Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimilco

The ancient city of Tenochtitlan was attacked by the Spaniards, but upon its ruins was built the great Mexico City. The City of Mexico is one of the largest metropolis in the world and is home to almost 9 million inhabitants. It was established in the 1300s as Tenochtitlan, when Aztecs found an eagle eating a snake upon a cactus. The city has changed names over time but its long legacy carries much history and a witness of the Aztec-Spanish encounter that has shaped this country. One of the major landmarks of the city is the Palacio de Bellas Artes or Palace of Arts. It is still used as a museum and a theater today. 

The palace has ongoing art exhibits, as well as a bookstore inside it. It is located 5 blocks away from the city center, making it a major cultural center of the country. Here's a temporary exhibit just outside it. 

 The inside of the palace is also home to many different art works related to Mexican history. It also houses exhibits of contemporary art.

 The cupola of the palace is easily recognizable. It is HUGE.

  The center of the city has different building from different eras. Many buildings bear a more traditional style, while other buildings are more recent. Nevertheless, all buildings mesh together into a tight testimony of the contrasts in the city.

 The main city plaza is also called El Zocalo. It is one of the biggest city squares in the world. The square has a waving Mexican flag that stands tall in between the Cathedral, the National Palace, and the Mexico City Hall.

 The Cathedral is right across the square. Construction began on 1573, yet it was not concluded until the 1800s. It faces south and bears a Baroque style façade.

 The cathedral is the largest cathedral in the Americas. It was built on the ruins of the main Aztec temple of Tenochtitlan, as a symbol of Christianity winning over the religious traditions of the natives. The Zocalo was also a main plaza for Aztecs to meet and have cultural activities.

The inside of the cathedral is very impressive. There is a tour of the towers which starts every half an hour. I strongly recommend it. 

 Because of its size, the square serves as an artistic venue and also the location for many protest and other significant cultural events. Many artists have performed here for free and have broken records of attendance to their concerts.

Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan

The City of Teotihuacan is found about 2 hours north of Mexico City. It was the most populated city of pre-columbine America. The whole site includes several temples. This is a picture of the palace, which is said to be more of an administrative building. The decorations that depict jaguars and quetzales are relatively well conserved, considering the city was built a century before Christ. 

 The city contains three different plazas. Two of them have altars in the middle.

 The main attraction and highlight of the site is the Pyramid of the Sun. This is an incredibly massive pyramid. It has a height of around 71 meters and it is gigantic.

 I decided to climb it. But I decided to not look back or around until I got to the top. I did not want to see the view until I got to the very top. I believe I counted around 235 steps, and it was hard no to turn around to see the view... But in the end it all paid off as I turned around and saw this:

 The other pyramid in the complex is the Pyramid of the Moon. It is smaller than the pyramid of the Sun, and it is located at the ned of the Avenue of the Dead.

 There is a museum on site and it has a very detailed replica of what the city must have looked like when it was at its highest point in development. One of the things that I found amazing was that archeologists have found no weapons in the area, meaning that the city was peaceful. There is evidence to believe that the purposes of the city were purely religious.

 The Avenue of the Dead was called that because the first discoverers thought the mounds on the sides were tombs. It has now been discovered that they were not tombs, but other buildings that served religious or administrative purposes.

 The Pyramid of the Moon.

Yellowstone National Park

The first national park in the world, Yellowstone National Park, is located in Wyoming, USA. It is an amazing natural UNESCO site and provides a view into earths past. 

 Yellowstone contains many lakes, mountains and geysers. It actually contains HALF of the world's geothermal features. It is an extremely active volcanic area because it is located on top of the largest volcanic caldera in North America.

 The many geysers are spread throughout the park. Some geysers erupt frequently, some strongly, some weakly. The most famous of them all is Old Faithful, which received its name because it is very consistent in its eruption patterns. It erupts once about every 90 minutes and it generally has the same height--40 m. It is not the tallest one, but it does secrete about 5000 gal of water per eruption. Eruptions usually last 3 minutes and have tourists running to catch a glimpse of it.

 Yellowstone also contains many hot springs that are VERY hot.

