First a Subway ride. I was not prepared for the chaos on the Mexico City metro. Several cars were too full to get on. I finally got smart and moved to the outskirts of the platform and was able to get on and then there was the change of metro lines. When I got on a second train, I was pushed violently into the car as people tried to get on. It was not fun, and then getting off and climbing through construction debris to get above ground was not particularly pleasant. I decided to Uber from here on even though I have hundreds of pesos left on my Subway card.
Ar any rate I went to the Zócalo and at first glance, it was very disappointing because it was a huge piazza with a huge cathedral in the distance, but the entire Piazza was filled with construction barriers and so that you couldn’t see what it was supposed to look like. I keep remembering the James Bond movie where James Bond is somehow flying over the Zocalo and they’re not filled with construction and barricades.
View across zocalo. There was a protest going on, an nowhere was there a view of the entire space.
I decided that it was time to get coffee to recover from the Subway ride, so walked around the Zócalo a little bit, and realized that there were tons of department stores and fabric stores. Popped in briefly for the blessed air conditioning. It’s ridiculous, the temperatures are in the low 70s, but the humidity, altitude, and pollution take their toll.
After that, I decided to go into the enormous cathedral. It did not disappoint, enormous is an understatement, and to top it off, next to it was another cathedral that was actually adhered to the main cathedral, and next to that were Aztec ruins.
Here is the mini-Cathedral pasted alongside the enormous one.
I found that really interesting because in Merida, the cathedral was built with Mayan ruins, and I’m guessing that this cathedral was also built from Aztec ruins, since they were right next-door. Is any rate it was all very interesting.
I love this snake motif in the ruins, right next to the cathedral.
And I also spotted a group of people dressed in Aztec dress who were blessing people with herbs and smoke.
Next was lunch at el Cardinal, a restaurant recommended by a lady I met on the Subway, who was born in Mexico City, but now lives in San Diego. She bitched about the Subway and said it was not normal.
There was a line to get in the restaurant, surprising because it is Monday and the restaurant comprises three floors of dining areas. When I arrived, I was immediately offered hot chocolate. It was 1245 P.M. and I guess still breakfast time. I said, yay and clapped my hands, and so I was given a cup of delicious chocolate. I was then presented with the breakfast menu in English. It was OK. I didn’t need to have lunch, so I ordered a glass of beet juice and a mixed plate that included tortillas, green sauce, cheese, and so on.
The meal really fortified me, so I walked around the Zocalo towards the fabric shops one more time, and eventually hailed an Uber to take me to The Mercado Sonora.
This market was advertised as a witches market. You can actually purchase spells at this market, but it also features many spellcasting supplies as well as tarot card readers.
It was kind of surprising that this market also had a lot of children’s toys and party supplies. In addition to many stalls filled with Mexican pottery and Mexican blown glass.
I hear that you can also buy animals for sacrifice, but I did not see that section
Hard to know what’s happening here, but it is scary!
A stack of witch’s cauldrons with a little man inside. No lo entiendo!
An assortment of spellcasting supplies…horseshoes (lucky?) spokes (vampires?) and so on…
Herbs used in spellcasting and purification?
Devils with alcohol next to our lady of Guadalupe’s and palo santo.
