Page:Appleton's Guide to Mexico.djvu/202

174 Leaving Irolo, where the elevation is 8,046 feet, the roadbed descends gradually toward the City of Mexico. The next station is Ometusco (221¼ miles), following which comes La Palma (225¼ miles).

Tourists will observe that the houses in the villages on the table-land are built of large, sun-dried bricks, called adobe. The country is sparsely populated, and the natives live together in towns or hamlets. It is very rare to see a dwelling isolated from any settlement.

Passing Otumba (229 miles), famous in history as the scene of a battle in which the Spanish invaders defeated the Aztecs, on July 8, 1520, we reach San Juan Teotihuacan (236 miles). The latter place is celebrated for its two pyramids, that of the Sun and that of the Moon. They may be seen from the train, but a visit to these teocallis will repay the traveler. As the town lies about one and a half mile from the railroad, and as there is neither hotel nor restaurant in it, the tourist must continue the journey to the national capital, and make an excursion to San Juan Teotihuacan by the morning train, returning in the evening. (The pyramids are described in the chapter on ruins.) The next station is Tepexpam (243 miles), and the track soon enters the far-famed valley of Mexico. The road skirts the Lake of Texcoco, and presently the magnificent snow-capped mountains are seen on the south. Passing the town of Guadalupe, the traveler arrives at the railway-station of Buena Vista, one of the suburbs of the City of Mexico.

An express-agent meets the train, and will deliver baggage to any part of the city. He will also take charge of the keys, as trunks and boxes must be opened and examined for the purpose of ascertaining whether they contain taxable articles before being allowed to enter the city. The office of the express is in the Hotel Iturbide, and the charge is twenty-five cents (two reales) for each package.