I GOT TO SEE A PYRAMID!! Now this is not like those in Egypt and are not as old though the history was pretty cool and interesting.
The first time I ever traveled to Europe on my own at the age of 23, I met a guy who told me that when you travel, choose one must do thing. This way you don’t feel like you’ve missed out if you don’t get to see everything. If you get to see more things then score however you are able to enjoy your time so much more and don’t feel like you are running yourself ragged. I’ve lived by that advice ever since with this trip being no different. My one must do was to see a pyramid.
With this trip being a bucket list item for JD, I would do/see anything he wanted with the one ask of the pyramid which he wanted to see also. Since the pyramid location was a hour and twenty minutes outside of Mexico City, he booked us a guided tour which included transporation to and from.
We had to meet at the pick up location at 6:20am so we had to be up early. The pick up location was a cafe though it didn’t open until 7am so that meant we were functioning on zero coffee. We left Mexico City and entered the State of Mexico specifically the city of Esatepec de Morelos meaning windy hill. They have sky lift as public transportation that reduces hour long commutes to 17 minutes! The city does extend up on the mountain/hill which the cars pass over.
We made it to Teotihuacan (tee-o-tee-wa-khan) around 9am. Oh and we did end up stopping at a gas station to use the restroom, get coffee, and water since we would be walking quite a bit. Our guide Lilly told suggested we wear a hat (of course I left mine back at the apartment) apply sun screen (which I neglected to do at 6am) and leave our jackets behind (it was a chilly 47 degrees F so I didn’t because it was cold).
The city of Teotihuacan originally was, in its hay day, spanned 22 sq km. This site is the remaining and is roughly 2 sq km and this was the area of the wealthy (only) for spiritual and ritual ceremonies. We started in the section of the archeological site nearest to the Pyramid of the moon.
The top of the pyramid would have had a temple on top, covered in stucco and would be brightly painted in red (natural mineral of the area) and teal (a color traded for obsidian glass). This pyramid has 7 layers of construction. This means, they rebuilt this bigger each time. They don’t know why this might have happened though there are many theories.
The pyramids and temples surrounding this, and the Pyramid of the Sun, were occupied by high nobles and priests. We toured the home of where royals would have lived.
Notice the red coloring. That was created by the local mineral which covered the city. They didn’t have windows so each place had a courtyard for light and fresh air. This civilization had a spoken language though not a written one. They used murals and carvings to tell stories.
We then headed down the Avenue of the Dead toward the Pyramid of the Sun though before we got there, we stopped by the last preserved mural.
This was uncovered by archeologists and preserved so you aren’t able to use flash or access it.
This is the third largest pyramid in the world. Unlike the Pyramid of the Moon, this pyramid only has one construction versus layers.
Our last stop was a residence location (looks very similar to the very first picture posted in this blog). Residences could be single family, people in common (ie- builders, painters, etc) and based on the size the residence could house up to 100 people. I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures except on of the residences. Each residence had an alter in the court yard and pyramids with temples with the dwellings placed behind these.
This is residence that has two constructions. Once below which you see through this hole with the stars and snake head statues and the one we were standing on that was just a bigger and larger residence. They again don’t know why they did this other than possibly change in “family” hands and seniority or status.
So going back to the hat, sun screen and jacket recommendation. JD and I ended up getting burnt and mostly on our face. I ended up sweating my ass off and carrying my jacket the last half of the tour. So when a guide makes suggestions, you should listen!
There was one more pyramid with the Temple of the Feathered Serpent that we saw though didn’t take pictures of or tour since we had to use the restroom super bad so we heard the history and trekked back to the restrooms.
Once done with the tour, we headed to lunch where we learned more about obsidian glass, tequila, and the use of the plant to do weave making.
We ordered a meal for two of chicken, beef, pork (rinds), sausage, cactus, lettuce, avocado, onion, tomato, cheese, and cucumber to make our own tacos. This does look big and it was and we finished 90% of it.
Burnt, full and tired, we took the hour and more (because of traffic) back to the city where we went to the apartment to cool off and relax.
Dinner was a little hole in the wall and was absolutely amazing. JD ordered for both of us. Knowing I’m a cubana fan he ordered that for me and order the Rusa for himself.
Here is the sandwiches we got and from the place we got if from.
We got it from this place which was not only delicious but the staff was amazing and they were busy.
Highly recommend this place if you come to this area!!
katie palmer moore 