Mexico City Overwhelming Street Vendors & Run Down Cemetery Visit- Basílica Of Our Lady Of Guadalupe
Mexico City 2025
Transcript
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Today's adventure begins here in this
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courtyard as the recording of this
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Friday, TGIF, May 9th, 2025. Hello. I'm
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sorry.
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No, thank you.
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Gracias. No, thank
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you.
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Gracias. 2025.
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I am going to be heading over to a
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basilica. Welcome everyone out of the
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woo here wearing an appropriate t-shirt
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and half piping hot caffeinated
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beverage. I'm inviting you to join me.
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See where the day leads. Mexico City,
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shall you? staying is very close to this
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cathedral, but I'm heading over to
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another one called the Basilica of Our
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Lady of Guadalupe, which I have heard is
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really spectacular. So, I'm going to be
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taking a ride share to get over to that
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direction. I think it's about 3 miles
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from this destination. This is this has
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turned into definitely quite the beehive
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of activity when it comes to people
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selling things. I real I don't know if
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I've been to a place where people hustle
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as much to try to sell products as here.
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I mean, everyone every every two seconds
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will try to sell you something. They
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don't really take no for an
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answer. Those uh those these uh low
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hanging these low hanging wires right
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here. I mean, if I wasn't even paying
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attention, my I could get my head
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wrapped up wrapped up in that. Maybe
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maybe they're not operational. Let's
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just say there's no power running
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through them. I'm going to assume
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there's no power running through those.
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I don't know if you can turn that. Yeah.
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In the US, the Ubers, they use their own
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personal vehicles, but this is like a
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this is a company. We we used to do that
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here too, but they have this uh new
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platform that I prefer lift my car in my
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in my house and I I
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can have arrived. Yeah, it's
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interesting. They have a little company
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that runs Ubers, so he has to use his
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own vehicle. I've never seen that
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anywhere else. There it is, the
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Basilica. It's a really interesting
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structure right there with the almost
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like a funnel towards the top like a
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dome. And from this angle, this is the
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drop off point where everyone walks in
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and out. Does not look like your
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traditional cathedral. So, I'm curious
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to see what it looks like when you go
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inside. Basically, you turn around here.
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You got like uh there's a there's a guy
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dropping off some money. You got a money
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truck over there. You have a bunch of
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looks like the public transit over there
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with all the buses, motorcycles,
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etc. Rolling through a van full of of
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propane. All right. Here's another angle
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of it from this from this side. Looks
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like people are going in over here and
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then also around that side over there.
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So, I might have been around the back
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corner. You notice up at the top there
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is a cross all the way at the very top
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there. So, I think I'll walk around
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towards the other angle. See what I can
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see. I think I'm going to walk I think I
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was around the back. So, as I'm walking
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towards where the front main entrance
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like the triumphant grand reveal of the
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basilica, there are a few guys that
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bought from the gift shop. I guess they
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sell shrunk wrap Jes Jesus in shrunk
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wrap which I didn't realize you could
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buy not only souvenirs but you can also
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buy full size as well as you're kind of
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walking towards and there's there's the
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basilica from this particular angle and
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as I'm looking here there's like a
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stretch of road with like gift shops and
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things like that you got a 7-Eleven over
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there you got a Mickey D's over here and
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then right in front of the Mickey D's
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this is the this is the garbage
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collection over here these are the
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garbage trucks here all piled up and
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turning back around and then you get the
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view of the basilica itself. Magnificent
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looking, right? All right. It looks like
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all the buildings are open. You can go
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inside, take a peek and check them out.
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Definitely interested going inside of
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this one. And then you have this
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sculpture over
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here. This is really tall. Probably
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about 30 feet
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tall. San Juan Pablo
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II. At least that's what
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the at least that's what it says on the
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placard there. Yes. SS Sam Juan Pablo
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II. And the clock up
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here. Clock is Oh, pigeon just flew by
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my head. The clock is incorrect. That is
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not the correct time. It is 11 a.m.
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Currently. The clock is showing like
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5:45. That's not right at all.
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Yeah, I want to head in here. It sounds
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as if there's some singing going on in
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there. They might be having might be a
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congregation
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meeting at the moment in this particular
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time frame. Yeah, the clock up here also
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completely incorrect. So clocks are not
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working but the
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architecture is magnificent. I mean just
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really really amazing. Look at this
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building right here. Look at this thing.
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That is something else.
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This says guided tours. I guess they do
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guided tours also restricted during the
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celebration of masses at 10:00 a.m.
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12:30 and 5:00 p.m. 1700 hours. Are
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quite a few people here lined up though.
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Pe getting a peek inside.
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This one
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is completely open. So they have two
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different masses going on at once. Now I
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am not familiar with the with
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Catholicism. Grew up in a Christian
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congregation. My dad was a minister
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first Christian
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churches which was independent
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non-denominational. So I don't know the
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ins and outs of all of Catholicism. But
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the cathedrals are amazing and
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breathtaking. That is for sure.
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trash. It's a pipe or pipe organ.
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Thank you.
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Nobody
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This looks to be as if this is
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called Sabana
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Santa. You can see like there's
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a there's an image in this.
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It's located right here next to the gift
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shop which is very very busy.
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Got to be honest, I've never seen
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anything like that. A moving walkway
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that just takes you a short
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distance to look up at a
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A piece of art. Very interesting.
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There's also this fountain here.
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Beautiful
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fountain side of the hill. Now, there is
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a staircase on the other side of the
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fountain that's blocked off. Looks like
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it's used pretty regularly. This might
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be today they're not having it open
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Over here, the back side of this
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cathedral is a museum. I see a sign that
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says
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museum. Cost of admission to get in was
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10 pesos. Handed a 20 20 peso bill. Got
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back the 10 peso coin.
