow managed to huff and puff to the top, with sufficient breaks of course. We were lucky to get a clear blue sky, which accentuated the Pyramids even more. A circle around the top and we decided to climb down. It was tougher, with the sheer height of the steps, the extra tangential pyramid slope and the broken rocks. Needless to say, I did not have enough energy left to climb the Moon Pyramid.

Besides the Moon Pyramids, there is a large excavation of a palace with beautiful murals and advanced architecture. Even the sewage system was nicely organised, with indoor toilets in the living quarters. Next we spent some time at a comparatively smaller pyramid that proved that they were an agriculture based clan. There are lots of the head structures on the walls of Rain and Thunder Gods, and Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent or Precious Twin - God of intelligence and self-reflection), with more murals to highlight the sculptures. And yes, the Pyramids have been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Quite a few clicks later, we left for a sumptuous late lunch. Roul told us that in Mexico, the restaurants that are most crowded are the ones with the best and authentic food. He recommended deer for me and we took rabbit as well - the kind of food we do not get everywhere.

The final halt of the day was the church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, known as the Virgin of Guadalupe who was a celebrated Roman Catholic icon of the Virgin Mary. The first church of Lady Guadalupe could hold only 700 people, even though it is huge structurally. The Aztec symbol is an eagle sitting on a cactus and devouring a snake, which stand on both sides to the entrance. The foundation of this church is sinking and it actually stands at an angle now. A new church was built with modern architecture besides the old one, and this church holds 10,000 people. The richer Mexicans who stay in Canada send money for the Independence month's celebrations (September, and the year was 1810). Also, the inside ornate ceiling design is made of wood that they have sent. An interesting factor of the new church is that it has moving walkways in front of the deity to avoid cluttering of the people.

A small visit to the local market and we went back to the hotel, after the tiring, yet exciting day amongst Mexican history. The final day lay ahead of us.

Christianity's entry-point to the Americas

A quick telegram :

Mexico similar to India. Missing Bangalore. STOP. It's COLD! Unexpected, feeling stupid. STOP. Women smoke more. STOP. People stare! STOP. Should learn Spanish to visit. STOP.

If I could time travel to the 1960s, that is how my message would have looked. Sending message might have been costly then, but I guess Telegram beats Twitter any day, simply because of its ingenuity and necessity of the service.

A mild digression and here is the day-by-day account of our Mexico trip. This is September 21, 2012.

Day Uno:

Though I consider myself a morning person, a flight at 7.15am was a bit too much, that too an international travel. The cab picked us at 3.50am. Being in LA, Mexico sounds like just over the border but it was a whole 3 hrs 30 mins journey in the air.

While chalking out the tour itinerary, we had settled down on the major sites we would like to cover in our 2.5 days' trip. Conveniently, we assumed that the country will be as hot as LA and sniggered at the people who were wearing coats at the airport. Little did we know we were the actual dodos.

As we approached the airport, the one thing that caught our attention was the roof-tops, all of them were red in colour, rendering a lovely hue to the entire city. A small needle-in-haystack search later in the Mexico City airport, we traced our hotel pickup chauffeur. The drive to the hotel was smooth, especially with the chatty driver. She tried her best to convey her welcome in broken English. And we literally were amazed by the sceneries around - roadside outlets, peak traffic, mindless pedestrians, hawkers, a mix of narrow and broad streets, flyovers - everything looked so similar to Bangalore that we yearned to be back home.

The differentiation stood at road-signs, posters, graffiti, and 'Viva Mexico' crying out from all around in Spanish. And of course, the pain in conversing. It reminded me of my initial days in Bangalore where dumb-charades had become a survival tactic. We almost cursed ourselves for not learning the language before visiting. Even the hotel staff and the 'policia' are non-English speakers!

The currency conversion is around 12 pesos per dollar currently. A decent deal from Hilton and the conversion rate made our life somewhat peaceful here. We reached the hotel room just before 3pm. A bath and lunch later, we headed for a small walk to Metropolitan Cathedral. There was a huge procession on the streets. All we could garner was, it consisted mostly of college students and they were demanding some sort of employment rights. Anyhow, it was a huge chaos on the roads. The combat policemen were around to control the crowd.

The walk to the old church is quite interesting. The buildings around are at least 300-400 years old, making the whole set-up quite surreal. It felt as if the people here transformed over time, keeping the background intact. And how the people stare! Young and old, men and women - they just scan you top to bottom! Sounds so much like back home or maybe I have got unused to the fact by living in LA, where nobody gives you a second glance.

Metropolitan Cathedral is the first church in the American continent, built by the Spaniards soon after the conquest of the Aztecs. The Spanish ruled the country from early 1500s to early 1800s, heralding Christianity to the land. They, of course, stamped the culture remarkably on Mexico. The church is humungous, even my 18-55 had trouble encapsulating it from up front. There are interesting underground pathways on the church grounds, now covered by transparent thick glasses. The inside of the church is a grand golden architecture, the striking feature is the black Christ that we found unique. The exploration was cut short since it was past the visiting hours (till 5pm).

A slow walk back through the crowd, we stopped at Starbucks for some coffee and to gloat at the new culture. Quite an experience it was.

Day 1 ended with an early dinner and bedtime. The next day was definitely going to be more interesting. The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Teotihuacan awaited us!

What really does happen in Vegas!

For a married couple specifically... When boozing, gambling and strippers take a back-seat and site-seeing leads you on ;)

A heady, vibrant 2.5 days and I HAD to jot down the travelogue as soon as I am back, before the details turn natty!

