Let's Call It South

This city is huge and we haven't exactly been able to gain a decent understanding of directionals, so we've taken to our own geographic lingo when chatting about which direction we're going with each other. Essencially if we're heading towards the park we're going south, away from the park (but on the main roadway) we're going north, and everything else is really just relative to where we "think" we may happen to be at the moment. Mind you we have absolutely no idea how accurate these are, but fortunately can converse with the cab drivers enough to ensure we get where we want to go. In the cab on our way back to our hotel this afternoon we decided to just call it south... It really is a lovely city, but is absolutely massive. We lived in Buenos Aires for a year (13 million) and currently live in NYC (11 million) but Mexico City (22 million) is just plain A LOT!

This morning we decided to put off our trip to the pyramids until tomorrow and instead spend the day visiting some more art. This city is absolutely teeming with art, it's fantastic. Again walking from one side of the city to another (which really isn't so bad in 80 degree sunny weather!) we took in the sights at a local arts market, the Centro de la Imagen (photography museum), Bellas Artes (gorgeous theater), the Diego Rivera Mural Museum, the National Arts Museum, and then on to the ruins of Templo Mayor. We had lunch overlooking the ruins and were very happy to rest our feet after a long day of museum hopping. The iced margarita was a welcome treat in the hot sun!

Mike at the photography museum and dancers in the park (at 9AM!)

The historic center and a pink church with sculptures of Aztec warriors

The Aztec Ruins of Templo Mayor

So tomorrow we're off to the pyramids then perhaps on to a dinner and some mariachi. Hopefully we'll continue to encounter the same friendliness in cab drivers we've experienced so far - they've been so willing to chat with us and answer questions, point things out, etc... I love being able to speak the language in the country I'm traveling in. I'm a little worried about how little we will have studied Amharic before our next lesson on Monday night though...we were just getting to the point where we could practice conversations but I have a feeling this little trip may be setting us back a few days! Vale la pena - worth it.