Teotihuacan y El Turibus del Infierno

The pyramids at Teotihuacan were unlike anything I've seen before. I can't imagine how the Aztecs built these massive monuments with the tools that they had available, but they certainly made their pyramids to last.

I learned a lot about what was significant to the Aztecs. Animals, especially the jaguar, were important, but the thing that was most precious to the Aztecs was water. Many ceremonies and much prayer were devoted to gods of rain and fertility. Water, ultimately, meant food, so of course it was an important thing to pray for.

The two biggest pyramids, the pyramid of the moon and the pyramid of the sun, were impressive and certainly photo-worthy. This is a picture of the pyramid of the moon from the top of the pyramid of the sun. Climbing the pyramid of the sun was exhausting. The incline of the side of the pyramid, the number of steps, and the fear of falling made the climb a bit challenging, but it was pretty quick and well worth it. We got to take some really amazing photos and bond over our victory!

Today was quite a bit more strenuous for all of us. We took a turibus to Centro Historico and saw the cathedral at the Zocalo. There were a lot of beautiful and moving depictions of Jesus inside the cathdral, including the "sangrante Jesus" (o algo asi - no me recuerdo exactamente). Also, there was a mass celebrating mothers' day taking place.

When I left the cathedral, I talked to one of the men who worked as sort of a guide at the cathedral. He told me a lot of interesting things about how the first cathedral was built on a lake by the Aztecs and, after it was destroyed, the current cathedral was built. He also told me that an engineer came to determine how far under the ground the lake is. It's only 135 meters underneath the cathedral! That is why the buildings at the Zocalo all lean a little bit.

The wait for the turibus was long - almost an hour, I think. And the ride back was MUCH longer - about 2.5 or 3 hours! We saw a lot of the city, but many of the students in my group suffered heat exhaustion. I narrowly escaped a similar fate but still ended up with a nasty headache. But I'm really glad that I was able to see so much of the city today and take so many pictures.