!!!Mexico City

by Stanislav Sedov and Dmitry Moiseenko,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

5 August 2013

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

The Aztecs founded Mexico City in 1325 A.D. Spanish conquistadors led by
the legendary Hernán Cortés conquered it two centuries later. In fact,
the combination of ancient Indian traditions and young European
ambitions is what makes the modern capital of Mexico unique.

Sights of Mexico City turned the capital into one of the most popular
tourist destinations in North America. If put together, all of Mexico
City's contrasts: high crime rate vs. hospitality of local residents,
ultra modern skyscrapers vs. Aztec pyramids, slums vs. magnificent
palaces, hills vs. plains — provide the city with a special
unforgettable atmosphere.

[{Image src='01_Mexico City at night.jpg' caption='Mexico City at night' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='601'}]

The Plaza de las Tres Culturas ("Square of the Three Cultures") is the
best illustration of harmonious coexistence of past and present
surrounded by the Aztec pyramid of Tlatelolco, the Colonial Cathedral of
Santiago, and the modern building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary, located atop a
hill on the north side of the Plaza de la Constitucion (the Zocalo,
Constitution Square), is one of the largest and most ancient (1573 A.D.)
cathedrals in Colonial America. Its central nave measures 110 meters in
length and 55 meters in width; it has 51 vaults supported by 74 arches
and 40 columns. Together with the vestry and the National Palace, the
cathedral forms a magnificent ensemble that combines Renaissance,
Baroque, and Neoclassicism.

[{Image src='02_Cathedral.jpg' caption='Cathedral' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='555'}]

In the northern part of the city one can find famous Basilica of Our
Lady of Guadalupe — one of the most important churches in the entire
continent. The Basilica houses the original tilma (or the cloak) of Juan
Diego, which holds the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It was the main
reason for massive — and voluntary — conversion of pagan Aztecs to
Christianity. The first church was built here in 1531 A.D., but after
some time it couldn't accommodate everyone. In 1987 a new grand church
that could accommodate 20 thousand people was built next to the old one.
By the way, the Basilica is one of the most important pilgrimage sites
of Catholicism visited by 14 million people every year, which is the
highest number of pilgrims in the world.

[{Image src='03_Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.jpg' caption='Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='411'}]

Chapultepec Park (Bosque de Chapultepec) is the largest urban park in
North America and one of the biggest in the world. Its territory
surrounds the 2325-meter high Chapultepec hill in Mexico City. The park
occupies an area of over 686 hectares, ranking with the Bois de Boulogne
in Paris, the Imperial Palace East Gardens in Tokyo, and Central Park in
New York City. Not only it could be considered the "lungs" of Mexico
City, but it is also a concentration of numerous cultural objects, such
as the National Museum of Anthropology. Upon entering the museum,
visitors are "greeted" by an ancient artifact — seven-meter tall
monolith depicting the Rain God Tlaloc in a form of a fountain.

On top of the hill there is a castle of the same name, founded in 1785
A.D. by the Spaniard Bernardo de Galvez. Former residence of the
governors, emperors, and presidents of Mexico now serves as the main
exhibition hall of the National Museum of History.

Modern landmarks of Mexico City are as ambitious and impressive as their
ancient counterparts. The symbol of the city is the (El Ángel de la
Independencia) that was built to commemorate the centennial of the of
Mexico's War of Independence, which began in the year of 1810. It is a
36-meters high column topped with 6.7-meter high statue of a winged
goddess of victory. In her outstretched right hand she holds a laurel
wreath, and in her left hand she holds broken chains. The sculpture is
cast in bronze and covered with 24-carat gold.

[{Image src='04_Angel of Independence.jpg' caption='Angel of Independence' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='637'}]

The most famous skyscrapers of Mexico City are the Torre Mayor ("Big
Tower" in Spanish) and the Torre Latinoamericana ("Latin-American
Tower"). 55-story Torre Mayor, which was built in 2003, has a height of
230 meters and considered to be the highest building in the city.
183-meter high Torre Latinoamericana was built in 1956. It is smaller in
comparison to its younger counterpart, but it became famous after
successfully withstanding earthquakes in 1957 and 1985. At that time 7.9
and 8.1 points earthquake destroyed many buildings in Mexico City,
including the television tower. The Torre Latinoamericana survived and
became a symbol of security of the Mexican capital.

[{Image src='05_Latin-American Tower.jpg' caption='Latin-American Tower' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='547'}]

We can talk about Mexico City endlessly: a fusion of cultures is
combined with an elegance and grandeur creating a unique story for each
and every building in the city. But as they say, a picture is worth a
thousand words — please, enjoy the magnificent scenery of Mexico City
through our panoramas!

And now let me turn the floor over to Stanislav Sedov, who will share
some of his impressions about the trip.

We would like to tell you a short story about our trip to Mexico while
the memories are still fresh in our minds. Maybe some of you'll learn
something useful.

