This morning I woke up to wait for my ride to take Andrew and me to the pyramids. The Hancock family (I’ve included a picture of them below) wanted to take all of us interns out to the pyramids since we had a free day today and sightseeing provides a good break. The Hancock’s arrived in our neighborhood with the girl interns around 10am. Once we loaded up we were on our way to a fun-filled day of adventure! (that sounds corny haha).
Our trip over to Teotihuacan was fairly short (it took us about an hour to an hour and a half to get over there). Once we arrived we were instantly bombarded by vendors trying to sell us homemade souvenirs for cheap. We were told that most of these items were more pricy than the other items we could buy later, so we had to politely respond “No gracias” or just ignore them. (If you look closely in some of my pictures you’ll be able to spot the vendors on the paths we walked) Not only were we greeted by these aggressive vendors, we also were able to see a performance by a local indigenous group where they swung from a pole and played music for us. I thought this was pretty cool, and a good start to the rest of our sightseeing.
After we had checked in at the first gate, we began our walk down the “Avenue of the Dead” (Calzada de los Muertos), which is the main ancient road that connects all of the pyramids and the rest of the ancient Aztec structures. When we began this first part of the Avenue, we were able to climb a small pyramid and look over to see where we would eventually walk later today. On this first pyramid I was able to see some examples of Aztec decoration and architecture. I really liked the lion heads and other heads that they created. While climbing to the top of this first pyramid we were also given a taste of what was to come as far as steps go. Each set of stairs leading up to the tops of the pyramids was very steep and there were a lot of them. In many cases you could walk to about a foot from the edge and still not see the stairs. Check out the pictures and you may be able to see what I mean.
Following our exploration of this first pyramid, we continued our walk down the Avenue for a few kilometers to the biggest pyramid that the Aztecs created, known as the “Pyramid of the Sun”. On our way to this pyramid we passed through what looked to be a small village with stairwells on each side and remnants of homes. Also to pass through this area we had to climb multiple sets of stairs so we got some good exercise. Finally after a bit of walking and sightseeing, we arrived at one of the most amazing structures I’ve ever seen. After a few minutes of taking pictures and getting our group together, we started the journey up the Pyramid of the Sun.
This hike up the tall pyramid was not for the weak. A few of the stair cases felt like they were going straight up and it would be better to rock wall climb on the side instead. Each set of stairs took a bit of energy out of us and we took short breaks following each set. During our breaks we looked out over the land and saw the people below get smaller and smaller. Once we ready we continued up the next stair case, and as we got higher it got harder to climb. A few of us had to use the hand rails, but I decided to be a rebel and not use them on my way up or down. After about 15 minutes or so we had reached the top of the pyramid and looked down to observe the land below us.
Once we were at the very top we walked around for a while, took pictures, and I acted like I was climbing up the side of the pyramid (which was not the smartest thing to do, but I wanted to say that I had climbed the pyramid). I also recorded a short video of the top of the pyramid so I could remember what it was like to be up there. I really would not want to be up there on a windy day, cuz losing your balance and falling from that height would not be very enjoyable. It really amazes me how huge these structures are and that people living during 100 AD were able to create such things. After our time up on the top, we started the journey back down the pyramid to flat land.
Everybody got back down the pyramid safely, and we continued our walk through the ruins of the ancient Aztec city. We stopped to take a few more pictures here and there, but eventually we arrived at the first row of tiendas (stores) where we decided to shop. At first I was just walking around and looking at the different items people had for sale, but eventually I decided to buy some things. Corbin, Casey Hancock’s son, and I went around to each store and bartered for the items I found most desirable. Since some of these items are gifts I’m not going to go into what I bought during this shopping spree. Let’s just say I spent more than what I wanted in total, but I got a good deal on everything I bought. After this stop at the stores we decided to go eat, as it was nearly 2pm now.
For our lunch the Hancock’s took us to a nearby favorite of theirs known as “La Gruta” (The Cave). As you can probably guess, the reason the restaurant is called The Cave is because it’s in a cave! We walked down into the cave (more stairs!) and were greeted by a friendly staff as we were shown to our table. A quick side note – I haven’t seen many white people here in Mexico but since we were in a touristy spot today we say a lot of white people which was weird. Anyway, after a while we were served our drinks and given menus. I decided to do something I’ve never done before and eat rabbit. Once I got my meal it tasted pretty good, but it was difficult to eat because there are a lot of small bones that you have to watch out for. After we were finished with our meals we returned to the pyramids for our last climb of the day.
When we got back to the ruins it was around 4pm, and it nearly always rains here around this time now. (If you remember, we are here during the rainy season and so that means it rains almost every day) As we walked back into the ruins everything was fine until we got back onto the main road that led to the last pyramid (“Pyramid of the Moon”). Pretty much as soon as we stepped on that road we started feeling raindrops, and as we continued to walk toward the pyramid the rain got more and more heavy. Though we were fairly drenched with rain, we continued to walk forward out of stubbornness to finish the full walk down the Avenue of the Dead. Eventually we reached this last pyramid, which I admit is my favorite of them all.
It’s sad that I wasn’t able to get very good pictures of this last pyramid due to the rain, but I like it the most because of its higher level of complexity than the other pyramids. We hurriedly climbed to the top and as we did so the rain got worse. At the top we took a few pictures and enjoyed the scenery the best we could, but then resolved to make the return trip to get out of the rain. When it rains here it gets quite a bit colder so if you’re not careful you could get sick from staying out in the rain too long.
Eventually we got back with our group (after going to the wrong spot and waiting for about 10 minutes for someone to pick us up) and we finished our stay at the pyramids. From there Casey drove us interns back to our home in the Urbi village and we were able to share our stories with our families.
I decided to head back with Andrew to visit with his host family for a while and I wound up eating tamales with them as well as watching Transformers in Spanish. It’s kind of crazy here, but if you’re not careful you could spend a whole day with a family in their home and not even realize it. That’s just the way time is here. Anyway, following watching the movie with them, I came back to my home and I was ready for sleep. This has been a long day for sure, but I’ve enjoyed pretty much all of it. Can’t wait for the next adventure Mexico has in store for me!
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