Zócalo

She was settling into the seat.

"Where downtown? The Zócalo?" I asked.

"Yes, Moneda Street, near the cathedral," she answered.

"All right." I pulled away.

I used my turn signal even though there weren't any other cars coming.

I left that dark street and merged back onto San Lorenzo.

It was a long trip from Iztapalapa to the Zócalo.

Given the hour, I took Ermita Iztapalapa and then headed onto Tlalpan.

Una, dos, gracias.

Gracias por escuchar Desiertos y Volcanes, el nuevo pódcast que está conectado a mi proyecto en el Zócalo de la Ciudad de México.

Es un lugar donde estoy trayendo los destilados que me emocionan de Chihuahua a Chiapas.

Pero también, si le están dando un descansito a su hígado, podrán encontrar otras cosas interesantes como mieles captotrigona mexicana, algún tipo de patashle y las otras cositas y curiosidades que me voy encontrando mientras viajo por México y otros lados.

On a brilliantly sunny cloudless morning, I headed over to the revered location.

which now rests beneath Mexico City's historic center, where the Spanish built their own colonial administrative heart, as well as the ornate Metropolitan Cathedral, which still looms over the expansive Zocalo, or main plaza.

The vestiges of the Tenochtitlan lie under our feet as we walk, explained Paul Barrera, who has been the director since 1991 of the Urban Archaeology Program, known by the Spanish acronym PAU, which oversees excavations in the historic area.

This is why we are slowly building a network of underground museums.

After the Spanish conquests, Barre explained, Herman Cortes gave the Aztec capital a radical design to effectively erase the, quote, quote, barbaric, unquote, civilization with its penchant for human sacrifices.

But the idea that the city had vanished was overturned in 1978 when two electricians working near the Zocalo unearthed an eight-ton round stone carving of the moon goddess Koyosuke, prompting further excavations.

Today, the base of the Templo Mayor, a step pyramid topped with altars to the Aztec gods of war and reign, is an exhibit inside an adjacent museum where the disk is displayed, and since 1991, p-a-u has excavated other rescue sites found during building construction in the sacred precinct and with the eventual aim of opening them to the public but to reach three of the most exciting discoveries barrera a bearded easygoing academic from axa asked to meet on guadalajara guatemala street near the templo mayor we entered the modern hotel cathedral where the desk staff waved as we took a seat in the foyer above the exposed circular foundations of the temple of oh boy e uh cattle Quetzalcoatl, okay, Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of the wind, which was unearthed in 2010 during the construction of the hotel's garage.

A stairwell led down to the remains of an elegantly proportioned rounded structure and part of a ball court dating from around the 1400s.

Y muchos, muchos lugares.

He tocado la, la Plaza, la Plaza del Zócalo.

También.

Creo que primer-- uno de los primeros conciertos que yo hice fue en el año 99 en la Plaza del Zócalo.

Bueno, hicimos el Auditorio y la Plaza del Zócalo con la formación original de Afro Cuban All Stars.

Oh, guau.

Porque recuérdate que nosotros hicimos una banda que presentaba toda la música.

Estaban.

So the final stop will be this Sunday here.

And the Zocalo will be covering it for you.

Of course, we'll give you a rundown on the following program.

There's been, you know, Mexico has got a long tradition of graphic art.

Really? Right? I mean, an ex-PRD guy, I mean, up until 2018, same case with Guerrero, Beatriz Mojica.

You know, she stayed in the—she was with AMLO early on.

She was with AMLO when he was camping out in the Zocalo after the 2006 electoral fraud.

That part she was there for.

Mm-hmm.

And what else? I went to El Zócalo-

Mm-hmm

... for El Grito on Independence Day.

Right, and it's fascinating how they're positioning this concert as part of a comeback after such a big show in Mexico City last year.

Yeah, they played to over 150,000 fans in the Zocalo.

That's massive, but does performing for such a huge crowd change how they create music?

Totally, I mean, Paul Banks even mentioned feeling a responsibility to make a great record since becoming a parent.

And we're talking about, again, because you have to mention it again, it's the third biggest public square in the world.

The Zocalo is huge.

To fill the Zocalo is no mean task, right? So, I mean, this is...

These are things to keep in mind.

I just wanted to read one other quote here if I can find it.