There really isn’t much I can say here except by starting off with a couple of my favorite widescreen shots.

Dont I look like a Mexican hombre – Piramide de la Luna is behind me

Shooting the Piramide del Sol from the Piramide de la Luna

Walking towards the Piramide Del Sol 

At the top of the Piramide del Sol

 

So not really much to say here, that the pictures would convey in a more effective fashion. The plan once we got to Teotihuacan, which by the way consists of 5 zones and we were only concerned with the main zone, since that is where the Piramides were. Once again, I will refer to Wikipedia to provide a nice concise description of the site and what is in the main galleries

The city’s broad central avenue, called “Avenue of the Dead” (a translation from its Nahuatl name Miccaotli), is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (second largest in the New World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula) and the Pyramid of the Moon. Along the Avenue of the Dead are many smaller talud-tablero platforms. The Aztecs believed they were tombs, inspiring the name of the avenue. Now they are known to be ceremonial platforms that were topped with temples. Further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of the Feathered Serpent. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political center of the city. The name “Citadel” was given to it by the Spanish, who believed it was a fort. Many of the rich and powerful Teotihuacanos lived in Palaces near the temples, the largest of these covering more than 3300 m².[12] Most of the common people lived in large apartment buildings spread across the city. Many of the buildings contained workshops that produced pottery and other goods.

The geographical layout of Teotihuacán is a good example of the Mesoamerican tradition of planning cities, settlements and buildings as a representation of the Teotihuacano view of the Universe. Its urban grid is aligned to precisely 15.5º east of North. The Street of the Dead, in particular, seems to line up with Cerro Gordo to the north of the Pyramid of the Moon. Pecked-cross circles throughout the city and in the surrounding regions indicate how the grid was managed over long distances.

The idea basically was to wander around and revel in the magnificence of this place. One interesting note, our guide swore by the fact that we would not be tired after climbing the Pyramide de Sol. This was in fact true, since we almost died climbing up, coming down was a breeze once you kept your footing and all.

View of Temple of the Sun and the Avenue of the Dead from the Temple of the Sun

Posing as usual with the regular pose

Piramide de La Luna

Getting ready to tackle the beast of the Sun

Looking at the Piramide de la Luna from the Piramide de Sol

Finally at the top … nuff said

Conclusion : Great day, tired legs, good food after at some campy restaurant and looking forward to doing it all again tomorow morning in Taxco.

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So the morning got off ot a nice start with brekkie and gym. It is nice to hear from the folks about how much trimmer I look in these pics from the pics in Cambodia… pfftt… yeah as if!! Anyway, Ximena got to the hotel around 10 am, and I had a tough time trying to negotiate a car to go Teotihuacan. The concierge who was very helpful and friendly, politely suggested that I go with the tour, to which I initially refused but after some prodding and thought, I relented and went with the tour. It was a good decision.

One of my pet peeves with tours is that there is always a shopping “expedition” at the expense of the main attraction of the tour. So upon meeting my tour guide Roberto, I wanted to say this, but I didn’t until later. Our first stop on our journey was the Shrine of to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Although, this was not a religious tour, upon getting there, I was astonished by the number of pilgrims lighting candles and processions while we were there. Masses occur every two hours, and the mass that we saw was packed.

Outside the main church in the Shrine

Inside the Main Church looking at the mass

The story of Guadalupe goes something like this (which i have copied straight out of Wikipedia)

According to traditional Catholic accounts of the Guadalupan apparition, during a walk from his village to the city on December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a Virgin at the Hill of Tepeyac. Speaking in Nahuatl, Our Lady of Guadalupe asked him to build an abbey at that site. When Juan Diego spoke to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, he asked him for a miraculous sign to prove his claim. The Virgin asked Juan Diego to gather flowers, even though it was winter when no flower bloomed. He found Castillian roses, gathered them on his tilma, and presented these to bishop Zumárraga. When he presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously appeared imprinted on the cloth.

We toured around the area for a while, taking pictures and discussing the procession as well as going to see the cloth that has a couple moving walkways so that you can see the cloth enshrined with the Mexican flag also.

Once done there, it was on our way to the Maguay shop to see the process of Tequila and Pulque as well as to be hit with a fast, high pressure sales pitch. On the tour here, it was quite informative to get details about the Agave plant. What a wonderful plant that thing is, with Medicinal properties, makes good papyrus, the tip being used for needles with associated thread as well as giving the raw stock for Tequila, which is the use we best know it for right now.  In addition, we got the whole process of making figurines from different types of Obsidian.

Agave plant with the center hollowed out, so that the sweet Pulque liquid can be extracted. A plant like this make 4L of the stock liquid a day!

Ximena with the associated needle and thread that comes directly from the tip of the leaf

After a couple sweet tequila shots, that were obviously meant to loosen your pockets, we were sent into the gift shop. I must say that there were some stunning pieces there from top grade obsidian, however, I was not tempted. I bought two small but practical pieces for the apartment and I relented and put on the tackiest of Mexican outfits with typical repose. I even got Ximena into it. No comments, please on how we look!!!

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