Zócalo

Our first week in Mexico City, we did some self-guided walking tours. One of them was around the Zocalo, or city center. The Zocalo is essentially a huge plaza surrounded by historic, important buildings. The day we toured this area, they were getting ready for September 15/16, Mexico's independence day. Thus, I was not able to view the grandeur of the huge pedestrian-friendly square (and huge Mexican flag) in the center, but rather "feasted" my eyes upon huge, ugly scaffolding and tarps. Matt went to the Zocalo ten years ago, when he studied in Cuernavaca, and he insists that we go back on a normal, non-holiday day to see it. The square will be where we (and countless mexicanos) celebrate Dia de los Muertos in early November. The buildings of the Zocalo are beautiful and very old, but there are a lot of people begging and people hawking so-called goods (anything from Sharpies to chintzy earrings to posters of Hannah Montana). Unfortunately, my dorky bleeding heart wants to give money to everyone that begs, but I'm working on consciously ignoring most pleas for pesos.

These are the government buildings. They're all gussied-up for the big celebration.

(pardon the pathetic attempt at panorama)

Here's the Catedral Metropolitana de la Asuncion de Maria. The groundbreaking for the cathedral was 1573, and it was completed a wee 250 years later in 1813:



















Here are some pictures of the interior of the beautiful cathedral.

In this last photo, the cathedral appears crooked. Well, that's because it is; the city is sinking. The acquifers, the main water supply for residents of Mexico City, located under the city are depleting faster than they can be replenished (due to droughts and over-consumption). Unfortunately, that means that the soft land upon which the city is built cannot entirely withstand the weight of itself. You see lots of sinking buildings throughout the city.