Teotihuacan

Today we went to Teotihuacan, ruins very near Mexico City. At its heyday, Teotihuacan was a city of 200,000 people and covered about 20 sq kilometers. In around 750 CE, the site was abandoned and burned for reasons unknown to modern archeologists. Ironically, that probably saved it from destruction at the hands of the Spanish 700 years later. The area is centered around the Avenue of Death, a series of wide plazas about 1.5 miles in length and surrounded by temples and pyramids of varying size and restoration. It starts at the Temple of Quetzalcoatal, passes a series of small and minimally restored buildings, passes the Pyramid of the Sun about 2/3 of the way up, and ends at the Pyramid of the Moon.



These dudes hang out on top of a high pole (50 feet or so) and play music in a modern tribute to an ancient custom. They spend some time upright and then begin the process of spinning upside down, still playing music, all the way to the ground.


A close-up of the piper during his descent.


Carvings on the Temple of Quetzalcoatal. I think the squarish one is Tlaloc, the rain god, and the other is a feathered serpent.


Lizards like ruins.


Oh yeah, we climbed it. The Pyramid of the Sun is around 250 steps, but with the crush of people, the irregularity of the stone, and the lack of normal oxygen at 7000 feet, it felt like much, much more.


Pyramid of the Moon from the top of Pyramid of the Sun. There would have been a temple on top of the pyramid when the area was actively used.


Looking up the Avenue of Death from in front of Pyramid of the Sun to the Pyramid of the Moon. This photo is meant to give a sense of scale: this is the last third of the Avenue as we walked it today. It is around 1.5 miles long.


Looking at the Pyramid of the Sun from the plaza by the Pyramid of the Moon. When this was an active center, the pyramids would have had temples on top of them. Apparently there is new evidence that suggests the Pyramid of the Sun was in fact a temple to the rain god, Tlaloc, instead of the sun god - an ironic name change may be in order.


Standing on the Temple of the Moon with the Avenue of Death stretching down to the Temple of Queztalcoatal in the far distance and the Pyramid of the Sun in the near distance. The Avenue of Death is so called for the number of tombs along it, not for any more gruesome reason that we're aware of!


Here we are blocking the view just to prove we were there!


Lunch at La Gruta, a 'restauran tipico' except that it's in a legitime cave. It was tasty and cool and really nice.