 I'm going to geek out on you for a little bit. This is the Grand Prismatic Spring. It has many different colors and is featured in many science books as an example of a hot spring. When trying to find a way to replicate DNA infinitely in a process known as PCR, you may find an interesting complication: when separating the double strand, you need to warm DNAup, but that might also cause the enzymes in charge of replicating DNA to denature (to lose their shape and die pretty much). So scientists had to find a special enzyme called Taq polymerase, which is stable even under high temperatures so they would replicate DNA. The answer to this problem was found in Yellowstone. Bacteria that live in the hot springs have enzymes that are resistant to heat (otherwise the bacteria would not be able to survive). Once the enzymes were isolates, they were able to be used to replicate DNA and help solve crimes, identify people, and do paternity tests. Thank you Yellowstone!

 For a while I did not understand why the place was called Yellowstone. That is, until I got to the Yellowstone Canyon. This place is amazing. It is a canyon that is strikingly yellow due to the high concentrations of sulfur in its rocks. The canyon also has a waterfall and a river running through it. The view is amazing. I can't explain the feeling of being there and the energy that abounds in the park.

 Fauna is abundant and proliferous. There are buffalos, moose, bears, deer, and many other large mammals. There are also many fish and birds that live there.

 The other highlight of my trip was seeing the sunrise in Lake Yellowstone. Lake Yellowstone is one of the highest lakes in North America. Its waters are CLEAR. It has remained so pure because it has been protected for so long. No resorts, cabins, or hotels are around it. It is beautiful and the sunrise was striking. I was definitely not expecting so much beauty and peace. Please go watch the sunrise.

Landscape of the Pico Island Vineyard Culture

 Ok, I had to start with this picture above because this place was one of the most amazing places I've been to. Now, I know that Pico volcano is NOT a part of the UNESCO site, nonetheless, I believe that a hike up Pico volcano will give the visitor a much deeper appreciation for the site.

 The island of Pico is part of the Azorean Archipelago, Portugal. The island of Pico is prominent because it contains the wine culture and also Pico mountain, the tallest mountain in all of Portugal. The hike is relatively easy--I completed it in 1 hour and 20 minutes. The views from the top are breathtaking. You can see the island of Pico in its entirety, the nearby islands os Sao Jorge and Faial, and then just an infinite ocean that  seems to be continuous with the sky. If you go here, you HAVE to hike the volcano. It is just amazing!

 At the base of the volcano, we can find the UNESCO site. It encompasses a series of vines throughout the island.

 What makes these vines special is their location. Because they are in an island, the vines are susceptible to strong winds that are also high in their slat content. These circumstances are anything but helpful to the vines. The Portuguese, masters of wine production, designed a way of raising these vines and producing high quality wines, even in this environment. What they did is that they piled up volcanic rocks to build walls and create small compartments for the vines. The walls are EVERYWHERE. They look like they took forever to build.

 The rock has also been used to build. There are several examples of churches, breweries, and other structures that are black because of the rock. They provide a special feeling of peace and balance with the environment.

 The tour guide said that if we were to line the walls up, they would go around the world twice. I don't know how true that is, but I believed it because of how many walls I saw.

Central Zone of the Town of Angra do Heroismo in the Azores

The mid North Atlantic, with its constant volcanic activity, has given rise to the Azores Islands. The Azores belong to Portugal and have played a major role in international interactions, exploration, and navigation throughout centuries. One of the islands, Terceira, has been especially regarded as a key point for control of the Atlantic. In fact, the USA still has a military base in the island. Because of the importance this island has played, the main city, Angra do Heroismo, has been declared of universal value to humanity. 

 Angra very much resembles other Portuguese towns in mainland Portugal. The main difference is that, while buildings in mainland Portugal are made of sedimentary rock, the buildings in the Azores are rick in igneous rock. It is interesting to see the black rock contrast with the colorful designs of the Portuguese.

The main square is also beautiful, especially at night. 

 One of the activities I enjoyed the most was hiking up to the nearby hill that also has an army base. It has a beautiful view of the city, as well as the surrounding ocean.

 The islands are full of life during the summer. Numerous festivals happen frequently, and people from all of the islands travel to be a part of them.

 Some traditions in the island include bull races, dances, and traveling from one island to another for the established festivals.

 A major landmark is the botanical garden. It has plants form all over the world and also a staircase that leads to a monument that also has an impressive view of the city.