Month: June 2019

I have been living here in Mexico for three years, and have been a permanent resident for two of those years. Because this is my permanent home, I figured that it is about time to obtain a Mexican driver’s license. About two weeks ago, a neighbor and I drove to the motor vehicle bureau, called the Secretaria de Movilidad. There, I asked a bunch of questions and left with a paper telling me what I needed to have in order to get that license.

Since I was already a licensed driver in the United States, I did not have to take the written test, but what I did need was my passport, a valid driver’s license, proof of where I live (such as my electric bill) and lab work showing my blood type. The proof of where I live must not be more than two months old.

Just as each state in the U.S. has its own license, so do each of the 31 states in Mexico. I live in the state of Colima, and our motor vehicle office is in the center of Colima City – a bit of a drive that I was not looking forward to making.

For those of you who have not read any of the posts which describe the village in which I live, let me say this:

Cofradía de Suchitlán is a rural village of about 1500 people. We have no post office, no bank, no ATM, no supermarket, no government office except for a small medical clinic and the small office of the mayor of Cofradía. It is the same with several surrounding villages. Therefore, I was very pleased when a car with a loudspeaker attached to its roof made its way through our streets yesterday announcing that people from the Secretaria de Movilidad would be here today to allow people to obtain or renew their licenses. They would begin at 9am at the cancha (sports court) within the village.

This being Mexico, I didn’t know if they would show up, if they would show up on time, or what would actually happen, but I didn’t want to take a chance, so I walked to the cancha at 8:15am and thankfully found only about a dozen people waiting.

Around the cancha was an ambulance, police and employees from the Secretaria setting up their equipment. The man in charge gave a speech telling us what was to take place and divided us up into two groups. I ended up being in the renewal group since I already had a license, even though it was from a different country.

He then gave each of us a ticket with a number on it, and I was number eleven. Eventually they called my number and I turned in my paperwork and I.D. and my Spanish was almost good enough, but for questions such as marital status, if I wanted to be an organ donor and who to call in case of emergency, it took me a few seconds to understand.

One thing that did concern me was for them to register my correct birthdate. In the U.S., numerical dates are written month-day-year. Here in Mexico they are written day-month-year, so I gave them my Mexican residency card first as opposed to my U.S. documents.

After that, I went to pay for the license. Yaayy – 50% off today so I only had to pay 380 pesos ($19.87 USD) instead of 760 pesos ($39.74 USD), and I didn’t even have to use my senior citizen discount I.D.

And as an aside, if you are looking anywhere that lists prices, the dollar/peso symbols are almost exactly alike with one exception. The peso sign is an “S” with one line through it, and the U.S. dollar sign has two lines through it. More than one gringo has almost had a heart attack seeing what they thought was an exorbitant price when they were actually looking at the price in pesos.

So the next step is being photographed and fingerprinted. The photograph went fine, but the fingerprinting (since this was my first Mexican license so my fingerprints weren’t in the system) was a bit of a problem. This is the rainy season, but today was bright and sunny, so the electronic machine was put in a cardboard box with a piece of cloth over it to hide some of the light. I eventually stopped counting how many times it took for the machine to capture all ten of my fingers satisfactorily, but ultimately we were successful, then I just waited for my name to be called and I had my brand new Mexican driver’s license issued by the State of Colima.

It’s good for four years and only took three hours from the time I arrived at the cancha until I was walking away with my prize in my hand. And I was number 11 in the line. I felt really sorry for those with higher numbers and hoped that they had eaten breakfast before they arrived, as I believe there were more than 50 people by the time I left.

So that was my adventure for today. Until next time…………….

When people hear the word “pyramid” the first thing they usually think of are the great pyramids of Egypt. Would it surprise you to know that the tallest pyramids in the world are actually here in Mexico? With a total volume of 4.45 million meters squared, with a 4-sided base measuring 450 x 450 meters and a height of 66 meters, the Cholula Pyramid is the largest pyramid in the world.

However, the word “pyramid” in the singular form is misleading, as it was originally 8 pyramids, one atop the other. With erosion, only 5 or 6 pyramids are currently in existence.

At first, this pyramid could be mistaken for a hill. When the Spanish invaded, that is exactly what they imagined it to be, and built the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios (The Church of Our Lady of Remedies) on top of this hill. Little did they know what lay beneath the ground on which they were standing.

Somewhere around 200 BC the first of eight pyramids was built. In reality, it was not so much a pyramid as it was a temple to the god Quetzalcóatl. As each culture was supplanted by another – The Olmecs, Toltecs and Aztecs – the complex grew.

Unlike other pyramids, there are stairs on all four sides of the pyramid, so it can be climbed from any direction. Archaeologists have dug 5 miles of tunnels through the pyramids, so tourists such as myself can explore them from inside. they have also reconstructed one side of one of the lower segments of the pyramid.

One of the objects found during the archaeological exploration was a mural of adults drinking. A replica was created on the grounds of this site.

But the pyramids are not the only structures at this site. As with many ancient ruins, there were also altars and evidence of human sacrifice. There is evidence of the sacrifice of children with various explanations given. One explanation was that during a drought, the priests believed that children should be the messengers to beg the rain god, Tlaloc, to bring rain to the land. Two of the decapitated children discovered at this site had severely deformed skulls, so there may have been other, or additional, explanations for this practice because of the children’s deformities.

Also within this complex is a stone plaza, where, if you stand in a certain place and clap your hands, you can hear the call of a bird called the quetzal. Here is a video of the actual bird and its call:

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=quetzal+bird+sounds&&view=detail&mid=DA4E03A28CFFB1D06E08DA4E03A28CFFB1D06E08&&FORM=VRDGAR

Link to the video of our guide clapping his hands in the plaza to make the sound of the quetzal bird. You can also see a stone slab at the center and the Church of Our Lady of Remedies (Nuestra Señora de los Remedios) at the top of the earthen mound under which the pyramids are buried.

Beginning over 2000 years ago, Cholula grew from a small village to a city ruled by the Olmecs, Toltecs, the Aztecs, and finally was conquered by the Spanish under the leadership of Cortés. It is an incredible feeling to stand among the remains of this temple and ponder the lives and events of the living, breathing people who inhabited this place so long ago.

I have not gone into as great a depth about the history of this area as I could have in order to save time and space. To read more about the geography and history of this archaeological wonder, you can click on the link here: https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-americas/once-hidden-plain-sight-and-surprisingly-ignored-great-pyramid-cholula-020650 and perhaps put it on your bucket list of interesting places to visit in the future.