# On Mexico City and the Templo Mayor



## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

This all started out as I decided to elevate my status in Mexico from "Inmigrado" (Permanent Resident) to naturalized citizen and found that, in order to proceed to that next level, I would, of necessity, be required, among other things, to fly down to Mexico City and acquire a certification that I had no past criminal record from the appropriate federal agency known as, now get this, the CNS _(Comision Nacional de Seguridad) division of SEGOB (Secretaria De Gobernacion), subdivision known as Coordinación General De Prevención Y Readaptación Social. Dirección General De Ejocución De Sanciones. Direccion De Archivos Nacional De Sentenciados Y Estadistica Penintenciaria. Subdirección De Archivo. Departmento De Registro_) so, what the hell, while I could fly from Guadalajara down to Mexico City and back in one day to accomplish this, I figured, as long as I am there, why not have some fun and visit some sights and places I´ve long wanted to see so I turned it into a five day trip and much fun it was. After all, you can fly from Guadalajara to mexico City in less than an hour so why not hang around the big city and have some fun.

We did lots of things there in a few days but my main goal here is to talk about the fabulous excavations and museum at the Templo Mayor ruins of the conquered Aztec (Mexica) capital of Tenochitlan adjacent to the Mexico City Cathedral the remnants of which were first discovered in 1978 during a routine municipal excavation being performed by an elecrical services company. The excavation of this indescribably interesting historic site is ongoing and this is a must see for anyone visiting the city in the future. Plan on spending at least on whole day there. If any reader has any interest in this remarkable place, let me know and we can discuss this in further detail. I was blown away by this archeological treasure and its adjacent museum.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> This all started out as I decided to elevate my status in Mexico from "Inmigrado" (Permanent Resident) to naturalized citizen and found that, in order to proceed to that next level, I would, of necessity, be required, among other things, to fly down to Mexico City and acquire a certification that I had no past criminal record from the appropriate federal agency known as, now get this, the CNS _(Comision Nacional de Seguridad) division of SEGOB (Secretaria De Gobernacion), subdivision known as Coordinación General De Prevención Y Readaptación Social. Dirección General De Ejocución De Sanciones. Direccion De Archivos Nacional De Sentenciados Y Estadistica Penintenciaria. Subdirección De Archivo. Departmento De Registro_) so, what the hell, while I could fly from Guadalajara down to Mexico City and back in one day to accomplish this, I figured, as long as I am there, why not have some fun and visit some sights and places I´ve long wanted to see so I turned it into a five day trip and much fun it was. After all, you can fly from Guadalajara to mexico City in less than an hour so why not hang around the big city and have some fun.
> 
> We did lots of things there in a few days but my main goal here is to talk about the fabulous excavations and museum at the Templo Mayor ruins of the conquered Aztec (Mexica) capital of Tenochitlan adjacent to the Mexico City Cathedral the remnants of which were first discovered in 1978 during a routine municipal excavation being performed by an elecrical services company. The excavation of this indescribably interesting historic site is ongoing and this is a must see for anyone visiting the city in the future. Plan on spending at least on whole day there. If any reader has any interest in this remarkable place, let me know and we can discuss this in further detail. I was blown away by this archeological treasure and its adjacent museum.


I have visited that site in the past, but it has been a few years and I suspect they have excavated quite a bit more by now.

I needed a statement-of-no-criminal-record for something a few years back. I got it from a local office. Apparently, the citizenship application requires a different source. I have one more year before I am eligible for citizenship. The first few years here I had an FM-3 that did not count towards the time requirement. I expect to apply when I have qualified.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

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TundraGreen said:



I have visited that site in the past, but it has been a few years and I suspect they have excavated quite a bit more by now.

I needed a statement-of-no-criminal-record for something a few years back. I got it from a local office. Apparently, the citizenship application requires a different source. I have one more year before I am eligible for citizenship. The first few years here I had an FM-3 that did not count towards the time requirement. I expect to apply when I have qualified.

Click to expand...

_ Actually, TG, for the application for naturalization they required of me that I present a no-criminal -record certificate from both the federal government which, no matter where one resides in all of mexico, can only be acquired by physically showing up at the Coyacan police precinct station in Mexico City with one´s passport, residency visa and apostilled birth certificate _and _a local no-criminal-record certificate issued locally whiich in my case was a certificate issued in the municipality of Chapala although that could have included San Cristóbal de Las Casas as well. 

At first I was irritated that I had to fly to DF and back from Guadalajara for this essential document which took all of five minutes to acquire but, upon reflection, I realized that, in order to maintain control over the disbursement of these certifications, _SEGOB _needed to centralize the issuing authority rather than dissiminate that responsibility among the 31 states and risk quality control by granting issuance authority to various corrupt hick undersheriffs with the brains and moral underpinnings of a gnat.

Besides, because of this duty, I was not only able to justify visiting the marvelous Templo Mayor which was a transcendental experience, but the Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyacan and indulging in the best pozole I have ever eaten during an afternoon spent with artisan friends in Xochimilco. May I incur even more of those responsibilities as I age.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

Hound Dog said:


> Actually, TG, for the application for naturalization they required of me that I present a no-criminal -record certificate from both the federal government which, no matter where one resides in all of mexico, can only be acquired by physically showing up at the Coyacan police precinct station in Mexico City with one´s passport, residency visa and apostilled birth certificate _and _a local no-criminal-record certificate issued locally whiich in my case was a certificate issued in the municipality of Chapala although that could have included San Cristóbal de Las Casas as well.
> 
> At first I was irritated that I had to fly to DF and back from Guadalajara for this essential document which took all of five minutes to acquire but, upon reflection, I realized that, in order to maintain control over the disbursement of these certifications, _SEGOB _needed to centralize the issuing authority rather than dissiminate that responsibility among the 31 states and risk quality control by granting issuance authority to various corrupt hick undersheriffs with the brains and moral underpinnings of a gnat.
> 
> Besides, because of this duty, I was not only able to justify visiting the marvelous Templo Mayor which was a transcendental experience, but the Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyacan and indulging in the best pozole I have ever eaten during an afternoon spent with artisan friends in Xochimilco. May I incur even more of those responsibilities as I age.


