Day 2 at Mexico City- Teotihuacan

We headed to the Aztec ruins of Teotihuacan on day two. Its Mexico's biggest ancient city. We started at about 7.15 am and reached at 8.15 am , we started early to avoid the sun and the crowd. The sun shines with all its glory later during the day and tour buses start coming in after 11am. Its pretty chilly in the morning so do take a jacket with you. If there is one sight not to be missed in Mexico city, its Teotihuacan!!!! It’s just amazing with the Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon and the Avenue of the Dead.

Pyramid of the Sun: It’s the worlds third largest pyramid. It has about 3 Mn tonnes of stone and was built without the use of any metal tools or wheels.we started with climbing this, it isnt too easy with 250 steps ,but the view from top of the pyramid is so amazing; you get an overview of this huge ancient city!One can only marvel at the engineering behind it 2000 years ago.

Pyramid of the moon: We were allowed upto the first platform of this pyramid, you can have an awesome view of the avenue of the dead from here.The steps here are very steep and tougher to climb. This pyramid is smaller than the pyramid of the sun, but its built at a higher elevation, so both the pyramids are the same height!!! We happened to see some new age devotees out here with white clothes on, they believe the mystical energies still converge at this place!!

We walked through the avenue of the dead and went to the residence of the high priest, which had abstracts murals on the walls. Entry to the ruins cost 48 pesos each.

How to reach Teotihuacan from Mexico city:

• We took the metro to La Raza, which is just 2 stops away, then another metro to Autobuses Del Norte which is just one stop.-cost 2 pesos per person.


• As soon as you alight from the train you can see the bus station to Teotihuacan called the “Autobus del norte”. Its on the other side of the road, so you can use the underpass to reach the bus stop.





• Once in the bus stop walk towards your left to the end of the bus station, the counter is the last but one counter. Board a bus, which says “Los Piramides” specifically, there are also buses to the teotihuacan town which can slightly mislead you. The whole journey took us an hour to reach the pyramids. Cost – 31 pesos each one-way.



• On return, we took the exit near the pyramid of the moon and waved a bus going to Autobus del Norte and the metro for the rest of journey back.

METRO-MEXICO CITY

Our 10 day trip to Mexico

Places covered: Mexico city, Palenque, Chichen-Itza,Cancun

We reached Mexico City at 10 am , went to the forex counter which is located at the international terminal . So if you are flying to the domestic terminal you have to show the boarding pass of the previous flight and convince him to let you in at the gate of the international terminal. The Forex rates at the airport are the best , we got 12.45 per USD and u don’t have to pay any comission so we were happy about that ! The rate given by hotels and other tourist places is fixed at 10 per USD ! so its best to buy or sell the currency at the airport counters. After the currency exchange, we headed towards Hotel Sanfrancisco in Mexico City.

We went strictly by all the blogs we had read and headed to “ SALA- A” which means GATE A of the domestic terminal . Go through the exit under a covered path in the direction where you see many locals headed to and voila at the end of it was the Metro station!

We got 10 tickets costing 2 pesos each from the . The metro is the fastest and cheapest way to commute in Mexico city. Its very user friendly and what strikes you first is the way it is designed , you can just walk in and start using it. All the sign boards are very clear and one need not ask for any directions at all. Download the map and you are ready to travel !

Our hotel was situated near Bellas Artes and just 5 blocks away from Zocalo , so it was very convenient that way. We reached the hotel in less than 30 min from the airport though we had to take 3 trains! Wait for the next train if its crowded there is one every 2 minutes ! I would discourage its use during peak hours when its so crowded and if you have too much luggage to tag along, we just had backpacks so it was easy.

All over the metro stations and coaches you can see young couples smooching away to glory,most of them looked like they were in their teens ! but it was no different outside the Metro looks like the whole of Mexico is in a hugging and kissing mode.The marketing and sales campaign done in the trains is just amazing especially the sale of audio CDs. The salesmen come with a backpack fit with an amplifier and speakers and they have a CD player in their hands. They play loud music and each CD cost just 10 pesos ! Well enough said about the metros. We reached the hotel and headed to Xochimilco on day 1.