Damon's first orchestra concert

When Damon started middle school, he decided he wanted to do orchestra, and to play bass. They got him the smallest size bass possible and it's still too big for him to handle, but he's enjoyed playing it.

He had his first concert this week, and he did great!

Mexico City - 08 - Plaza de Santo Domingo, airport apartment, flight home

This was our last day in the city center apartment. We packed up and left our bags in a storage closet in the building so we didn't have to lug them around all day. We got one last bakery breakfast, then did a lot of souvenir shopping.

Amber wanted to go back to Plaza de Santo Domingo just up the street.

This time we were able to go inside the church and take a look around.

We found a vendor selling mangos there, but they weren't as good as the magic ones we found earlier.

We went back and got our bags, then dragged them through the metro to another apartment.

Our flight back was changed to be very early Sunday morning, so we found a place within walking distance to the airport. We had planned to uber to the somewhat nearby Mexico City temple, but a combination of uber's flex pricing and everyone's general tiredness kept us at the apartment.

Amber and I went walking to make sure we knew how to get to the airport and to see if any food was nearby and were not disappointed. The airport was super close and the whole neighborhood seemed to be dedicated to serving airport employees and there were a dozen food vendors right around the corner.

The only downside to the place was that the windows didn't block the light and neighborhood was really, really loud. Nobody could sleep because of the banging, car noises, talking, etc. I had my earplugs in so I got some sleep, but when I woke up at 3AM, the time we had decided to leave, everyone else was going crazy because there was literally someone playing the trombone with a backing band.

We made it to the airport without any trouble. Security took Carmen's scissors and carefully examined Damon's chess set, but we still had a couple of hours to wait until our flight.

The flight was uneventful, other than Miles puking on landing again. There was a super short line getting through customs and we were the last ones in it, so we were able to get our passports stamped, pick up the van, and get home in time for some of us to attend church.

Mexico City - 07 - Zoo, Anthropological Museum, Lucha Libre

We wanted to go to the Anthropological Museum, so we decided to stop by the zoo to finish what we missed on our first visit. We saw lions, tigers, and bears, hippos, camels, antelopes and more. The weather was cool and the animals were active.

We exited the zoo into Chapultepec Park and stopped off at the mirror maze there, which was surprisingly fun.

We thought we'd get some food at the park, but there were only snack vendors, so we tried looking for a restaurant or taco stand near the museum and had a hard time finding anything. We finally found a torta place, then went to the Anthropological Museum.

Our main goal was to see the Aztec Sun Stone, so we went to the Tenochtitlan exhibit first.

They had lots of cool artifacts there. My favorite besides the Sun Stone might have been a giant circular sacrificial altar with warriors carved all the way around the outer edge.

We walked out of that exhibit into the central courtyard and heard music, so we followed it until we found a Mexican trio performing a concert. We listened to that for a while, then convinced the kids to check out the Teotihuacan hall. They were worn out, and Carmen was not feeling well, so we stopped by the gift shop then headed back to the apartment.

After resting up, we took the metro to Arena Mexico to see some Lucha Libre wrestling. We were planning on getting some food near the arena, but we got distracted by all the mask sellers and we all ended up buying a mask.

The website where we bought tickets didn't like the credit cards we brought, so we ended up using my other visa card that I had stored digitally. We had a little scare when they asked to see the card at will-call, but thankfully they were satisfied with seeing the digital version on my phone.

Amber tried to buy us some food in the arena, but all they had was hot dogs, and only one of them. They could see she was distressed, so someone went to find her some more so we could all eat. While there was not a lot of English spoken in Mexico City, almost everyone was eager to please and very polite.

The show itself was great. It was very acrobatic compared to American wrestling. The big name of the night was Místico, but he ended up losing his tag team match. The ladies also wrestled, and Lluvia won.

We took the metro back at about 11pm. It was the first time we'd tried riding it late at night, but everything was fine and we never felt unsafe. We got off at Zocalo station, but the exit nearest our apartment was closed, so we had to get off on the opposite side only to find that it was pouring rain. We took the covered walkways around the square as much as we could, then ran the rest of the way. I was happy to find I'd adjusted to the altitude enough to run without much trouble.

