On the way to the Teotihuacan pyramids, our tour minivan stopped at this place, The Square of Three Cultures or 'Plaza de las Tres Culturas', so named because of the three periods of Mexican history reflected by the buildings - the pre-Colombian Aztec ruins (the low walls), Spanish colonial - the Catholic church of Santiago Tlatelolco, and a massive housing complex built in 1964.
It's also the site of the Tlatelolco massacre, which took place ten days before the 1968 Summer Olympics. The military and other armed personnel shot and killed an unknown number of student demonstrators, probably between 200 and 300. The incident was swiftly and efficiently covered up just in time for a happy Summer Olympics.
Second stop on the way to the pyramids was 'Our Lady of Guadalupe', a celebrated 16th-century icon of the Virgin Mary. It's the kind of place Catholics embark on pilgrimages towards, and consequently a number of Catholic shops are there to provide you with more religious knick-knackery than you might ever dream of.
Inside the dilapidated old cathedral, workers work in vain to restore it to safety and functionality. Apparently they've been renovating it at least since the earthquake in 1985, with no sign that it's ever going to be finished.
The new cathedral. Not quite as charming as the old one but guaranteed not to collapse on top of you.
The hallowed cloak. Here's the story: According to official Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparitions, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognised her as the Virgin Mary. When he told his story to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. He found there Castilian roses (which were of the Bishop's native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac). He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth of Diego's tilma.