What a trip this is already turning out to be! Yesterday I boarded a plane with my friend Kevin and we set out on this expedition to climb Pico de Orizaba. In true Chad Butrick fashion I failed to even look at my plane ticket before leaving and although we left at the same time I faced a 25 minute run through the Houston airport to my connection to Mexico City while I left Kevin sipping coffee in the same terminal we arrived at. I did get he first so whatever that  counts for... I guess it counts that I got to the cerveza's first.

We checked into the hotel and set out to sight see in Mexico City. We hired a cab and traveled to Plaza de la Constitucion and visited the Cathedral Metropolitana de la Asuncion de Maria. What a sight.

This Cathedral is built on on top of an ancient Aztec temple site. Construction started in 1573 and was completed in the late 1800's. This Cathedral has the distinction of being the largest and the oldest in the Americas. Mexico City is built on an old lake bed and the entire city is sinking and because of this the Cathedral is on the World Monument Funds list of 100 most endanger sites. It is obvious once inside of the Cathedral that it is leaning. Lights that hang from the ceiling do not match the angles inside of the Cathedral. We spent about an hour looking around in this very surreal place. All I can say is one persons place of worship is another's tourist attraction. 

This week was the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead. In the plaza across street there were several paper mâché parade floats that we're used to celebrate the Day of the dead. I could not believe how intricate these floats were. It was a scene in the plaza there was a preacher shouting over a microphone next to someone imitating the angel of death. I really enjoyed seeing the cultural similarities and differences. 

We got a much needed night of sleep (I got maybe 2 hours the night before) and woke this morning to travel toTeotihuacán. This historic site is about 40 miles North east of Mexico City and is the home of ancient pyramids, The pyramid of the Sun (largest), The pyramid of the Moon, and The pyramid of the Feathered Serpent and The Avenue of the Dead. Ancient Aztec's began construction of this site approximately 100 BC and was completed around 250 AD. This was an amazing site to see. What really struck me was the amount of people and merchants who were out there. We couldn't walk 10 feet with being approached by a pushy merchant. There were crowds of people. The other thing that really struck me was that all of these people were climbing the stairs to the top of these 2000 year old pyramids. We climbed the stairs on The pyramid of the Sun and Moon. I could not help but think of the ancient rituals that the natives participated in... Including human sacrifice. I could not help but wonder if I was standing in a place where someone had been beheaded and their head kicked around like a soccer ball.

I forgot to mention the pit stop our guide had for us on the way. Let's just say I was a tequila fan before I got here... There is a bottle of this stuff coming home with me and I can't wait to share real tequila with my friends. WOW!

Tomorrow morning we are hopping on a bus to travel to another bus then to a 4-wheel drive jeep and up to a hut at 14,000 feet where we will spend our time acclimating to the altitude. If all goes right we will wake up at midnight on Thursday morning, summit, and be back in Mexico City for our flight out of here Friday morning.

On that note I found out just before leaving Denver that I will be joining Luis Benitez on stage at the REI flagship in Denver Friday night to talk about last years Soldiers to the Summit expedition to Lobuche peak in Nepal. It will be an honor and privlage to share the stage with a mountaineering legend like Luis on veterans day and talking about how mountaineering can help veterans as they look forward in their lives and heal. If you are in Denver that night I would love to see you out. I imagine that the party afterword might be pretty good.

I am not sure of the cell phone and Internet situation after today but I will keep everyone updated as much as I can. If I can't update here check out www.facebook.com/chad.butrick for updates.

Chad