People of the Sun
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007Day 16
The piece of history that impresses me most about Mexico City is that since the 1st century A.D. this metropolis has been one of the most improtant cities in the Ameicas. From Teotihucan, the great Aztec capital, then renamed Mexico by the Spanish and capital of New Spain and it`s current incarnation as capital of Mexico. For so long a sophisticated civilization has inhabited this city.
Today we are heading just north of the city centre to the ruins of Teotihucan, the largest of Mexico`s ancient cities and capital of Mexico`s largest pre-hispanic empire. Once again I am in awe at the sheer size of the city as our bus snakes through traffic to the northeastern suburbs. The bus comes to a stop at a roundabout just outside of gate 3. We pay our 45 peso entry and as soon as we enter the hawkers decend on us. Never have I seen a site where people are allowed to sell right on the site. These are lazy sellers however and a simple no gracias and they move on. Maybe if they were selling something interesting we would look, but so many are selling buddhas! Huh? Wrong people, wrong religion and wrong hemisphere.
Teotihucan is huge, we walk out to the first temple, Templo Quetzacotal. Turning left from here is the start of the “Avenue of the Dead.” The main street of the city. Back in the day this must have been quite a sight, over 2 km long and lined with palaces and temples, all painted red and covered in frescoes. Then about the mid-way point is the pyramid of the sun, the 3rd largest pyramid in the world. At the end of the drag is the smaller yet more beautiful pyramid of the moon, it`s setting, terraces and detail make it very impressive.
Today you can still climb the pyramid of the sun and half way up the pyramid of the moon, we do both and the views are great. However I can`t help but wonder what kind of damage is being done by allowing thousands of people to walk on these daily. Besides that apparently pollution is weakening the structures every year.
Even though the crowds grew and the mid-day sun really took it`s toll on us we enjoyed the ruins. Although both Jordana and I agree the hi-light of the day was about 3km from the main site. We walked to a set of smaller former palaces with some excellent murals. Over 120 walls covered with jaguars, serpents and eagles. We were the only ones wandering this site and it was silent save for the barking of a few dogs and a distant tv from the nearby homes. It was our Indiana Jones moment of the day.
Michael Coroneos