Travels with L (and sometimes Z & F): Teotihuacan

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Teotihuacan

Last Saturday we signed up to go on a school excursion to the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacan, which are located on the northeast side of Mexico City about a two hour drive from Cuernavaca. The ancient city lies on a high plain and is quite dusty and dry.

We started our tour at a nearby artist market where we saw colorful table clothes being spun and where we also got to try the local tequila and sweet water from the surrounding cacti. Then we continued on to the ruins. Teotihuacan is a former city of 200,000 and was the epicenter of culture and commerce in Meso America. Occupation of this area began around 500 BC, but construction of the pyramids didn't begin until around 100 BC. The city is dominated by the Pyramid of the Sun, Avenue of the Dead, and Pyramid of the Moon. The Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world.

We spent around four hours in the hot, dry sunshine walking from one end of the ruins to the other. We climbed several very steep pyramids, visited a state of the art museum, which had to shut down unexpectedly because of a power outage (happens here every now and then!), learned how the indians extracted color from local plants to paint their murals, and got accosted by hundreds of vendors trying to get us to buy their "artwork". All in all, it was a long day, but well worth the visit even though we only understood a fraction of what our guide was talking about!

Here are some shots from our visit...

Our group entering the artist market...