Mexico City - 06 - Metropolitan Cathedral, Templo Mayor, Diego Rivera murals, street vendors

For this day we decided to explore the things near us in the city center. First we walked across the street to finally go inside the Metropolitan Cathedral we'd been looking at for days. It was impressive, but most of it was roped off so we didn't stay long.

We went next door to the ruins of Templo Mayor, an Aztec pyramid where most of the stone for the cathedral came from.

We started with the free exhibits along the outer edge, then we paid the fee to go into the museum. The first part is underground, where we saw some of the foundations and some artifacts. From there we took some stairs up to ground level to walk through the ruins.

On the other side of the ruins is a large museum, and we spent a long time going through it. It had tons of artifacts and we learned a lot about the Aztecs.

This area has a lot of street vendors, so we spent some time deciding what souvenirs we might want.

Just a couple blocks away was the government building where the famous murals of Diego Rivera adorn the inner courtyard walls.

The kids were tired after several hours on their feet, so after some street tacos they wanted to take a break at the apartment. Amber and I still wanted to go out, so we explored east of Zócalo where we found a whole market area full of street vendors and stores, selling everything you could think of.

We had fun browsing the various products, and bought some fried plantains and ice cream along the way.

While we were wandering, Amber saw someone eating something interesting, so before we went back to the apartment she tracked down the lady that was selling them. They turned out to be tlayudas, a Oaxacan food. The lady was surprised that we wanted six of them, and instead of making them there she bagged up some ingredients for us instead: tostada, beans, cactus, salsa, and Oaxacan cheese.

I thought they were yummy. Not the fanciest food, but it was a fun cultural experience.

We were worried about rain during the day, but only got sprinkled on a little on the way back with our tlayudas. The real rain came later that night with a heavy storm at bedtime.

Mexico City - 05 - Zoo, Chapultepec Castle, Angel of Independence

We decided to go back to Chapultepec Park since it was closed the first time we tried. The western part of the park has a free zoo, so we went there first.

We saw some cool animals, including pandas and some very entertaining monkeys.

We only finished half the zoo, but I was worried about the rain forecast, so we left and walked through the park towards the castle.

Chapultepec Castle is up on a hill in the eastern part of the park. We bought tickets and made the trek up to the top.

It was a really interesting place and we learned a lot about Maximilian, the Hapsburg who very briefly ruled from here as Emperor of Mexico. There were lots of exhibits inside, and a whole section that was restored to look like it was during his reign.

It also had great views of the park and the city.

From there we decided to walk through the business district to go see the Angel of Independence statue.

On our way there we bought some of the best mangos we'd ever had from a street vendor. We spent the rest of the trip looking for equally delicious mangos but never found them.

Everybody's feet hurt by then, and there was still a forecast of rain (which didn't end up happening) so we started walking to the nearest metro stop. Along the way we found a cheap taco stand for dinner and we ate at a local playground before heading back to the apartment.

Mexico City - 04 - Tlatelolco, Basilica de Guadalupe, Teotihuacan

We got up early, stopped by the bakery for breakfast, then walked to the street behind the Palacio de Bellas Artes where we ate while we waited for our tour bus.

The first stop was Tlatelolco, a site that includes Aztec ruins and a Spanish church built from the stones of those pyramids.

The tour was in English, and the tour guide told us some interesting information about the area before letting us explore for a few minutes.

The next stop was the Basilica de Guadalupe, a shrine dedicated to the multiple apparitions of Mary that appeared to Juan Diego there. We first stopped at a gift shop under the guise of a restroom break (it worked because we bought a magnet) then walked across the street to the complex.

The main original church is still there, although it has sunk and the floors are noticeably slanted. There is also a modern building where the cloth with image of Mary is stored.

We walked up the hill to see several other churches that have been built at the various apparition sites. The grounds are nicely landscaped. It is a huge tourist and pilgrimage site, even being visited by Pope John Paul II.

After that we drove outside the city to Teotihuacan. Along the highway we got to see the colorful neighborhoods built into the mountains. Some of them even had gondola lifts to get people to the top.