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filming is allowed, but they ask if you
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take photos, no flash. That's the seems
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to be standard for everything. I've kind
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of gone around the property is they just
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really say no flash because flash will
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ruin artwork. You got a lot of artwork
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and sculptures of
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Mary. Obviously, even over here in the
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corner here of this very large
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painting and over here in this little
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closed
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space, a Ponzanelli 1938 this sculpture
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and you have some seats from a cathedral
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here.
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I've seen some pretty magnificent
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Catholic cathedrals some of my travels.
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Ecuador had some amazing
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ones.
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Mexico. A lot of ways this reminds me of
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the Ark of the Covenant from Raiders.
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There could be a tomb though.
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They have these arrows on the ground to
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guide you which way to
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go. They want everything be orderly
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fashioned walking through here. Oh, it's
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on my head.
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right. So, there is something else at
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the top of the hill. Again, it is
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completely closed off and a sign there
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saying no one can go up there. But yeah,
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look at the top up there. But no one's
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allowed up there, at least at the
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moment.
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All right, that top portion I did not
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think was open. It is accessible except
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have to take a little bit of a farther
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route around. Have to walk up this
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way. It looks like I can go all the way
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to the top of that hilltop.
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This really is quite the entire complex.
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Very expansive. It's not just one
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cathedral. It's a lot of different
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buildings. Walking up this many steps
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when you're already at a post 7,000 ft
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elevation. Yeah, the elevation is a real
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thing. And I did reach the top. Made it
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up here. A little bit of a
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trek. Made it
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to cathedral all the way up here too.
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There's the view looking
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down. Down there you got this sculpture
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here. Guy with a shield. There's a bird
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on top of his head right there. See the
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bird up there? You got a snake
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slithering up his
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torso.
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Get a little skyline off in the
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distance,
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Check this out. There's a little
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cemetery down in
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here with barb wire all around it.
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It's on the side of the top
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chapel. Don't believe you can get in
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there and see any of them,
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but people laid the rest way up here.
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Back down towards the bottom level. Now,
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there's this really impressive sculpture
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along the along the water here. People
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will throw coins in. All the guys
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looking up there at
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Virgin Mary eater.
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You know, I've just noticed Noticing as
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I'm walking back over here, it might not
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translate to camera, but this building
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here on this end is slanted a little
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bit. It is not at a full it's
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tilted. It's almost as
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if it's tilting this way just a little
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bit. Again, it might not translate to to
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camera, but at least that's my
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perspective of where I'm standing at
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this particular spot. All right, I got
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myself a Basilica of
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Guadalupe right there. Magnet right over
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here at Street Vendors that are out
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front. Plenty of street vendors. They
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are everywhere. Everywhere you turn,
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someone will be trying to sell you
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something. And I do collect magnets, so
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this works. I'll put it on my little
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metal cabinets in my garage with all my
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other domestic and international ones
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that I've collected. Pay phones of
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plenty
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here. It's also interesting. I've seen
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so many VW
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bugs. One just passed. I wasn't filming
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it,
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but I've probably seen 20 VW bugs.
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They're very, very prevalent
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here. When I see another one, I'll try
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to get it on camera. Over here
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is the local cemeteries. People selling
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flowers out
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So, one thing I am noticing versus other
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other graveyards I've been to is how the
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patterns are a little bit different.
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They're, you know, you'll have one going
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one way and then another one going
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another
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way. Kind of wedged in a little bit
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more. They're not as spaced
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out.
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here. A lot of broken ones.
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This one has like
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a metal cage around it and a roof shade
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from the elements
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and I guess to keep keep things out
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possibly for the
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flowers. I don't know if I've ever
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seen any like that before that have the
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chain link around it.
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Very peaceful in here. Again, very
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compact and a lot of broken
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headstones and graves.
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Quiet. This is one of those moments you
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really don't
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need narration.
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or much of it.
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about my head
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again. His hat's taller than I am.
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This area through here, there are no
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walking paths.
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And here's where all the urns would be.
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Ones that are not in the ground.
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So the area I'm in really there again
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There's no walking path. There's a
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little bit of a path over that way. Once
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you get into
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I'm fascinated by
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cemeteries mostly
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because, you know, it kind of puts
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things into perspective and it shows
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that everyone has
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their, you know, it puts you in grasp
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with your own mortality.
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a serious reminder that none of us are
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going to be around forever. When you
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cross the street here, you have this
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little timer guy up top. See? Kind of
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like a little running guy right there.
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See him? He's doing the countdown. Got
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30 seconds left. That little walking,
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jogging, running guy.
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And it makes like a bird chirping noise.
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Hear
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it? That actually might be a real bird
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there. Look. Well, there's a motorcycle
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coming in, but take a look. There's a
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little bug right there. They're
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everywhere here. That's about the 20th
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one I've seen so far. Classic car
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alert. Never seen a grouping of that
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many VW bugs in one city before. I made
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it back to where I started the day.
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About a 40minute ride share over here.
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Traffic's pretty bad. Traffic's pretty
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bad here. here. Kind of bumper to
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bumper, but made it back to where I
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started.
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baby.
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Yeah. Heat.
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There's not really any
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any real traffic patterns here. Everyone
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just kind of does what they want. I've
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noticed. Also notice the officers that
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are around, they're just they don't
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really like do anything unless it's
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necessary. There are street lights and
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things like that that you're supposed to
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abide by, but I don't think you'll ever
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get like a a ticket for jaywalking here.
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I just I honestly don't think you would.
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Wow. I want your
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Heat. Heat.
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And that's going to do it for today.
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Storm is about to roll in. I can already
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feel the drops. See you in the next
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video. Thanks for watching. I appreciate
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it. I'll see you in the next video. The
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vlog is over.