December 27, 1990, we went to see the ancient pyraminds outside Mexico City...

We took a guided tour in a van-sized bus to the pyramids of Teotihuacan, near Mexico City. Our guide introduced himself as Mochichechitl Wawichochitl Zocoyotzin, which he said we didn't have to remember. We were to just call him 'Moses.' As we drove through the city, I took photos of interesting sights along the way.

 We saw this dog sleeping on the roof of one of the buildings we went past. I'm not sure how he got up there, but perhaps there is a stairway on the interior that has access to the roof. 

Moses stopped the bus at the Basilica de Virgin de Guadalupe and gave us a very good explanation of the symbolism of lines and points seen in the architectural design of the new cathedral. It all relates to ancient religious symbols used by the Teotihuacans and Aztecs. There were also geometric shapes which had special significance. He mentioned that many of the symbols of the Catholic religion in Mexico echo the ancient symbols so that the people can identify with them more easily. We saw people approaching the church on their knees, many of whom were on pilgrimages from all over Mexico. Inside the church, behind the altar, was the supposedly original painting of the 'virgin of Guadalupe.' The story goes that a poor peasant, Juan Diego, saw a vision on December 12, 1531 of a beautiful lady in a blue mantle. The local bishop was reticent to confirm his story, and asked for evidence. Juan saw the vision a second time, and it became miraculously emblazoned on his cloak. The bishop then ordered the building of a church on the spot, and the image was hung in the place of honor, framed in gold. Since that time, millions upon millions of devout and curious people have come to see the image which, it is said, experts are at a loss to explain. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron saint of Mexico. People come for hundreds of yards on their knees to see the virgin. The newest and most modern church was built after three other churches in these photos when each of the older buildings became too small to hold the crowds.

 The building in the distance is the original Basilica de Virgin de Guadalupe. The church on the right was built more recently, and then the church on the left was built. Unfortunately, that building is situated on volcanic rock on the right side, but on the left it is on top of an old lake bed where the soil beneath is spongy, and is slowly sinking. Mexico City is situated on the lake bed of Lake Texcoco, and many of the older buildings list severely to one side as they slowly sink into the unstable ground. Some buildings have sunk several feet. More recent buildings have pilings which help to prevent this occurrence.

 The obvious tilt of this church building can be seen in this photo.

To accommodate the huge crowds who come to see the basilica and the painting of the virgin, the basilica on the left was built. 

This building contains the 'miraculous' painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It is framed and hung behind the altar inside this huge church. One can ride on an escalator walkway along the floor beneath the painting. A wall separates the altar from the throngs of people passing along to see the painting, but still allows the painting to be seen above the separating wall. Behind this new basilica is a smaller shrine containing a statue of the virgin and an area for candles for those who wish to light them.

 Here is the smaller shrine with its virgin statue and candles. We saw a lady passing a lighted candle over and around and down each side of other people in her group. Then she took the candle and placed it on the altar and lit it. My understanding is that this motion helped to remove sins from the people who partook in the symbolic ceremony.

The trip to the pyramids passed through very poor areas of Mexico City. There were shanties built up the mountainside. Our guide Moses said that if the people 'squat' on a spot of land for seven years and no one kicks them off, they own the land. Then the district will provide electricity and water for them. At night, on the train to Oaxaca, the lights of the ones who have earned their piece of land transforms the shabby mountainside into a sparkling sight.

 All the way up the side of these foothills are hundreds of shacks made from plywood, rusty metal and any kind of material that can help make a shelter. With 3,000+ people coming into the city daily when we were in Mexico City, there are always people trying to find a place to 'call home.' These homes are one step up from the street people whose shelters consist of cardboard boxes and black plastic...

We also passed a few interesting buildings, such as this one, which has children's rides in front of it. I didn't see a sign explaining what was housed here, but perhaps it is some kind of museum, although it could also be a church of some kind.

 As we traveled along in the tour bus, I could see that much of Mexican rural life is still not nearly as mechanized as in the U.S. We saw some men on a wagon piled with bundles of corn or some other material, and the wagon was pulled by a horse. 

