Mexico Takes my Breath Away

By Emily Hogge - Guest blogger traveling in Mexico. Today was overwhelming too, but in a more awe-inspiring way, at least the latter half. Again, it was simply packed with walking and thing to see. First la Plaza de las Tres Culturas, with pre-Hispanic temples, a Spanish church constructed by stones from these, and finally some governmental offices. This site was a little sobering, with details such as gutters on the temples (like mini pyramids) where human sacrificial blood flowed. This was the site of a 1968 massacre of university students, mandated by the government to squelch a student protest prior to the Olympics. So tragic, and so sad. Next, we went to the Basilica of Guadalupe. Yesterday at the Cathedral, I saw what I had thought was the original image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was beautiful. I was wrong- the original is actually in this other church. This image was more of a letdown, simply because we only had about 15 seconds to view it, as we whizzed by on a horizontal escalator. The area around the Basilica was packed with people, and overwhelming in a claustrophobic way I had not experienced at the Zocalo. There were so many pilgrims, and so many shops touting Guadalupe memorabilia. I stuck close by Linda, a woman from my Spanish class, and her son Ben, and was happy I did. They were both so nice, and also none-too-excited about the crowds, so we found a quieter way together. But the end of the day, oh the end of the day. It was more than I could have expected. We jut missed a rainstorm, by the grace of God. We climbed two pyramids, first the Sun pyramid, and then the Moon. The Sun was impressive for sheer size, and the Moon because it was so steep. I ended up buying a mask made with various beautiful stones, which though I hadn't intended to, I'm glad I did. It's not really possible to translate the grandeur of what we saw into words, but coming back home on the bus, I just felt such a great sense of contentment. Parts of this trip were almost too much to bear, the poverty and my helplessness in the midst of it. I do feel so blessed to have witnessed it all, in its terribly wonderful extremes. It's not too often something I see really truly takes my breath away, but this weekend has, and I think the images of what I have seen will stay with me for a time to come.