授業がお休みの期間の１週間にメキシコに。メリダ３泊、メキシコシティ２泊の行程。マヤの遺跡が想像以上に良かった。 Because I had holidays in my classes, I planned to go to Mexico during that period. My itinerary was, staying in Merida for 3days, then flying to Mexico City, staying for 2days. It was pretty good trip, and especially Mayan ruins were even better than I had expected.
メキシコシティは高地にある。火山がたくさんみえた。
Mexico city is located in heights. I could see many volcanoes.
ルイス・バラガンのモニュメント、サテリテ・タワーが見えた。
I could see Satelite Towers, a monument designed by Luis Baraggan.
飛行機まで連れて行ってくれるバス。車体は上下に高さ調節可能。かわいい。
This bus took us to an airplane. Its body can lift itself up and down. I think this cute.
豚の皮をあげたもの。試さなかったけれど、ハウスメイトによると、「ひどかった」とのこと。へえ。
This is deep fried pork skin. I didn't try it. My housemate said it was nasty. Hmm...
チチェン・イツァー。エルカスティージョ。つまりピラミッドみたいなもの。
El Castillo, which means "the castle," in Chichen Itza.
あんまりコーヒーの味はしなかった。モーレ（チョコレートを使ったソース）の応用版だろうか。
It didn't taste like coffee so much. I guess this was a variety of "mole," which is sort of chocolate sauce.
魔法使いのピラミッド。楕円形の断面を持っているのでやさしい印象。以前のピラミッドの上にどんどん重ねてピラミッドがつくられており、現在のピラミッドで５つ目だとか。
The magician's house. This was build on an oval base. The four earlier temples were covered in the rebuilding.
ウシュマルにはイグアナがたくさんいた。ハウスメイトのダン（生物学専攻）に写真を見せたらすぐに「これはSpinytail iguanaだ」と教えてくれた。すごい。
I found many iguanas in Uxmal. When I showed this picuture to my housemate Dan, whose major is biology, he instantly recognized it and told me this was "spinytail iguana." How amazing.
遺跡全体がジャングルに埋もれているのがわかる。
You can see all the ruins were covered in the jungle.
ウシュマルの近くのカバーという遺跡にも行きました。僕はこのピラミッドに勝手に「鼻の穴ピラミッド」と不名誉な名前をつけてしまった。
Then we went to Kabah, which was near Uxmal. I couldn't help naming this "nostril pyramid," I knew it was dishonorable name though.
ライムスープ。さっぱりしていておいしい。揚げたトルティーヤ入り。
This lime soup was one of my favorites. It is light taste, served with deep fried toltijja.
メキシコシティのホテルはカミノ・レアル。リカルド・レゴレッタ設計で、カラーリングが美しい。
This hotel I stayed in Mexico City was Camino Real, designed by Ricardo Legorreta. Its coloring was beautiful.
こちらから見るとさっきの青が少し違う色に見える。色彩のマジック。
From this point of view, the blue looks a bit differently. Kind of color trick.
チャプルテペック公園。土曜日だからか、屋台が準備中。
Perhaps because it was Saturday, many people were preparing sales stands in Chapiltepec park.
国立人類学博物館にて。サインもマヤ風か、アステカ風か。わかりにくい気もするけど。
I found this in the National Museum of Anthropology. This looked like some ancient languages. I think this is a little bit hard to understand.
この大きな屋根は中央の柱一本で支えられている。その柱は滝になっている。おもしろいデザインです。
This gigantic roof was sustained by the single central pillar. And around the pillar, water went down like a waterfall. It was interesting design, wasn't it?
メキシコシティはかつてテスココ湖の小島に建設されたテノチティトランという都市だったらしい。その復元模型。
Mexico City used to be Tenochtitlan, which had been built on a small island in the lake Texcoco. This is the restored model of it.
メキシコシティの郊外はスラムのようなエリアもたくさんあって、問題になっているのだとか。
I have heard there is the slums around the central Mexico City, some of which have caused problems.
左奥が月のピラミッド、右が太陽のピラミッド。
The left one is the pyramid of the moon, the right one is the pyramid of the sun.
メキシコシティは湖の上にもともとあった都市だから、地盤が軟弱で、教会のように重い建物は傾いてしまう。
Because Mexico City was built on the place that used to be a lake, its soft ground had caused such a heavy structure like a church to be tilted.
傾きを矯正するために教会の中には鉄骨の構造が組んであった。
They had used steel frames as the remedy for soft ground.
新しい教会も建っていた。こちらは軟弱地盤も想定のうちとのこと。
A new cathedral had been built next to the old one. This new building was designed considering soft ground around.
機内食。タコスが選べたので試してみた。いまいち。エアラインはメキシカーナ。
I tried tacos as an in-flight meal. Not so good. The airline was Mexicana.