Before we arrived at the pyramids, the bus stopped at a 'tourist trap' which actually turned out to be quite informative, in spite of the obvious attempt to sell us merchandise. 

 Here is David outside the stop we made to find out about the maguey cactus industry...

A butterfly rests on one leaf of this huge maguey cactus plant.

The yard outside the buildings contained maguey cactus, which was used for many purposes in former times. It still has use in the present day, primarily in the production of tequila and pulque (a beer-like Mexican drink). Formerly the outer skin of the cactus leaf was peeled off and made into a paper similar to parchment paper. This form of paper was used by the Aztecs. The juice from the center of the plant is used for tequila and pulque. Juice from the leaves was used as a soap and the fibers were used for weaving to make ropes and cloth. On the tip of each cactus leaf is a sharp, needle-like thorn. When this thorn is pulled off from the leaf, a thin thread of fiber comes off with it. We were told that this was used as a needle and thread by early Mexicans. The worm which resides in the maguey cactus plant is often included in a bottle of tequila, and the person who takes the last drink gets to eat the well-pickled worm! The natural dye 'cochinilla' which is used to create a lovely red-colored dye, comes from the crushed maguey worm. We were given a taste of both tequila and pulque - both interesting and having distinct flavors. We were then given time to explore the compound, and hopefully (the tour guide, of course, would get a percentage of purchases made at this stop) buy some of the crafts offered there. In one building, there were men grinding and polishing obsidian into various items to be sold to tourists. Another building had men weaving on large wooden looms, and there were beautiful serapes and other blankets for sale. Unfortunately, we did not want to carry our souvenirs everywhere with us, so we did not buy anything at this time. Outside the compound, a donkey was tied beneath a shady tree, and many of the tourists stopped to pet it.

Here is one of the men weaving the rugs and other fiber items that were for sale at the tourist stop.

 This is the shop where the woven items and other souvenirs were sold at the tourist stop.

In another part of the building, men were cutting and polishing items from obsidian, a material like black glass that is found in volcanic areas.

Here is the burro that was tied outside the shop. This gal is taking time to talk to it...

The burro seems to like any attention it gets...in this shot, our daughter is petting and scratching its head...

When we arrived at the pyramids, there were many stalls lined up along the walkway up to the Pyramid of the Sun. These were tourists gift shops, and even though they were not all open when we arrived, by the time we left they were busy trying to encourage each passer-by to take a look at their merchandise, and hopefully, to buy. I would have enjoyed looking longer, but it was difficult to do without encouraging a lot of attention from the store-keeper, which tended to increase my hesitancy to look. I had not yet become assertive enough with my 'No, gracias!'

David walks toward the Pyramid of the Sun. (Notice the stalls along the sides of this walk...)

Here we are...David and I... going toward the Pyramid of the Sun (notice my reddish, permed hair...I thought it would be easier to take care of on this trip, if I had a perm....it was not my most flattering look!)

 This is our guide - Mochichechitl Wawichochitl Zocoyotzin (Moses, for short!). He was also our guide when we went to see the Ballet de Folklorico in Mexico City. Moses told us he had worked in Wisconsin and Illinois and had passed through Iowa. He is learning English from a Japanese!

 Here we are partway up the stairway to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. The people below look like miniatures!

The Pyramid of the Sun is the third highest pyramid in the world, behind only the pyramid at Cholula, Mexico, and the Egyptian pyramid, Cheops. Climbing up to the summit was a bit scary. There are no handrails, and many of the steps are close together and very steep. In one section, the steps go up almost vertically. There are 248 steps and several terraces as you make your way up. The old city of Teotihuacan (Ta-o-tee-hwa-kon) includes the Pyramid of the Sun, a smaller Pyramid of the Moon (which is actually as high as the Pyramid of the Sun because it is built on higher ground), a long street called The Avenue of the Dead (inaccurately, by the Aztecs who thought the buildings along the street were tombs of important people), and several buildings and courts situated along the avenue. The entire site encompasses about eight square miles, so most tours visit only one or two of the buildings in addition to climbing one or both pyramids.

