Sore feet

I don´t think my runners are going to make it home from this trip. After being in Mexico only 3 full days I could probably have walked from Winnipeg to Regina by now, but why would I want to go to Regina? I´ve conquered the city´s metro and I love it, even when it´s so crowded you get pushed on and off of the cars. It ´s so fast in comparison to how the traffic moves above ground on the streets.
Friday I walk the 8 or so blocks to the metro station and make my way to the centro historico where there is block upon block of beautiful architecture to see. I arrive at the Alameda central, a beautiful building that houses some museums which I somehow can´t bring myself inside to see. I walk a few blocks to the Catedral Metropolitana, built in 1576, and have a look around the exterior, which is quite amazing. I enter the cathedral and there is a handful of worshipers inside that I don´t want to disturb so I quickly admire the interior and then exit. Outside the cathedral there are ruins of an Aztec temple, a place which the Aztecs believed was the centre of the universe.
Also outside of the cathedral, I am drawn to the sound of drums. I see various stations set up of men dressed in elaborate head-dresses and loin cloths, perfoming some sort of ritual on people who are lined up. Apparently these are Aztec ¨doctors¨ or healers, as a local man describes to me. He tells me that they are performing this ritual with smoke and the burning of some plants in order to restore energy to the people lined up. Part of the ritual involves one of the two healers standing behind the person being energized and blowing into a large shell, making a deep sound.
The man who explains to me about the ritual also walks around with me for a short while, exlaining some things about the ruins and the cathedral and various surrounding museums. He is very friendly and I feel guilty thinking that maybe he wants some sort of tip for offering his time and knowledge, but he doesn´t ask for anything. He is simply being helpful and friendly, as most Mexicans are.
After we depart, a group of university students approaches me to help them with their homework. Their assignment is to create interview questions and have them answered by a foreigner. I quickly find myself being filmed via a cell phone, answering a few short questions. After my moment of fame, I walk away and am approached by another man who clearly has seen me helping the students. He wants a quick english lesson on how to say various things in regards to the jewelery he is selling. I help him but then of course he wants me to buy a $200 necklace, yeah right.
I wander around the rest of the day outside. Although there are many museums and indoor attractions, I can´t bring myself to go inside anywhere. The only exception is the torture museum that I pay 25M to visit, where there are various paintings and actual torture devices from around the world to see. Back outside, the weather is beautiful. Sunny and warm, not hot. And the people watching is great, although by the end of the day after walking in crowds for hours I start to feel claustrophobic.
I take the metro home again and am exhausted by the time I walk the six more blocks from the station and then climb the four flights of stairs. That night, I go with Adrian a few blocks away to a friend´s house. A few of us drink some beers in the dining room, while a few others conduct their choir practice in the living room, which is hilarious to hear. My spanish is coming along alright, but I need period translation to make sure I am following along.
Yesterday I decide to go see a complex of pyramids at the site of Teotihuacan, about an hour by bus north of the city. It´s nice to get out there and have a break from the bustling, polluted city.
The ruins are amazing, built between 250AD and 600AD. Most impressive is the temple of the sun, the world´s third largest pyramid, which it is also permitted to climb. I thank myself for not smoking that day, because it´s not an easy climb. The view from the top is worth every pant. At the ruins I also take a guided group tour in spanish and visit a great museum. In total I walk around for 4 hours or so. Thankfully I wore sunblock, but I´m still developing a nice farmer´s tan from wearing the wife beaters.
Last evening two more girls arrive to stay with Adrian. They are from Slovenia and are super nice. They pack it in early after a long day and I go with Adrian to meet his friends at a cafe and sing karaoke with the ¨Rhythm Killers¨, as they call themselves. We murder the song ¨the lion sleeps tonight¨, followed by some songs in spanish that I´ve never heard. And today is, of course, a new day.