It does seem inconvenient to have to go to Mexico City for a form that takes 5 minutes. On the other hand, I am always looking for excuses to visit Mexico City. I almost ended up living there at one time. I like the city for all the things that are available there and nowhere else. But the climate is a little on the cool side for me, so I am happy to visit and live elsewhere.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

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TundraGreen said:



It does seem inconvenient to have to go to Mexico City for a form that takes 5 minutes. On the other hand, I am always looking for excuses to visit Mexico City. I almost ended up living there at one time. I like the city for all the things that are available there and nowhere else. But the climate is a little on the cool side for me, so I am happy to visit and live elsewhere.

Click to expand...

_Same here. I am invigorated by this marvelous megalopolis of some 20 million people, the largest city by far in North America and a great kick in the ass. This place was even more exciting during the pre-Christmas season with streets in the center jammed with Christmas shoppers and street events and music everywhere. Although they had closed the zocalo for seemingly nebulous reasons , causing some unbelievable and interminable traffic jams, the inconvenience was mitigated by the crowds and spirit of the season. Even the maestros, not an easy-going lot, moved their sit-in from the zocalo to another part of the city so as not to interfere with merchants´ Christmas sales in Centro. One of the things I find charming about Mexico is that rules are viewed as flexible guidelines, not stone tablets brought down from the mount by Moses with which to be adhered at the prospect otherwise of imminent eternal torture in hell. This attitude is best exhibited by the big, burly cop in charge of crowd control at the Coyocan police station where they issued that "NO OFFENSE" paper required of me to apply for naturalization. My Spanish is a bit challenged to say the least and there I was, this old goober, inept at communication and waddling about with bad legs to the point that this cop takes my wife aside and asks her if she thinks me capable of completing this process without becoming mired down in physical and intellectual limitations. She assured him I could get through this as I did and, when I exited the police station with my "NO OFFENSE" Certificatiion and exclaimed to him, "Muy facile!" he was beaming and clearly pleased on my behalf. Try to experience that sort of pleasantness with cops in the United States or France. 

Like you, TG, I have no desire to live in DF all the time but occasional visits stimulate the soul. Upon returning to Guadalajara, a great and beautiful city but., perhaps something of a cowtown, I began to understand the derisive nickname "El Rancho Grande" some use to describe the place. Despite that appellation, this is my hick town thank you and here (and Chiapas) I´ll stay with the periodic shot in the butt of visits to DF when needed.


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## WomanOnTheGo (Dec 12, 2013)

Hound Dog said:


> If any reader has any interest in this remarkable place, let me know and we can discuss this in further detail. I was blown away by this archeological treasure and its adjacent museum.


I've been to DF several times now, and sadly still have not done a proper exploration of Templo Mayor, so I'd love to hear more.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

What is great about Templo Mayor is to be standing in the middle of these 7 layers of excavations and turning around and seeing buildings from the conquest to today. You can literally see an exemple of architecture from each century from the times of the Aztecs to today. 
The museums his extremely well done and has beautiful artifacts from the digs. I enjoy this site way more than the Teotihuacan site just because there is so much to see and it is all right there in the center of the city. It really is a visit not to miss. They are open everyday day except on Mondays from 10 to 5. Block several hours to really see everything.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

[_QUOTE=WomanOnTheGo;2680626]I've been to DF several times now, and sadly still have not done a proper exploration of Templo Mayor, so I'd love to hear more.[/QUOTE]_

My wife, Cutlali´s comment about our visit to the Templo Mayor adds some substance to our mutual experience and remember that we live in Chiapas among splendid Maya ruins which, along with other Maya ruins all over Southern Mexico, we visit as often as possible. The Templo Mayor is different in that it sits next to (and, certainly, under) the adjacent cathedral built by the Spanish once they had conquered the Aztecs. Here, you don´t walk in what was formerly jungle wilderness but at eye level with the streets of Mexico Centro. This juxtaposition of the relatively young 400 year old capital established by the Spanish with the ancient cultures dating back incalculable millenea before the Spanish arrived, the most recent and, in context, Aztecs who had been there less than a century, puts life in proper perspective. The building of a present ruler´s personall monuments over the previous ruler´s monuments and those before the previous rulers was standard procedure throughout the world lorded over by humans far beyond written historical acounts. None of us will be here long enough to worry about it.


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

dog writes:"Aztecs who had been there less than a century,"

Tenochtitlan was an Aztec (city-state) located on an island in Lake Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico. Founded in 1325, until captured by the Spanish in 1521......

Looks like more than a century to me............


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

The predominance of the people of Tenochitlan and their allies started from the triple alliance in 1427 so they really achieved a whole withing 100 years of the arrival of the Spaniards .

The first pyramid in plaza Mayor was terminated around 1390 and they managed to build another 6 on top of that one before the arrival of the Spaniards.
We really do not know a whole lot about the rest of the city as it is still buried and under other historical buildings such as the cathedral and others that can be destroyed to find out what the rest of the city was like or if they was another culture that existed before their arrival.


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