The planning for the Sin City happened in less than a week. Sans a vehicle (still!), we decided to fly. Bless the discount and offers' world here, Expedia turned up some pretty good deal for a weekday trip. Yes, we decided to reach late on a Wednesday night to avoid the weekend crowd and come back on Saturday afternoon.

We were completely oblivious to the kind of hotels there, about the Vegas Strip that everyone talked about and no itinerary in mind. The hotel Monte Carlo seemed the best option as per the deals, and we got a room higher up with an extra $10 thrown in.

The initial night view from the flight was simply majestic and the hotel was more than a pleasant shock for us. With 5000 odd rooms, and a 30th floor view, we literally jumped with the visual delight. The windows overlooked the entire colourfully-lit valley, the hills on the horizon and the clear vast night-sky! A few clicks later, we tucked in with a heavy dinner and a super gleeful heart.

The first morning started slow. It dawned on us that we did not have a tour plan. A little net search and talk with the concierge booked us Cirque du Soleil's KA that night at 9.30pm and Zumanity the next day at 10pm. We had the rest of the day to loaf around. With the show "Fall of Atlantis" at Caesar's Palace and Bellagio's musical fountain show in mind, we started meandering across the hotels (I say meandering here on purpose, because the routes twist and turn between the hotels before you reach the next destination). Most of the hotels are connected either with a string of posh outlets and lobbies or by monorail. So you can actually avoid the blasting heat outside.

Nevertheless, it ends in long walks because of the humungous expanse of the hotels. By the time we crossed the Chinese botanical garden and fountain show in Bellagio, and reached the aquarium and Atlantis show point in Caesar's Palace, we were darn tired. The garden was superb, with colourful hanging hand-painted umbrellas, insects and birds made out of flowers, with a small bridge and wishing-pond below. The aquarium had 50,000 gallon of water. It wasn't extravagant, but we reached at the time when a diver was feeding the fish - that made is really wonderful, to see the entire school swimming towards the food and eating out of the diver's hand. The Atlantis show was a disaster, the story of the sibling rivalry told with huge puppets, and spewing of water and fire. The sounds quality was bad, and the puppets were literally dummies.

Tired from the long walk, we decided to ditch Treasure Island's pirate show and the gondola ride in The Venetian. The unique thing about the hotels here are the themes they have adopted and adhered to. Caesar's Palace, for example, is so widespread that you have to turn full 180 degrees to see point to point! Then there was Luxor, shaped like a colossal pyramid, with a equally mammoth sphinx in front. The pyramid top emitted light like from a light-house that is visible from any part of the strip. The architecture and decor of each of the hotels is classically theme-based, defining grandeur at its best.

Well, back to our room, we crashed down for a couple of hours before heading for our first show - Cirque Du Soleil. It has two major versions that happens in all seasons - 'O' (theme 'water') and 'KA' (theme 'war') and is hosted at MGM Grand (yeah, the famous Metro Goldwyn Mayer). The KA was on, we reached before time and totally got engrossed in the magical acrobatics. The lights, sounds, special effects added to the enthralling dance-drama - a must-see for one of your Vegas trips :)

Next morning started off slower, since we already had our Grand Canyon airplane ride booked, and the pick-up was at 11.50am. Obviously, we were very excited. The airport was a 20 mile drive and I went clickety-click with the camera on the way. We crossed the real dry Vegas, the sparse population, stand-alone buildings, the distant hills and miles of barren land in between, the clear blue sky was breathtaking. The temperature outside was blasting 98 degree Fahrenheit, staying in the vehicle seemed so much more intelligent!

The flight took off well, a 10 seat craft (including the pilot). With all the pomp and showmanship I portrayed before take-off, clicking pictures with the pilot et al, my tummy gave in to extreme motion sickness twenty minutes into the air. The small aircraft at low altitude, combined with the huge air pockets of the canyon worsened my over-sensitive system. I did drink in the awesome view till we reached Hoover Dam, but after that I could just peek through my eyelashes. Complete waste of bucks, I was thoroughly disappointed in myself, but was glad when the 1 hour tour ended. Anirban took loads of awesome pictures, which I am still relishing :)

It was too hot to be outdoors, and I was tired from all the excitement. We slept through the horridly hot evening, woke up refreshed and headed for the next show we had lined up. Zumanity is hosted in the hotel New York (with the city as its theme, of course). The cast is part of the group from Cirque Du Soleil, specializing in acrobatics and live acts, but Zumanity has the edge of sensuality and comedy. We laughed and admired to no ends, one of those shows that gets imprinted in your minds for years to come. The only regret was, they didn't allow a single click, even at the end of the show (unlike KA).

The real fun started post the show. Hotels like New York, Luxor, Flamingo, and especially Excalibur looks fabulous in the night sky. The vibrant colours, the tall towers and grand structures are surely the charm of Vegas life. We romped around from 11.30pm to 3am, from one hotel to the other, clicking pics, commenting on the obnoxious dressing style of the people (we came across a string of African-Americans from a wedding, and saw all the possible cuts and designs possible in white!), and hunting for the especially long cocktail glass we saw others carry.

I defied sleep till 4.30am, which is highly unlike me! The thought of leaving the next day just didn't go down well with me, but I coaxed myself to bed, only to wake up early in the morning. After gloating on the view from our window for a couple of more hours, we gambled to kill time. Both of us combined, we played for $7 and won $8.34! A 19% profit ain't so bad, eh?

We bade goodbye to the hotel and made an early head-start for the airport. The fun ended too soon, but we did so much in the short stay, I really don't regret much. The next visit plan is already on the table, so well, you might read about what people actually do in Vegas! ;)