When we got to Teotihuacan, they took us to a gift shop where they showed us how they used the native agave plants for food, cloth, and alcohol and let those who were interested taste various alcohols. Then they showed us some obsidian and gave us time to browse the shop, where we bought an obsidian disk that you can see the sun through.

This took a while, and I was starting to get annoyed because I just wanted to go see the pyramids, but first we were forced to eat lunch at a specific restaurant nearby. They did have some good live entertainment, but the food prices were relatively expensive, the food was just ok, and it took FOREVER. Miles's food never even came, we had to hassle somebody to get it. By this time I was really annoyed, but there was nothing we could do. We had to wait for the tour to be ready so we could take the bus the rest of the way to the pyramids.

When we finally got to the pyramids, we ditched the tour guide so we'd have enough time to look around. We entered in the plaza area in front of the Pyramid of the Moon.

It was very impressive, but unfortunately, we were not allowed to climb them. We probably wouldn't have had time, anyway because of the lunch fiasco.

We checked out one area that was open and had an area showing family rooms and even some paint. It also had some good views of the Temple of the Moon area.

There were lots of vendors selling pyramids and jaguar whistles. We decided it would be best if Damon didn't have one. From there we walked down the Avenue of the Dead to see the larger Pyramid of the Sun.

We couldn't climb it, but we had just enough time to walk all the way around it.

On our way out, Amber bought Miles a Teotihuacan hat, then we rode the bus back to the city. On our walk home, we passed by the old post office, where Amber bought a postcard and sent it to ourselves.

I took the kids back to the apartment while Amber went to try one more time to get us some cash. She found a different ATM, but the card didn't work again, so she said a little prayer and found one that worked and got us enough money for the rest of the trip.

We decided to mix things up for dinner and get Chinese food. We found a buffet that was just about to close, but they agreed to let us get take-out. They stuffed some containers full of food for really cheap, so although some of it was Mexican spicy, we had more than enough to eat.

While we were out, the owners of the apartment replace the showerhead. The previous one was probably the worst showerhead I'd ever used, so Amber asked them to fix it when they came to do their housekeeping. So instead of pinpricks of water, we had mostly normal showers the rest of the trip.

I had found the laundry room while Amber was getting money, so we did some laundry that night, and also got a chance to explore the event area with its dance floor and historic side rooms. It's a really cool old building.

Mexico City - 03 - La Condesa, Monument to the Revolution

For breakfast we tried a different bakery a little farther down the street. It was bigger and had a lot more choices so we went there for most of the rest of the trip.

The plan for the day was to go to the Monument to the Revolution, then to Chapultepec Park to see the Zoo, and the Anthropology Museum and maybe the castle. We took the metro to the Monument to the Revolution, only to find that it was closed until later in the day. We continued on to Chapultepec Park only to find out that it was also closed, along with the zoo and castle inside it.  And the Anthropology Museum was closed too. This is when we learned that everything is closed on Mondays. We at least got a picture with this guy, a real statue, from near the museum.

We had heard some of the neighborhoods in the area were worth checking out, so we walked to nearby La Condesa to explore, passing by the Estela de Luz along the way.

The neighborhood had some nice streets and several nice parks that we explored.

Carmen wasn't feeling well, so Amber stopped at a pharmacy to get her some cold medicine while we waited at this fountain.

The kids played at a playground in another park, then we walked to a different metro to make our way back to the Monument to the Revolution, which was now open.

We bought tickets, then got funneled into the gift shop, where Carmen promptly touched a wooden toy that said "No Tocar" and broke it. After purchasing it, we went underground to see a small museum, then back to ground level where we took the central glass elevator to the viewing area.

We enjoyed the views from the open air deck before climbing a lot of breath-taking stairs up into the dome area for views from the very top.

Since everything was closed, we decided to go back to the apartment to watch more General Conference. We were starting to run low on cash, so Amber tried several ATMs but was unable to get them to work, and the bank helpline was not helpful. We were kind of tacoed out and nobody wanted to go out, so we ordered Domino's pizza for dinner. While picking it up, Miles left his sweatshirt there and had to borrow one of Damon's for the rest of the trip.