Our last day in Mexico City was a busy one, starting in the morning with a trip out to Teotihuacán, (that’s teh-oh-tih-wah-kan) the site of one of the biggest ancient cities of Mexico (built around 100AD), which boasts the third largest pyramid in the world, after the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt and Chulola, also in Mexico.
There are actually 2 pyramids at Teotihuacán – Pirámide del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun – the big one) and Pirámide de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon). they are a different style to the Egyptian pyramids (which we actually were lucky to see back in those pre-kid days) - they are more of a stepped style with some upright and some sloping sections and staircases running up the middle.
Pyramid of the Sun
The steps are extremely steep and the top section of the steps on the Pyramid of the Sun are so steep that you have to descend backwards (apparently so that you are not able to turn your back on the gods). We didn’t climb the big Pyramid of the Sun. I’m not sure how we would have got the pram up all 248 steps.
These are the steps of the Temple of Queztalcóatl – the most we could handle
The Pyramid of the Moon is not as tall, but is built on higher ground so it’s summit is at the same height. I can’t get over the precision with which these structures were built, so long ago, not to mention the human, and not machine, effort required.
Pyramid of the Moon
Both pyramids lie along the Calzada de los Muertos (Avenue of the Dead) so-called because the Aztecs who visited the site later thought the buildings along it were tombs for Teotihuacán’s rulers. There’s not much left of those buildings now, but there were plenty of stepped platforms for Guerita to climb up and down along the way.
They even had another Day of Dead display – these paper skeletons were cute
We continued our adventures in Ancient Mexico that afternoon with a visit to the Museum of Anthropology.
They have loads of fantastic and beautifully presented artifacts from all over Mexico, and with such an amazing and interesting ancient and modern history, there’s a lot to choose from. We particularly liked the relics from pre-hispanic Mexico – carvings, friezes, statues and the famous Aztec sun stone, which contrary to popular belief was probably a sacrificial altar and not a calendar.
Here’s a few more of the pieces they have there
The Museum building itself was also great to look at with a large umbrella fountain in the courtyard
To top off an already great day, outside the museum, they had an AWESOME spectacle - Los Voladores de Papantla performing their daily ritual - “flying” from a 80m pole. Its described in Lonely Planet as like a “slow-motion bungee” and is an amazing sight to watch.
5 men dressed in the traditional dress of Papantla (a city in the state of Veracruz)
climb to the top of the pole
They all balance on a small wooden platform, one of them playing a flute and a drum, the other four spinning the platform to wind their ropes around the pole
then when the music stops they fall backwards, and slowly spin around the pole, the ropes unwinding as they go
until they finally reach the ground. Pretty cool.
[...] November 2007 by guera After our hectic few days visiting the modern and ancient sites of Mexico City, we headed for the second part of our trip – relaxing on the beach at Playa [...]
Thanks for the memories! I never knew that about the sun stone – I always thought it was a calendar – I’ve been wearing a silver one around my neck that we bought in Playa del Carmen 10 years ago now. We did go to Chitchen Itza and climbed the pyramids – it was cool! I cant wait to take my kids to Mexico one day. Oh and we saw the pole flying thing too
Well, its probably nicer to say your pendant is a calendar and not a sacrificial altar, so stick with that story I reckon!!!My source is only Lonely Planet, so who knows… I am sad we didn’t get to Chichen Itza, we really wanted to go, but it would just have been too big a day with the kids. Maybe next time! I still can’t get over the pole flying thing. We were very impressed.