3rd Day: Teotihuacán

When I first found out that we were going to visit the ruins of Teotihuacán and climb to the top of the Pyramid of the sun, I was a bit nervous because I do not like heights as I already mentioned. However, this ancient city was so fascinating and the pyramid is so solid that I was fine and the hardest thing for me was the energy it took to climb up all those stairs!!! Teotihuacán was founded around 200BC and was abandoned around 650AD and the city was home to around 125,000 people! When the aztecs found the city hundreds of years later, they believed believed it was built by giants because the buildings are so colossal. They named the two main pyramids after the sun and the moon, but anthropologists today believe that they were actually temples to the god and goddess of water- a precious resource in the area then and still today! Today the land is very arid and covered in cactus; a possible explanation for the collapse of this civilization was the loss of natural resources. We not only climbed to the top of the pyramid and saw the incredible view of the ruins and took lots of pictures of course, but also saw the rooms of one of the palaces and the frescos of jaguars, flowers, etc. After we rested for a bit after the long hike up and down the pyramid, we went to a workshop where artisans still carve statues and jewelry out of obsidian (a smooth, very black stone) like the Teotihuacans did. We also learned about the many uses of the agave plant then and today which is somewhat like a large aloe vera plant. It was used as paper, soap, to make pulque (the first alcoholic drink of mexico) and as fiber. We eat our lunch (which is the biggest meal of the day in Mexico and usually around 2-3pm) at a restaurant with a mexican buffet and were serenaded by two guitarists playing traditional music which is quite common! we also learned that in mexico, people but chile, lime and salt on their fruit such as watermelon! On the bus ride back to mexico city (which is about an hour away) I think we all fell asleep- we were exhausted from climbing so many steps. It was so incredible to be in the same place that people were around 2,000 years ago and for it to be the top of a pyramid!