We found out that the Pyramid of the Sun is exactly square to (facing) the point on the horizon where the sun sets on the day it reaches its zenith. So if a line were drawn from the pyramid to the sun at noon on the day when the sun reaches its highest point, and another line were drawn from the pyramid to the sun when it reaches the horizon later that same day, then the pyramid would be exactly square to those lines. The rest of the ceremonial buildings are laid out at right angles to the Pyramid of the Sun.

 The Avenue of the Dead was several miles long in its heyday, but only a mile or so has been uncovered and restored. The Pyramid of the Sun lies on the east side of the Avenue of the Dead.

The Pyramid of the Sun was not built as a king's tomb, but it does have secret tunnels and chambers beneath it. A natural grotto was enlarged and restructured into a four-room chamber that was used for some occult purpose - no one knows what. The tunnels are not open to the public, so we did not see them.

The first structure of the pyramid was probably built a century before Christ, and the temple that used to crown the pyramid was finished about 400 years later (A.D. 300). By the time the pyramid was discovered and restoration was begun (early in the 20th century), the temple had completely disappeared, and the pyramid was just a mass of ruble covered with bushes and trees.

 Looking up the steps....and hoping I was up to the climb! (This was when I was 50 years old...today, I would not be able to do it...travel when you are young...it may be your only chance to undertake some parts of the experience!)

 Views from the summit of the Pyramid of the Sun...

This view looks south from the Pyramid of the Sun.

The Avenue of the Dead below the Pyramid of the Sun.

Looking out from the summit of the Pyramid of the Sun...notice the size of the buses in the parking lot below...

Looking toward the Pyramid of the Moon from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.

Taking careful steps on the way down...a fall would not be fun at all!

One part is almost vertical...no hand-rails...pretty uncertain!

Most steps were very steep...

Sellers hawk their wares at the base of the pyramid...

As we came down from the top of the pyramid, we saw many people selling various craft items at the base of the structure. I saw a clay flute with a very Mexican look (whatever that means!) I asked the man how much he wanted for the flute ('Cuanto questa, por favor?') He wanted $65,000 pesos - about $21.65 U.S. I offered him $20,000 pesos. He came back with $40,000, and I countered with $35,000 (which was about $11.65). He accepted, and we had a deal. I was very pleased, and as I look at the other souvenirs we purchased, this is still my favorite.

The clay flute...no signature or date, but unique and fun...

 The smaller, but still impressive, Pyramid of the Moon.

The 'Musician' - part of a musical combo that appeared on the walls of the Palace of the Jaguars.

We also visited the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Palace of the Jaguars, and the Temple of the Plumed Conch Shells. The richly carved stone, the sculptured heads of the serpent, and the still colorful portions of ancient murals on the walls made for a very interesting visit. We were told that the tongue-like appendages coming out of the mouths of jaguars painted on the murals indicated that they were 'speaking.'

 Palace of the Jaguars - the spiral-shapes coming out of their mouths suggests that they are 'speaking.'

Original courtyard with frescos and carved pillars.

The Palace of Quetzal-Mariposa (bird-butterfly) lay in ruins in the 1960s, when restoration work began. Today it echoes wonderfully its former glory, as figures of Quetzal-Mariposa (a mythical exotic bird-butterfly) appear painted on the walls or carved in the pillars of the inner court. Behind the Palace of Quetzal-Mariposa is the Palace of the Jaguars, complete with murals showing a lively jaguar musical combo, an some frescos as mentioned above.

The Temple of Quetzalcoatl was covered over by an even-larger structure, a pyramid. As we walked toward the center of the Ciudadela's court (the Citadel, or immense sunken square court), we approached the pyramid. We walked around the side of it, and saw the reconstructed temple close behind the pyramid, with only a narrow one-way passage between the two structures. It wasn't unusual for early temples to be covered over by later ones in Mexico and Central America, according to the Frommer's travel guide. In fact, it apparently was a common practice. On the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, there were huge carved serpent's heads jutting out from the stone walls, with other feathered serpents carved in relief low on the walls.

