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Teotihuacan and Frida Kahlo museum
Tuesday, August 25, 2015Last last Sunday was spent on a one day tour to Teotihuacan and the Frida Kahlo museum, organised by Cholula Capital, the same company that runs the hostel I'm currently staying at.
For SGD$29, we got an english guide at Teotihuacan, entry to Frida Kahlo museum and a bus ride to and fro Puebla. *Entry to Teotihuacan is free for students with valid student ID
An ethnic performance that we were greeted with upon arrival. They do not charge people for watching, but will collect donations after.
This was our guide. He speaks spanish and english and its great with the explanations. Without his stories, I would never have truly appreciated the beauty and wonder of Teotihuacan. And he genuinely wants to share these stories, unlike most guides who just get by with reading their memorised script.
Teotihuacan is one of the UNESCO sites in the world. It doesn't feel quite right that Singapore's Botanic Gardens is on the same level as this marvellous feature, but I love Singapore and it's awesome that we're finally in the UNESCO collection.
Teotihuacan has two pyramids and it is still unknown who built these pyramids to this date. The Pyramid of the Moon is built in front of a mountain, that seems to disappear as we get closer to it. The pyramid is built with a certain significance, related to the planet's orbitation and calendar dates. Which is amazing because nobody figured the existence of planets until much later.
The rooms and surrounding houses are still being excavated, but whoever built these structures are knowledgable enough to dig drainage holes and mix cactus sap with clay to line the floor and the walls.
The Pyramid of the Sun is built exactly at the center from Canada extending to the end of Chile. This allows people to witness the equinox phenomenon on every 21 March, where one's shadows disappear. The guide said that people would actually arrive 2 days earlier to grab a good spot.
We scaled Pyramid of the Sun, the highest of the two and the sight we were rewarded with is amazing.
After Teotihuacan, we took a 2 hour ride into Mexico City where we visited the Frida Kahlo Museum. Lunch was settled near a market that is 2 blocks away, just opposite a street market selling art with a seniors dancing corner.
The museum had a long line waiting outside, but with the tour group, we got to skip the queue. The museum building is actually the house of Frida Kahlo. Going through the museum, her tragic life story was slowly revealed through her paintings and the exhibits. The entire experience was strangely beautiful, tragic, and creepy.
The exterior of the building is painted a beautiful royal blue
A summary of her life story
The living room
Her workspace. She painted from her wheelchair
Her room. Lots of mexican ornaments decorated the house
The exterior, leading to the gardens
The corsets that she had to wear after the incident. She would decorate and paint the corsets and wear it like she chose to, and not because she had to.
With that, we ended our tour for the day.
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