After hopping on the bus around 6 AM I adopted my usual bus ride strategy of sitting in a seat by myself despite knowing a couple other Americans in order to meet someone new (and hopefully that could speak solid spanish with me).
Of course this strategy is always a gamble, but for about the 5th straight time it paid off AKA a Mexican girl between the ages of 18 and 29 sat down next to me. This time her name was Julieta and she was on the trip with two girls from France who also spoke perfect Spanish. I immediately declared they would be my inseparable friends for the day and off we went.
Following a good nap, we arrived to Teotihuacán and after meeting our guide, of Aztec ancestry, we received a great opening speech (in español) and started walking.
Teotihuacán is an ancient city that was at various times inhabited by different peoples. Its oldest building dates to about 200 BC, but its two pyramids, the Pyramid of the Sun (3 tallest in the world) and Pyramid of the Moon were constructed around 100AD. At its pinnacle it was thought to have had up to 250,000 inhabitants making it one of the largest cities in the world at that time.
The area is set up so that an enormous path called the Avenue of the Dead runs from the entrance all the way down to the two huge pyramids on the other side. We started our tour from the entrance and headed down into a large sunken central area.
Surrounding us on 3 sides were huge walls each containing four sets of stairs to represent the seasons, the directions, and the elements earth, wind, fire (they should make that the name of a band), and water. The fourth side was what my young and naive self would have considered to be a fairly large pyramid.
This area was made for ceremonies and had great acoustics. Our guide did various traditional chants and claps and the different echoes he could produce were awesome.
From here we walked further along the Avenue of the Dead and then were able to go underneath one of the smaller pyramids. The entire area was built upon over and over again so in some places there are up to 7 layers worth of construction and they are continuously unearthing older and older buildings.
Within this pyramid we did another ceremony where we turned off the lights and some chanting was done. After this a volunteer was asked to step forward in the dark and after some prodding from my new friends I hopped up to receive a small traditional monkey engraved fire holder. The fire was lit and then I was asked to give thanks to the fire (a bit strange but I went with it) and then bestow a blessing upon the entire group (more beautiful words have never been spoken).
Next I along with my fire and bag of kindle had to lead the entire group out and then group leader (to spare myself the wrath of the Aztec gods I will not attempt his name) and I led the party down to the base of the big daddy Pyramid of the Sun.
We sat on a patch of grass in front of the pyramid for another ceremony where the fire man or hombre del fuego as group leader was now calling me led us in another ceremony where I had to hold the fire up to the gods as he did some more chanting. After nearly losing both my arms to fatigue (but knowing with the importance of my position that rest was not an option) he finished and we were turned loose to explore.
With my new friends we scampered/labored up the stairway to heaven as it seemed (260 steps I believe) and after a quick oxygen break took some awesome pictures.
Next we headed over to the Pyramid of the Moon and climbed that for some more great shots including this one of some idiotic American tourist posing like the Mexican soccer legend Blanco after he scores a goal.
From here we got to go inside a couple more of the pyramids to see some of the preserved art work and then it was time to go.
On the way out of the park I came to a final decision on something that had been troubling me all day and decided I absolutely had to have one of the traditionally decorated battle axes the vendors were selling. After some pathetic bartering (I offered 60 pesos (4.50 US) to one guy he accepted, then claimed he meant 60 US dollars and refused the sale) I finally scored a really sweet one (but per the usual a bit undersized) for 100 pesos and couldn't have been happier (not to mention it would come in very handy on the bus ride home).
Next our guide hopped on the bus with us and we went to a local store/restaurant where we received a lesson about all the things you can do with this big old cactus here (writing utensils, yarn, healing potions, torture devices, and oh yea I almost forgot an alcoholic beverage called Pulque which she claimed is also an aphrodisiac (as if that is not the most redundant thing you have ever heard)).
Fortunately they had prepared a sample for all of us and also included a tequila sample (thank goodness I finally got to try some of that stuff out). Since the pulque was supposedly an aphrodisiac I decided to take my shot near Marion my new French friend but as you can tell she was having nothing to do with it.
To put it lightly it tasted horrific and the tequila was a welcome chaser. With this on the breath we did a bit of shopping through the store and got back on the bus. As we were pulling out the guide called the Fire Man to the front and presented me with the fire holder as a gift for which I was very appreciative. He then hopped out and we drove over to Coyoacan a well preserved historical district of México City.
We did a tour through the Frida Kahlo art museum, ate a huge dinner, took a walk through the Zocalo, then hit up their enormous indoor/outdoor market, took a walk into a different park, got some ice cream (about 3 hours in all but not nearly as fun as the pyramids so I will spare you too many details), and headed back to the bus.
As you can see the aphrodesiac finally began kicking in.
The ride home was great except for the fact that Luna, the girl in the seat in front of me decided she was going recline into both of my surgically repaired knees. Fortunately my battle axe came in quite handy and after dealing with this slight inconvenience in a peaceful manner, all order was restored.
We got home around 11 exhausted but still amazed by all that had been seen. I said adios to my new friends and made the walk back home to conclude another awesome weekend in México.
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