Mexico City

The week before Thanksgiving we took the SMCA kids and families on a 5 day trip to Mexico City! The trip was packed full of exploring the city and learning more about Mexican history and culture. What a joy it was for me to see the kids so excited about learning and experiencing some of the things that we had been learning about in the classroom.

Nine hours with 18 kids can be long, so we decided that it would be wise to break up the trip with some stops along the way. So we took a couple of hours to explore the city of San Luis Potosi.

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On Day 2 we headed out of the city to the Teotihuacan Pyramids.

The Pyramid of the Sun.

Juan Porto is one of the teen home parents on our campus and he grew up in Mexico City. He kindly offered to be our tour guide and teach us about all of the sites that we would be visiting. Below is a picture of Juan explaining to us the history of Teotihuacan.

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Myself, Ruby, and Jessica on top of the Pyramid of the Sun!

On Day 3 we toured the Palace of Chapulepec, explored the Museum of Anthropology and ended the day hanging out at the Children's Museum. Below is a picture of Jessica and I in the palace.

Some of my students in front of ruins in the Anthropology Museum.

On Day 4 we walked around downtown and visited the Federal Palace or Zocalo. Here is a picture of the National cathedral... notice that it has a slight tilt to it.... Mexico City was built on a lake! As a result many old buildings have begun to sink. If you look closely you can see it is leaning!

Mexico City is built on top of the ancient city of Tenochtitlan. In the heart of downtown is el templo meyor. The is the site where the top of the largest pryamid is being excavated. It is incredible to think that while I was walking through the city, an entire ancient civilization was buried under my feet. Here is a picture of the ruins of the Templo Meyor, one of the tallest buildings in ancient Tenochtitlan. It can be seen sticking up out of the ground downtown.

The federal building downtown Mexico City.

One of my favorite moments was when when all 30 of us road the metro in downtown Mexico City! We wanted to give the kids an idea of how many people live there! Boy did this 2 block ride paint a crammed picture! I have never been so close to so many people! We barely squeezed into an already packed subway and road 2 blocks. After nearly losing 2 of our students we safely made it to our destination, all feeling slightly skinnier :)

A trip to Mexico City would not be the same without a view of the Independence Angel! We didn't have time to stop, but here is a view from the car!

Throughout the trip we also ate some delicious... and unique... Mexican delicacies! Below is the taco stand near Juan's mom's house. He insisted that we try some tacos made by his friends. They sure were delicious! Did I mention that they were cow eye tacos?

Yum yum! We love tacos!!

And just to prove that the trip had an educational focus, here is a picture of the kids writing in the travel journals that we kept throughout the trip. They used their journals for notes, sketches and reflections throughout the trip!