Mexico State & City (Oct 8 to 13)

October 8
Km’s Pedalled – 75 km’s

Destination – Ixtlahuaca

Some Notes – Another long day. The day started with highway biking until I missed my turn and I had to bike 7 km’s to get back on track. The bonus was that would be the end of my highway biking (for now).

I biked through Zumpango de Ocampo and visited Parroquia de la Purísima Concepción and CapIlla Barrio Santa Maria. In Tecamac de Felipe I visited Parroquia Santa Cruz.

Parroquia de la Purísima Concepción

Capilla Barrio Santa Maria

Parroquia Santa Cruz

I have a host in Ixtlahuaca which is 8 km’s north of Teotihuacán. Teotihuacán is where I plan to check out some pyramids before I head to Mexico City.

Reaching me host was a bunch of dirt roads up some mountain side. I would never have guessed Google maps could have directed me where I ended up.

October 9
Some Notes – A largely uneventful day. My host did not want to bring me to the pyramids today because supposedly they can get in free tomorrow (I assume because they are local?). So, my host drove me around the area to give me a little bit of a tour and then brought me to various friend’s places for what I assume was a show and tell of the Canadian cyclist visiting their town.

My first quart of beer in Mexico

A cool part was that one of his friends works at the pyramids gave me 2 pieces of Mayan pottery and a Mayan marble. I have 100’s of pieces of Mayan pottery from Belize that I have dug out of my front yard in Belize but no Mayan pottery from Mexico.

This evening I got some photos edited and I started writing a blog about how to document your bike ride/adventure.

October 10
Some Notes – The day started with some sort of steam bath via my host. Some type of sauna he built himself on his property. Later when then attempted to go to the pyramids they wouldn’t let us in because the place was “full” except they weren’t letting people in as people left? (SMH).

In San Martin I was able to visit the Santuario del Señor Ecce Homo and in San Francisco Mazapa I was able to visit Parroquia San Francisco de Asís.

Santuario del Señor Ecce Homo

Church of San Francisco Mazapa

And then it become the same as yesterday visiting people. Except when we got back to the house, I needed to take a nap due to how much beer was consumed today. I had no motivation for the rest of the evening.

With my hosts wife Marcy

October 11
Km’s Pedalled – 43 km’s

Some Notes – I finally got into see the pyramids. The cost was $80 pesos to get in. It was cool to visit but after a while it was time to leave. There was so many white people and tourists and so many vendors trying to sell me souvenirs. There was an interesting souvenir that created Jaguar screams. At first, I thought it was amusing and an interesting item for my home in Belize. But after vendors creating the screams every 2 minutes for the hour or so that I was there as I walked between pyramids I was no longer amused. There was not tons and tons of people there but after a while I found the place more suffocating than a city.

Pyramid of the Moon

Pyramid of the Sun

The two main pyramids were the Sun and Moon Pyramid. [I would not realize until later in the evening that there was a third pyramid when a bike ride follower mentioned that I did not post any photos of the pyramid of Quetzalcóatl. The guy at the front gate told me nothing about that pyramid and only gave me instruction about the first 2 pyramids].

After the pyramids I visited Templo de San Sebastián de Milán Mártir in Xolalpa. I than biked to Teotihuacan and visited Parroquia San Juan Bautista Purificación, Cathedral of the Divine Savior, Parroquia San Juan Evangelista Capilla and The Lord of the Column Capilla church.

Templo de San Sebastián de Milán Mártir

Parroquia San Juan Bautista Purificación

Cathedral of the Divine Savior

Parroquia San Juan Evangelista Capilla

The Lord of the Column Capilla Church

And then I biked to Maquixco and visited Parroquia de La Asunción de María and the Virgen del Fresno Capilla. And then in San Antonio de las Palmas I visited Capilla de San Antonio de Padua.

Templo de La Asunción de María

Capilla de San Antonio de Padua

It was a long day for sightseeing. The evening was spent mostly editing photos.

October 12
Km’s Pedalled – 85.5 km’s

Destination – Mexico City

With my host Eduardo Cervantes

Some Notes – I made it to Mexico City. I always felt Mexico City would be a pretty big milestone. It’s a pretty big city to bike into. The first part of my day went fairly smooth. And then I got myself in some roughly neighborhoods (not necessarily dangerous). And when I got myself out of that then I got myself into a lot of traffic. Once I almost got taken out by a bus.

I ended up on some rough roads into Mexico City

During the first part of my ride I was able to visit a few cathedrals. In Tlalmimilolpan I visited Capilla San Lorenzo de Roma. In Xometla I visited San Miguel Arcángel Church and Sainte Francisco de Asís Church. In San Francisco Zacango I visited Calvarito Capilla. In Cuanalán I visited the Templo de La Asunción de María. And in Tepexpan I visited Mayordomía de la Santa Cruz.

Capilla San Lorenzo de Roma

San Miguel Arcángel Church

Church Calvarito

Templo de La Asunción de María

The weather was great today. Getting into Mexico City I stopped by and visited Immaculate Conception Temple, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Torre Caballito and the Museo Nacional de la Revolución.

Templo de la Inmaculada Concepción

Palacio de Bellas Artes

Torre Caballito

Museo Nacional de la Revolución

October 13
Km’s pedalled – 42.5 km’s

Some Notes – A perfect day to explore Mexico City. I haven’t seen skyscrapers since Las Vegas. I was able to visit and photograph many places today. Those would include:

Parroquia del Santo Niño de la Paz
Iglesia de San Hipólito
Parroquia de San Juan de Dios
Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral
Parroquia El Sagrario Metropolitano
Merceditas
Museo de la Charrería
Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel
Parroquia de la Santísima Trinidad
Templo y Convento de Jesús María
Parroquia de Santa Teresa La Nueva
Nuestra Señora de Loreto Church
Templo de Santa Inés
Parroquia de Jesús Nazareno e Inmaculada Concepción
Church of San Bernardo
Church of Saint Augustine
Pinacoteca de la Profesa en el Templo de San Felipe Neri

I was able to get a fair number of photos edited this evening, going to bed at 2am.

Parroquia del Santo Niño de la Paz

Iglesia de San Hipólito y San Casiano

Parroquia de San Miguel Arcángel

Parroquia de la Santísima Trinidad

Templo y Convento de Jesús María

Parroquia de Santa Teresa La Nueva

Nuestra Señora de Loreto Church

Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral

October 14
Some Notes – I spent the whole day in front of my computer. In some way I don’t feel I was overly productive. I finished writing my Guanajuato State – Part 3 blog post and got a chunk of my Mexico City photos edited.

My host showed up with an Airedale Terrier dog. The significance of this is that my parents have an Airedale Terrier and my grandparents bred and showed Airedale Terriers purchasing their first Airedale Terrier in 1952. When biking Banff to Jasper Alberta last summer I ran into some people who recognized my “Voortman Cookie” baseball cap. They said that they had bought many Airedale Terriers from the Voortman’s over the years in which I informed them that those were my grandparents.