Our final day in Mexico City

Today we headed back to the Zocalo to check out Templo Mayor, all that remains of the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan in Mexico City. As those of you who read yesterday's blog know, Tenochtitlan was built on Lake Texcoco, and apparently the Spaniards weren't the only ones who had trouble with flooding. Templo Mayor was enlarged and rebuilt seven times due to instability and sinking issues. If you take a close look, you can see how there are multiple levels of rock -- this is due to rebuilding on top of the same location.

Look how cute Selso and Isa are! The Catedral Metropolitana, which we visited last week, is in the background on the lower left.

The wall of stone skulls.

Attached to Templo Mayor is a museum housing many of the artifacts uncovered at the temple. The Eagle Warrior, in the middle, is particularly important to the Aztecs. They were a fighting people, and eagles were of special symbolic importance.

Next we headed to Coyoacan, formerly a suburb of Mexico City, and now a neighborhood. It is a pleasant place and we had a delicious lunch of ceviche there. We've definitely had tasty food (and a couple of less-than-memorable meals) but so far mostly chicken and steak huaraches or tacos. This was a little different and fabulous. Even the kids devoured the ceviche.

Right next to the restuarant was a market selling all sorts of food, pinatas, clothes, toys and more. We bought five juicy oranges for about $0.70.

Our final stop of the day was Casa Azul (Blue House), the former home of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. In addition to some paintings by each artist, we were able to tour some rooms and see some of their collection of art, which included a number of pre-Hispanic idols.

Tomorrow we leave Mexico City and we will probably be without internet access for at least a few days as we tour the surrounding areas. Our stay here has definitely been wonderful. I know a number of friends, relatives, and even strangers, were concerned about our safety here, but I must say we haven't had any problems, and have felt quite safe and comfortable here. We've really enjoyed our visit here and whole-heartedly recommend Mexico City to anyone!