THURSDAY- MEXICO CITY

Have the day off today, but still got up early to practice this morning before we go to the Pyramids. I set up a tour with 9 of us, 50's ladies USA team and 3 South African team members. We were really excited about the trip. We had heard from some others that is was a really cool thing to see. The pyramids are located about 60 km from Mexico City. As we traveled the highway of Mexico City, the sights were quite interesting and sad. On the mountainside were small homes made of cement, very small, (called Cerras). Most of them did not have electricity, running water, or toilets. This is why in Mexico you really have to be careful about what you eat on the streets. This very poor people come down from the mountains and try to find work in Mexico City. Any type of work!!! We see alot of very poor families on the streets selling food, merchandise, things they made etc.
We first went to the Church of Guadalupe, a very sacred and well know church in Mexico City, where the Virgin Mary (Guadalupe) has made one of a few miracle appearances around the world and where John Paul II has visited on many occasions. We saw very interesting sights including the actual cloth where the Virgin Mary appeared on a very poor man, people crawling on their knees as a gesture of thanks to the Virgin Mary for improving their health etc.
We next visited the Pyramids. I was really excited about this because I have always found pyramids extremely interesting. When we arrived I was amazed at the vastness of it. The tour guide gave us the history and then we proceeded to walk up one of them (there were two pyramids, sun and moon). We went up first group of steps, I could not believe how tiring it was!! (and I thought I was in good shape!!!) It amazed me that there were so many families with small children there and they were going up it too!!! The steps were steep and we had to go up slow. We all made it to the top and proceeded to take alot of pictures because the sight was incredible!!! The trip was great and I was very happy to have done it. I will post the pictures tomorrow, I am tired and need to get to bed!! We have a big day tomorrow!!! I am playing singles tomorrow and I play a very tough player from Great Britain. I beat her last year in Mallorca, but it was a very close match and she is a much better player on these incredibly fast hard courts!!!