 

Our guide had a personal theory about the ancient Teotihuacan people - he did not believe they were bloodthirsty, but that the blood sacrifices came into being when the Aztecs arrived. There is speculation about these ancient civilizations, but it is difficult to be certain. Perhaps as they uncover more of the ruins, more information will come to light. Moses (our guide) thinks the people left the area because of drought.

 Rooms in Teotihuacan...

When a person thinks about how old these ruins are...back to one hundred years before Christ, and when one is a citizen of the United States where the white culture there is only several hundred years old...it makes you realize better just what you are seeing...art that is wonderfully creative, and a belief system that was strong enough to put forth the necessary resources to actually build such structures. It makes one realize how very unimportant each of us is individually, but how wonderfully complex are the cultures of man on earth, and it made me even more conscious of the value of what I was seeing and experiencing. Travel out of one's normal routine is a real education, and I was loving it...

As our bus returned to Mexico City proper, I noticed globe-like structures on the tops of many homes. Moses told us that those were the water and gas storage tanks for that particular residence. He also pointed out an aqueduct along the road which he said goes all the way to Laredo, Texas. It was in use until 1931, apparently.

After we got back to our hotel, we rested awhile, got cleaned up, and went to eat  a late noon meal. We ate at that hotel's El Jardin (garden room), which is topped with a glass-paned roof and filled with plants. We all ate the comida corrida (buffet), and found it to be quite good.

Then we packed up, put our big suitcases in storage at the hotel, along with our souvenirs, took our train tickets and some traveler's checks out of our safety-deposit box at the hotel, and flagged down a taxi to take us to the train station. When we got there, we checked to see where we needed to go to board our train, and since we had quite a bit of time before the train departed, we went outside to where David had located a huge market (the Central Crafts Market) near the station. This market had everything from silver and onyx to pottery, pinatas and hammocks. They even had a pair of stuffed lions (I wonder how well that would go over today, with all the furor about the lion in Africa which was killed by the Minneapolis dentist recently!) But, I suppose back then, if you wanted an especially 'macho' decoration for your den, this pair would fill the bill. (Sadly...)

I would have loved to buy some of the things offered there, but we had to carry everything while we were in Oaxaca, so I kept myself in check. I had hoped we could come back to this market when we returned to Mexico City on Sunday, but that didn't happen.

 The Central Crafts Market near the railroad station in Mexico City...lots of wonders to tempt you!

Beautiful silver objects, wonderful lamps (oh how I wish we could go back there now!) and paper flowers everywhere...

 Marvelous pinatas! (I modeled one after the 'star' orb on the left when I was working as an aide in the special education classroom at Kanawha after we came home...I made the ball out of papier mache, and made paper cones for the spokes, and then covered it all with foil...it was pretty fabulous. We were doing a series of studies on different cultures, and this was for our Hispanic cultural theme. Of course, the kids got to swing a bat at the pinata, and it was full of candy!)

Here are the two stuffed lions (real!) along with a beautiful marble obelisk and so many onyx and obsidian carvings...just too much to take in... Oh..how I wish I could back there!

