Ecurb's travels

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Tomorrow we start back toward Texas and home. We will make a few stops, and I'll have a final report tomorrow. It has been a wonderful trip. Not one problem arose between us. Just a lot of good memories to share. Travel is one of the greatest blessings in my life. I absolutely love it.

[Tank]

Tomorrow we start back toward Texas and home. We will make a few stops, and I'll have a final report tomorrow. It has been a wonderful trip. Not one problem arose between us. Just a lot of good memories to share. Travel is one of the greatest blessings in my life. I absolutely love it.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Here is what we did today on the way home:

1. Stopped at NuNu's in Scott, LA, to buy some Cajun products: boudin sausage and regular sausage to cook at home.,cane syrup (sugar cane is one of the main crops here), and Tabasco sauce;

2. Drove through Crowley, LA, the "Rice Capital of America" - rice "paddies" are everywhere;

3. Back in Texas, I let Collin drive over the "Rainbow Bridge" at Bridge City, Texas.  I have a video, but I can't get it to post, so I'll add some screen shots at the end;

4. Drove through the Big Thicket in Texas, a region of forest so dense with undergrowth that you cannot see or walk behind the first row of trees;

5. Drove through the Alabama-Coushatta Indian Reservation near Livingstone, Texas; and

6. Drove past the Sam Houston statue at Huntsville, Texas - 67 feet high, right on I-45.

The east Texas forest was beautiful, as it just now has fall colors down here. We had a great trip, and I look forward to doing another one with him in the future.  Now, a few shots of the Rainbow Bridge drive over:



You can see the bridge in the distance.  Looks like it is going straight up.



Starting our ascent.



At the top.  The video is much better, but just can't get it to post.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

The day after Christmas my wife and I are traveling to Mexico City for 4 nights.  I will send some pics. We are staying in the Grand Hotel right on the Zocalo, the central plaza.

[Tank]

Excellent! Make sure you take your paperwork.

[Dark Lightning]

Globe trotter! I was in Mexico ca y2k to buy some cheap wool blankets. Walked over the border at Nogales.

[xSilverPhinx]

I enjoy your travel logs, Bruce! Looks like you're having great fun! 

[Ecurb Noselrub]

The tricky thing is omicron. It is not bad in Mexico City now, but that can change rapidly.  I'm triple stuck and will be wearing a mask.  If I get it, I may have to sneak over the border to get back in the US.

[Tank]

The tricky thing is omicron. It is not bad in Mexico City now, but that can change rapidly.  I'm triple stuck and will be wearing a mask.  If I get it, I may have to sneak over the border to get back in the US.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

The tricky thing is omicron. It is not bad in Mexico City now, but that can change rapidly.  I'm triple stuck and will be wearing a mask.  If I get it, I may have to sneak over the border to get back in the US.

Apparently, it is not very hard.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

The Zocalo, the historic center of Mexico City. At Christmas, it is turned into a giant carnival. 23,000,000 folks in this mega-town.





A little history: The Zocalo was where Tenochtitlan was located, the capital of the Aztec Empire. After Cortez conquered it, the Spaniards leveled all the Aztec buildings and replaced it with Spanish architecture. On the other side of the Zocalo is Templo Mayor, the remaining ruins of the Aztec culture. The city was built on an island in Lake Texcoco, but over time it has been drained, and today it is the giant Mexico City. The "Mexica" were the dominant tribe of the Aztec culture, and founded Tenochtitlan, which today is Mexico City.

These photos are from my hotel room in the Gran Hotel de Ciudad de Mexico. It's wild out there.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

The Mexicans are very strange - they seem to like to eat, drink, make noise, and have fun. Reminds me of ... humanity?

[Tank]

I love your travelogues

[Bad Penny II]

The Zocalo, the historic center of Mexico City. At Christmas, it is turned into a giant carnival. 23,000,000 folks in this mega-town.

There are about 25,000,000 on the entire island continent, and I find it much too hurly-burly, there were less than 11,000,000 when I sprouted.
I don't think I will ever travel to Mexico City, thanks for your travelogue though, although it lacks the depth of your Old Blighty 'n Louisiana ones. 

[Ecurb Noselrub]

I'm just finishing my first 24 hours in Mexico City. Today I went to the pyramids of Teotihuactan, about an hour drive from my hotel. I hired the same guy who who brought me from the airport, and he will take me to other sites, as well.  I can speak a little Spanish to him, and he speaks some English, so we manage.



This is the Pyramid of the Sun. The hot-air balloons are for tourists to see it from above. I just walked around for about an hour and saw it from ground level. This one is about 213 feet high, not on the order of the Egyptian pyramids, but impressive, none the same. There used to be a temple on top, which was assumed to be for the sun god, but the modern interpretation is that it was for a water god. Unfortunately, there was child sacrifice here. Even with that, the Aztecs had a true civilization. They were advanced builders, though they did not have the wheel or the arch.



Looking up the Pyramid of the Sun. It is truly massive. Over 1,000,000 cubic yards of material.



The Pyramid of the Moon. It was dedicated to sacrificial ritual for the entire Teotihuacan cosmology.  These pyramids are between 13 and 19 centuries old.  Obviously, there were stages of construction for the whole complex.



Back in Mexico City, here are some ruins of the Templo Mayor right behind the Zocalo. This was the main Aztec temple at the time, and after Cortes conquered them it was destroyed. It was not even known that the ruins existed until sometime last century. Now there is a museum  there. There was also a tower made in part from human skulls in this complex. I'm not sure the Aztecs were very friendly folks. Of course, neither were the Spanish, the French, the Portuguese, the English, etc. Just humans, in general.



No, this young man is not dressed up for a Man United game. He is in Aztec warrior dress. I paid him 100 pesos for the photo. I think Cortes did the same thing, and that's how he conquered them - while they were posing.

Mexico City is over 7000 feet high, and it is over 80 degrees here. That, combined with having to wear a mask, makes it hard for this old codger to breathe. So I at a big lunch, drank a couple of beers, and took a nap. I thought I was ordering just guacamole and goat cheese for an appetizer, but it also had roasted grasshoppers. That was a surprise - guess I will need to look up every single word in the menu description from now on. I tried a few of them mixed with the guac - tastes like chicken (not really, not much taste at all). That will be my only insect dish this trip.