Szymczak Family Adventure

Paul, Anne, and Chris moseyed on down to Mexico for a week to visit me! Unfortunately they returned before Christmas. The adventure started on Saturday in Mexico City where I met them at the airport. We got a rental car for the week so we could drive to other states in Mexico. After stuffing the car, we went to the first of 5 hotels on the trip. Next, we did a driving tour of Mexico City: Angel of Independence, Bellas Artes, zócalo, etc. We had a nice chat with the police because we parked next to the angel with the 4 other cars, which is a no-no. Thankfully, we didn’t get a ticket. We dined at an Argentinean restaurant for dinner then went back to the hotel.

We also spent Sunday in Mexico City. We make a trek out to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There’s a new basilica and an old one. We went to mass in the new one, which is a lot bigger. We toured the older basilica which has slanted floors due to its age. Here’s a little info, thanks for Wikipedia, about Our Lady of Guadalupe in case you didn’t know:

The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe) is a Roman Catholic church, minor basilica and National Shrine of Mexico in the north of Mexico City. The shrine was built near the hill of Tepeyac where Our Lady of Guadalupe is believed to have appeared to Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. This site is also known as La Villa de Guadalupe or, in a more popular sense, simply La Villa, as it has several churches and related buildings.

The new Basilica houses the original tilma (or cloak) of Juan Diego, which holds the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. One of the most important pilgrimage sites of Catholicism, the basilica is visited by several million people every year, especially around 12 December, Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast day.

The real tilma is hanging behind the alter in the new church. You can’t get close to it but it’s cool to think that I was in the same room with it. There were traditional Mexican performances outside the church so we stopped to watch some of them. Then we had lunch by the basilica and headed back to downtown Mexico City. When we returned we went to Chapultepec Park. It’s a massive park with museums, vendors, a lake, a castle, a zoo, and more! We went to the castle on the hill of Chapultepec. The site of the hill was a sacred place for Aztecs, and the buildings atop it have served several purposes during its history, including that of Military Academy, Imperial residence, Presidential home, observatory, and presently, the Museo Nacional de Historia. After we left the park, we went to the Bellas Artes (performance theater) to see if there were tickets left for the Folkloric Ballet for the evening. We were in luck! Mom, Chris, and I might have napped for a few minutes during the performance but everyone still enjoyed it.

Monday morning we departed for the city of Puebla, but not before another interaction with the police. We were apparently in a MegaBus lane. Unfortunately, we had to pay. Once we finally reached Puebla, we went to one of the restaurants recommended to us in a guide book, Fonda de Santa Clara. Puebla is known for their mole, thick brown salsa, so we ordered that. It was delicious! Then we walked around the downtown area. We visited the church in the zócalo, which was actually supposed to be built in the zócalo in Mexico City but the designs were switched. Puebla is also known for their ceramics so we went to a talavera market to buy some. Next we headed to a nearby town called Cholula that is known for its hundreds of churches and has the third largest pyramid in the world. Chris and I toured the tunnels of the pyramid. It doesn’t look like a pyramid from the outside though, because it’s covered in grass. On top, there’s a church, which is where we reunited with Paul and Anne. When we got back to Puebla, we ate on a terrace of a restaurant that overlooks the zócalo, which was decorated for Christmas with gingerbread houses, an ice skating rink and a Christmas tree. We had the best seats in the house!

On Tuesday we departed for the city of Oaxaca. We arrived in the afternoon and ate at a fancy restaurant known for their Oaxacan food called Casa Oaxaca. I had rabbit with a yellow mole. (Oaxaca also has good mole.) After linner, we walked around downtown Oaxaca. Oaxaca is famous for their artisanal crafts. They have pottery made from black clay (from locking in the smoke when the clay is in the oven) and delicately painted figures. We found some museums, shops, and the Church of Santo Domingo on our walk back to the hotel. We also went to a market where Anne purchased Mexican Christmas decorations to bring back to the states.

We spent most of Wednesday driving to the beach. I asked Paul if he wanted to take the more direct route through the mountains or the longer route on flat land. He chose mountains but I think he regretted it about 3 hours later. There are an unbelievable amount of speed bumps in Mexico because people don’t tend to pay attention to the speed signs. However, most of the speed bumps aren’t marked or sometimes there are signs but no bumps. All the Mexican food we had been eating didn’t help the weight/height of the car. When we were pulling into Puerto Escondido there was a sign for a hotel that looked was rated the best one in Puerto Escondido and I was relieved to tell my family it was the one I booked! When we got to the hotel, we didn’t leave it until the next day. It had 2 pools, a restaurant and air conditioning. We were in heaven. And it was across the street from the beach.

 

All day Thursday was beach day! We went to bed right after dinner on Wednesday so we started our day early on Thursday. We walked along the beach by the hotel then took a taxi to the best swimming beach in Puerto Escondido called Carrizalillo. We laid in beach loungers under umbrellas while being served fruity drinks. It was the life. Then we took a ride on a boat to look for sea turtles. The guys driving the boat said we were good luck because we found the turtle right away. Not only did we see it. The guy jumped in on top of it and caught it so we could take pictures with it. #onlyinmexico. We went back to the hotel and Dad and I went to the beach near our hotel. The waves were so big that they ate my sunglasses and his goggles. We were happy to return to the hotel where we had dinner at the hotel and watched the sun set.

We drove back to Mexico City on Friday. It was quite the trek. We survived with snacks from the Oxxo (common convenience station in Mexico). But we couldn’t end the trip without another police encounter! This time they were nice and helped us find our hotel. The GPS was a little misleading. The hotel was right by downtown Mexico City and we learned that the city never sleeps! We had to get up early on Saturday to go to the airport and when we got up people were still partying from the night before. It was hard to say goodbye but I’ll be home for good in 5 months! I think it’s safe to say that the fam enjoyed Mexico!