Estacion Buena Vista

The Buena Vista Station or Ferro Carrill Estacion de Nacional is an interesting and beautiful place. It is very modern, and has marble floors everywhere. There are several shops inside. We met a fellow who spoke English, and visited with him for a time. When it came closer for the time for our train to arrive, we went to the area where we were supposed to board (or so we thought from the directions we had been given by the people at the information booth - sometimes their English was not as good as one would like, and of course, our Spanish was sorely lacking, so we weren't always sure we understood the directions.) We spent an anxious moment when we were told by a man nearby that we needed to give our tickets to someone else instead of the person we had given them to - but he was mistaken, and all was okay... He was a very nice fellow, and was trying to make sure that we got onto the correct train, but it was just another example of the need to be able to speak the language of the country your are visiting, if they don't use much English. You may be able to tell someone that 'you are going to Oaxaca,' but can you be certain that he knows where the Oaxaca ticket-taker is located? It can be very confusing, and unsettling, since the ramifications are a possible missed train, and no hotel reservation for that night! (Homeless in Mexico City would not be my idea of a good night...) We did most of our conversation with this fellow in hand motions and broken Spanish - ours! But, finally the train came in, and we waited around until we were allowed to board. The porter also did not speak English, so when we showed him our tickets, there was a bit of misunderstanding. He showed us to a tiny one-person roomette with one large seat which could fold down into a single bed, and a small chair without padding on the back. (A note on the train conditions of that time - trains in Mexico were often old train cars purchased from the U.S. when this country quit running our passenger routes, and the train cars are now getting quite shabby. They seem to be kept fairly clean - with some exceptions - but age is telling on them. My only problem with cleanliness was that the brown 'Army-type' wool blanket on the bed David and I shared smelled of vomit...as if someone who had slept there at an earlier time had too much to drink and had been sick. But, I just turned that part down quite a-ways, and pulled the sheet up to my neck. Nothing became of that problem...just a bit of realization at how lucky we are most times in the United States when things are found to be clean.) The room we were first shown seemed to have no toilet - only a sink which folded out of the wall above the 'chair' without the padding on the back. We were slightly frustrated, but we two ladies went down the hallway to another room, which had a larger seat and a berth above. We waited for the porter to throw us out, at which time I had decided to argue (?) with him and show him our tickets again, which stated we should have rooms for three to sleep. When he returned, I showed him the tickets, he nodded, and took us to a room with a long seat for three persons. This seat folded out to make a bed, and it had a berth above it as well. The bathroom was closet-size, but had both toilet and sink. These accommodations lifted our spirits a great deal. (We later figured out that the small room did have a toilet, but you had to lift the seat of the small un-padded chair to find it!) We all ended up riding in the large compartment until the porter called us to dinner about 8 p.m. The call to meals was usually a bell, but we didn't know the signal, so the porter had to come to get us. We had enjoyed riding along, watching the city come alight at night, but we were ready to eat! Again, I was very aware of the need to carry your own bottled water. I always seemed to be very thirsty just when there was no place to purchase anything to drink. There was water in the bathrooms, but it was only safe to use for washing your face - not for drinking or brushing your teeth.

Our table in the dining car was shared with a guy from San Francisco who was traveling for five weeks in Mexico. He was interesting, and our daughter did her usual trading of addresses before the evening was concluded. The food in the dining car was okay - nothing spectacular, but quite edible and was included in the ticket price, as was breakfast. I had chicken and vegetables, our daughter had rice and vegetables, and David had a Mexican meal. We ordered two bottles of mineral water for us two ladies. Since we had not thought to bring our own bottled water with us, we ended up using mineral water to brush our teeth, but it wasn't too bad. You can get used to a lot of things if you have no choice! I don't recall if David just used the water in the sink for his teeth or not... He did not get sick on this trip, luckily. 

After we returned to our pullman unit, our beds were ready for us. David and I shared the bottom bed, which was really a single (if we had understood our porter better, we would have known that the single roomette was intended for one of us to sleep in, and we would not have been so crowded.) The bed was a bit too cozy, but even though I spent a somewhat restless night, I did not fall on the floor. The ride through the mountains was bumpy and the train car swung from side to side a lot, as trains tend to do, but we slept more than we realized, and I enjoyed looking out at the full moon and countryside as we traveled along. (Our daughter slept above us on the single berth.) I ended up sleeping with my feet up by David's head, and his feet near my head. I had my head near the window, which made for a more comfortable arrangement. Our daughter rather liked her upper berth and the ladder needed to get up there. All in all, it wasn't the most restful night, but it certainly was an adventure! I think if we had thought to look at the original roomette, we would have seen that the bed was made up for either David or me to sleep in. The porter probably had some thoughts about the crazy Americanos squeezed together in one bed, but maybe he thought we were just 'romantics...' When you don't really know the language, you can get by - but the nuances are lost on you!

More to come about our train ride and the time spent in marvelous Oaxaca...come on back and read some more...