Mexico City Adventure #2

Wednesday, December 27th

Ok, I didn’t technically number the first one, but I’ll call our Christmas Day outing to Coyoacán our tourist event #1 of the trip.

Yesterday, Wednesday the 27th, we drove back to Mexico City for another overnight and more tourist adventures. I think I’ll split these into different posts to make it easier. Here is Adventure #2, a visit to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Morning:

First though, the morning. We were still in Toluca in the a.m. The plan was to head to Mexico City, but we weren’t in a big rush. It was a nice, relaxing morning. We slept in some, had bread/coffee/tea at the table, and just basically didn’t move too quickly. Vacation mode. 🙂

By the time we all showered and packed an overnight bag, it was noon!

Parker, their dog who sleeps in the car port/garage at night but roams the streets often during the day, is very sweet but also kind of… nasty. Ha. He rolls in crap and is out laying in the dirty streets and nearby dirty field a lot. It is unfortunate, because he loves belly rubs…. but he’s just not super clean. I sometimes can’t resist and give him pets and scratches but just immediately wash my hands.

On the way out of town we stopped for tacos de cecina at this small corner stand with several plastic tables outside. They are everyone’s favorite – Ivan and the boys all LOVE them. I do, too. We go there every time we visit at least once or twice.

After lunch we drove to Mexico City and met up with Ivan’s aunt and uncle again on some random side street. We then caravanned downtown to our destination: La Basilica de Santa Maria de Guadalupe.

Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

If you know anything at all about Mexico, I guarantee you have seen this version of the Virgin Mary:

She is wildly popular and loved and revered like you cannot even imagine. As Ivan said, “people are obsessed with her.”

This huge basilica and complex were built in her honor a long time ago now and people come from all over the world to see it. Big group pilgrimages come on buses from all over the country. In times of need, people come to pray and ask her to ask Jesus for miracles for them.

There are frequent masses held in the basilica as well- I actually think they hold a short mass in there like every hour? (Not positive but I read that somewhere).

I guess I would say she is like Mexico’s communal Mother figure, patron saint and a cultural icon all in one. Anyway, she is a Big Deal.

Backing up a little- the traffic in this area was horrendous. An absolute zoo!! The main parking lot was apparently closed, for some unknown reason. We finally found some parking spots for a fee where a guy working waved us in… the spots were right on the main (extremely busy road) and they had to move these souvenir stands out of the way for us to get in. They were so narrow and up on the curb like in between a light pole and a railing, and if I were driving, there is a 0% chance that I would have gotten the car in there (or worse- backed out later) without hitting someone, something or scratching my car. lol. I literally said, “Welp, I guess I’d remain parked here until the day I die. 😂”

Anyway, we finally got into the complex. It’s kind of like… the St. Peter’s Square of Mexico.

The building with the green roof is the “new” basilica, built because the old, beautiful one in the background is actually sinking and starting to tip over. Ha. (You can still go in it but it literally feels like you are in a fun house!! The floor is angled and you feel off balance.)

First we went into the new basilica which is the main building now. Mass was going on so we had to wait a little bit. It was also packed to the hilt.

Once mass ended, we waited in line and shuffled our way through this long hallway in the back to see the painting of the Virgin up close.

Once you get there, you step onto moving walkways so people can’t really linger. You just ride past and have about 20 seconds to snap your pictures.

We spent a little time then just checking out the rest of the church, and from there we toured the old basilica buildings. There is a lot of great art, all featuring the Virgin of Guadalupe.

There are many side chapels, etc like the cathedrals in Europe.

Outside is also a huge statue of Pope John Paul II who was a major “fan favorite” Pope here in Mexico.

Some more outside pics:

And the family pics:

Gardens:

THEN, after all of that, we hiked up a lot of steps through a garden area that led to another chapel on the hill plus some great look outs.

I loved it up there! The views were super cool and there was mariachi type music playing in the distance somewhere.

The final section on the way out is a fountain/garden area with big statues of the Virgin and also depicting when she supposedly appeared to indigenous people all those years ago.

By the time we got out of there, it was almost 5 p.m!

At this point we split up- Ivan’s aunt, uncle and mom were exhausted from all the walking and stairs, so they went back to the house. The rest of us + Ivan’s dad drove to the Historic Centro. I wanted to take advantage of already being downtown in the mess of traffic to see a bit more. (We usually do not go “downtown” on our visits because it is a big headache with traffic and parking and all of that. But since we aren’t doing any real side trips this time, we decided to see some of the Mexico City sights this year, which somehow we have never really done on previous trips!)

Anyway, to be continued! It was awesome and totally got me my Christmas fix as it was all decorated amazingly for the holidays.

More tomorrow!