As soon as we'd finished shooting Tikal in Guatemala, Dima and I decided
to go to Mexico.

We started off our journey on the wrong foot. The bus that was supposed
to take us to Chetumal in Mexico arrived two hours later at 8am. And it
seemed that Dima's perfect trip plan started falling apart.

[{Image src='06_Poor areas of Mexico City.jpg' caption='Poor areas of Mexico City' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='450'}]

It all went downhill from there. In order to reach Chetumal from
Guatemala you have to pass a small country — Belize. There is nothing
special about it, just another former British colony. Probably because
of this reason it's one of the few countries in Central America where
Russians need to get visa to cross the border. And only British Embassy
grants this visa in Moscow.

Dima found some travel website that stated that if you have a U.S. visa,
then there'll be no problem getting Belize visa on the border in 20
minutes.

A couple of hours later we reached the border. There were no incidents
when we left Guatemala. We filled out necessary forms and handed them
over to Belize border guards. After that we sat waiting under the shed
with a proud name "Immigration point". Of all the people on the bus the
only one getting visa, beside us, was a Korean girl. All other white
people crossed the border without any problems.

[{Image src='07_Torre Arcos Bosques.jpg' caption='Torre Arcos Bosques' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='538'}]

An hour and a half (!) later an officer came out and said that
everything was alright, and that we would get our visas in 5 minutes, as
soon as they get a response from the capital.

40 minutes later the Korean girl got her visa. We were told to wait
because they couldn't get through to the office, because of holidays and
other unknown reasons.

Half an hour later our bus driver came up to us and said that he
couldn't wait for us any longer. We couldn't blame him, because
temperature outside was about 40 degrees Celsius, and passengers were
almost ready to kill both him and us. So the bus left and we continued
waiting while haveing fun in a warm and friendly environment. We saw the
border guard running past us and telling us that they were able to get
through to the office, and that our visas would be ready in 5 minutes,
etc. Yeah, right.

[{Image src='08_Extinct volcano Xico.jpg' caption='Extinct volcano Xico' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='594'}]

Then one and half hour later (by that time we spent 4.5 hours on the
border) we were approached by a man, who introduced himself as a police
officer and took Dima with him to talk about why the hell we decided to
go to Belize in the first place.

Dima was gone for 5 minutes and then came back with a pale face: he said
there was a problem. He took our Mexico shooting permit, and disappeared
for 40 minutes. I was about to call the Embassy (my wife texted me the
phone number), but then I saw Dima approaching me with a nervous smile
on his face. He said they mistook us for drug traffickers: we had too
many stamps in our passports, we traveled a lot, and looked very
suspicious. It turned out that it was police, not the border guards,
that were running background check on us. And it took so much time,
because they were waiting for resoponse from Interpol.

By the way, the police officer finally believed in our story only when I
showed him the picture on my phone, the one that Dima took of me and our
helicopter in front of the Tikal pyramid.

Only then he apologized and said that he thought we were Russian mafia.

[{Image src='09_Boats in the harbor.jpg' caption='Boats in the harbor' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='450'}]

After that we got our visas in 20 minutes. When we reached customs (the
next cordon after the border guards) and told customs officers how we
waited for our visas for 5 hours, and that our bus left us behind, they
gave us a sympathetic look and said, "Go ahead, we're not going to check
your bags." And we finally entered Belize.

After that it was easier: we took a taxi. It took us 4 hours and costed
$250 to drive through the country from one border to another. The second
border was way more simple than the first one. The only problem was that
we had to walk from Belize post to Mexico (and it was quite a distance),
but we were lucky enough to be picked up by the bus headed in the same
direction.

[{Image src='10_The Cathedral and the Constitution Square.jpg' caption='The Cathedral and the Constitution Square' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='474'}]

We crossed the Mexican border without any problems. Customs officer
checked my bags, but our photo shooting permit made everything easier
and we were done in no time at all. We took a taxi when we left customs.
We arrived our hotel past midnight, as we were falling off our feet, so
we went to bed right away.

On a personal note, we would also like to say a few words about local
hospitality. Out trip to Mexico wouldn't happen without help of Ricardo
Gomez Garrido, a pilot and a photographer from Mexico City, and his
friend Diego Ruelas Tiscareno from www.fotoaereamexico.com team. First
of all, Ricardo helped us with obtaining photo permits for all Mexican
historical monuments and pyramids. As we learned down the road, there
would be no photo shoots without those permits. And secondly, the
friends arranged a warm welcome for us in the capital, helped us with
the transportation, and found us a helicopter for our photo shoots.
Checking in to the downtown hotel, we were pleasantly surprised to see
aerial photographs of Mexico City taken by Ricardo and Diego exhibited
in the hotel lobby.

\\ \\
[21 Panoramas of Mexico City|Geography/America/Mexico/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Mexico_City]










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