The Tour Guide Returns

If you have read my blog over a period of time, you know that I enjoy playing "tour guide" to friends and relatives that visit Mexico.  At the end of last month, I received a message that Christoph, the son of one of my Swiss cousins*, and his girlfriend are coming to Mexico City.  Since they had not yet made hotel reservations, I invited them to stay here at the apartment, and I offered to show them around.  They will arrive this evening after flying on Swiss International Airlines from Zurich to Frankfurt and then taking the direct Lufthansa flight to Mexico City.

Obviously, I am very excited and thrilled to show them the kind of hospitality that my Swiss family has shown me on my visits there.  I have been busy preparing the guest bedroom and preparing a light supper for them after their long flight.

Yesterday, I read that the Lufthansa pilots were going on strike for two days over a breakdown of negotiations on pensions.  I feared that their arrival would be delayed by two days.  Then I read that, in spite of the strike, the airline planned to run 50% of their flights, 60% of their long-haul flights.  I had hope that they might arrive today as scheduled.  Christoph said yesterday afternoon that he had not received any notification that the flight had been cancelled.  This morning I woke up at 5:00 AM (noon, Frankfurt time).  I sent a message to Christoph and asked if the flight was on schedule.  He immediately replied that everything looked good.  As I write this, according to the Lufthansa website, the cabin doors were closed, and the plane was leaving the runway.  They are on their way to Mexico!

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One of the places that they have said that they want to visit is the National Museum of Anthropology, one of the great museums of the world.  It is impossible to see everything in this vast museum, so I will give them a highlights tour of about two hours.  Although I have guided other visitors through the museum in the past, I wanted to refresh my memory.  So last week I went to the museum, reviewed the items I want to show them, and even took some notes.

Out of the enormous museum collection, I am going to concentrate on just four galleries...

The Olmecs... Mexico's oldest civilization

Colossal stone head carved by the Olmecs

The Mayas... one of the most advanced of Mexico's pre-Hispanic civilizations

Jade funerary mask of Pakal, king of the Mayan city of Palenque

Teotihuacan... the mysterious civilization that built the largest city in pre-Hispanic America

Reproduction of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan

The Aztecs... the great empire which fell to the Spanish conquerors

The monolithic Aztec Sun Stone

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* In genealogical terms, the child of a cousin is a cousin once-removed.  However, according to Alejandro, in Mexico the son or daughter of a cousin is considered a nephew or a niece.