Teotihuacan Pyramids - Day 4

October 20

Tia Raquel and Dad made a trip to the mercado and came home with tlacloyos – special thick tortilla-like oblong stuffed with cheese or beans and chicharones or something else. We also had atole to drink – a thick, cornmeal/chocolate brew.
As we drove the same route as yesterday we were delighted with a great view of the snow-topped volcanos Ixtaccihuatle and Popocatepetl. Everyone practiced saying Popo’s name, and admired how he was smoking.
Driving condition were excellent on the windy road, and we often got up to 45 mph. Yesterday’s weekend traffic is back to work. But there are a surprising number of outlets along the road for playground equipment.
Clouds covered the volcanos.
We entered Amecameca – 60,000 inhabitants.
- Naomi



In Amecameca we stopped and walked around the topiary park. There were elephants and monkeys and bear topiaries. Even a bienvenido and a guy riding a bike! It was quite impressive. They were mostly junipers, and the branches were twisted around to make it brushy and contained. Gusty was amazed at all the dogs strolling around. Elena and I wanted to climb the lion statues, but Dad said we had to ask the policeman first. When Tia Raquel goes to Chalco she takes a bus to Amecameca, then switches to a combi – a little van thing. The story is Amecameca used to be just Ameca, but a volcano covered it up, so they rebuilt it and called it Amecameca. However, the combis still say just Ameca, to save space. Grandpa decided it must be a prevolcano vehicle. Makes sense.



After Amecameca is a field of los flores de los muertos. It’s a dark red grainy flower that they put on th graves for the dia de los muertos. Since they are only in this part of the country, Grandpa guesses they are pre-Aztec, maybe Olmec, since the Aztec didn’t live here, but conquered the inhabitants. We passed the weekend parks we saw yesterday. Yeah, yesterday there were parties going on, lots of food stands and restaurants full of people. Horse-back riding and games, and even a paintball field! Now it was all empty – everyone is back at work.
A police pulled us over, since we don’t have a front license plate. It’s the second on one the trip. Dad, of course, said we’re from the EUA, and the guy was friendly and gave us directions to Teotihuacan. We’ll see how many more times it will happen.
- Angela Joy Martineau

1 p.m. So we’re driving to Teotihuacan and the pollution is amazing. We saw Popocatepetl. It is very tall with snow, and it looked as though smoke was billowing out. I told Angela about the story behind Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl – A prince and princess who were not accepted in their countries. We saw a man with a horse and cart, and a license plate in back. The light we’re stopped at is busted. It looks like an airplane hit or a very tall bus. We just got pulled over again. It’s about the license plate again. He also wanted to know about the sticker. Dad and Grandpa are thankful because none of these policemen have asked for a mordida. Some car just squeaked and now we smell brakes. Dad just bought some dark marroon tuna. They look messy, and rather pretty. We are now seeing signs that read – piramides. See who sees them first! We see them – wow! There’s a shepherd on a horse. We are there! Restaurant 25 is rather aggressive, and the man at the entrance was a fast-speaking salesman. We shall see.
- Virginia

We got to Teotihuacan about 2 and stayed until it closed. We planned to eat conejo in Amecameca, but the traffic was so heavy, 6 km in an hour, the conejos were closed, so we had tacos, elotes, and pop on the square across from the topiaries. Home at 10:30.
- Grandpa

Grandpa photographing some tourists, at their request.

We went to Teotihuacan. First we went to the Pyramid of the Sun. We took a bunch of pictures with Angela. There are 266 steps on the Pyramid of the Sun. Some of the steps looked like they were straight down. On the Pyramid of the Moon we only got to go up the first flight of steps. But these steps were taller. We met some people who spoke Polish. We took pics on that pyramid, too. Ginger bought a little whistle shaped as a turtle. Augustus bought a toy obsidian ax. Dad and Grandpa got little obsidian figures. Then we started walking to the temple of Quetzacoatl. On our way to Quetzacoatl we took a lot of pictures. There were little tunnels under the stairs. All of us kids and Angela went through them. But Ginger did not go through. There were wood structures and some poles to hole up certain places.
- Elena



We went to the pyramids. I bought an ax. Ginger bought a wood turtle. It makes noises. We walked and climbed. We climbed 3 pyramids.
- Augustus



We had atole (a chocolate and grain flour drink), tlacloyo (a stuffed pie), papaya and a few other things for breakfast, then a little after 10 we left to see Teotihuacan, the best known and most accessible ruin in Mexico. It is near Mexico City and was still in use when Cortez came so it is well visited.
Passing through Amecameca we stopped to take pictures of the marvelous topiary. There were four workers working on them and there must have been over a hundred designs. They used mostly a juniper but other plants as well. Their variety and intricacy far exceeds Zarchi, but not the size.



Police stopped us twice because we had only a back license plate and Mexico uses two. They let us go with not even a hint of mordida after they found the details. Honest cops, clean roads, Mexico is on the move! Teotihuacan is 3 huge pyramids, one 266 steps high and many smaller ones around 30 steps high, much is restored and much is being restored. A step is 13 inches and the -----------------------------------------------------------------------incline is steep. One tourist needed medical attention, I took it easy. It is impressive in size, maybe 100 000 times the size of Stonehenge and about as old and as well unknown. It spanned the time all the other pyramids were to span, i.e. 200 B.C to 800 A.D.



All we had for lunch was 4 tunas because the traffic was so dense and we had places to go. We made 26 km in an hour because we got on the free road, not the toll road, by mistake. So going back through Amecameca we were very late so we stopped in the Zocolo to eat off the street. A few years ago that was a no-no, but it is OK in the “new” Mexico. We had tacos, elote and soda pop.
- Grandpa

Grandpa and giant succulent