#rewind

 Today I walked through the same place where I first arrived by my canoe just a few years ago. It is almost impossible to recognize this place. The smell is different, it looks different, and it feels different in my heart. The beautiful flowing canals that once carried the merchants and travelers are slowly disappearing as the Spanish workers begin rebuilding the city. Churches, government buildings, and new streets are taking the spot of Aztec temples and neighborhoods. Even though the city still stands on the same land, it feels like I have stepped into an entirely different place. 

  While reading Hernan Cortes's second letter, I remembered how important the city was to the Spanish from the very beginning. Cortez admired its size, organization, and location. Which helps me understand why the Spanish chose to rebuild here instead of creating a new capital somewhere else. Looking back from then till now, I can see that although the city has changed, its importance has stayed the same throughout its journey. It remains the heart of central Mexico, even under a new government. 

  According to Encyclopedia.com, Spain established the Viceroyalty of New Spain to strengthen royal control over its growing territories with Mexico City - which served as the colonial capital. As time went on. New Spain expanded far beyond the former Aztec Empire and became one of the most important parts of the Spanish Empire. Standing here on my final day, I realized that my journey has taught me that history is never just about victories or defeats. It’s about how one civilization influences another, leaving behind traditions, ideas, community, and places that continue to shape the future. 

  As I’m preparing to return to my home, I keep thinking about the moment I first crossed Lake Texcoco and saw Tenochtitlan rising from the water. I never imagined I would witness both the height of the Aztec empire AND the beginning of New Spain! Although the city has been flipped upside down, the memories of its people, culture, and achievements will stay with me long after my journey ends. 

Sources:  

Cortes, Hernan. Second letter of Hernan Cortes. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_19994/?st=image 

It's funny now when I talk to my fellow gen xers from around the world, how much of the same products we all had in our houses. At the time I thought my family was unique. Like my parents were just tacky boomers. Nah. All of our parents were tacky boomers.

// And our short rewind has now concluded! The ask blog will now resume in real time with the comic, back in the present day at this point in the story ↓

Zephyr: In a way. The rock in the spring itself holds the energy used for evolution of any kind. Short-term exposure is enough to cause a pokemon to evolve, or if they're already fully evolved, to temporarily go further. The stones used for our regalia come from our own spring, and sometimes we will sustainably farm the stone to... sell...

Zephyr: What is that commotio

Aciano: Excellent eye! It's a symbolic representation of the Stormcatcher, regardless of what form it takes. Representing it as a shape is much easier in much of our crafts, and stories of encounters with it say it was too bright to see anything but that star—

Aciano: A—!