Aztec City

Today, I ventured out a little further and visited Teotihuacan, an ancient, ruined Aztec City about an hour outside of Mexico City. A few people had already recommended it to me. Instead of taking a tour, I decided to do it alone. I took the metro to the North bus station, and hopped on a bus to "Los Piramides". About an hour later, I hopped off the bus at the Southwest entrance.

On the way to the metro, I took a chance on some street food; a tamal with chicken. I wasn't sure how street food would affect me, but I was doing fine so far.

Teotihuacan is a ruined city with two large pyramids: the Pyramid of the Sun, and the Pyramid of the Moon. The Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world and sits to the side of the Street of the Dead which runs North-South down the center of the city. The Pyramid of the Moon is not quite as large, but sits at one end of the Street of the Dead. Also, at the southern end of the city is the much smaller Temple of Quetzlcoatl (a feathered serpent). Although small, the temple has some ornate carvings on it that make it worth climbing. The stairs are super-steep, so you might want to think twice about it if you're afraid of heights (like me). What seems fine going up is not so fine going down.

I spent the next hour so working my way to the Pyramid of the Sun (the entire site is over 4km from end to end so it's a ways to go). I took a bit of a back route and visited the museum there briefly. When you start to get close the the pyramid you begin to get a feeling for just how big it really is. It's a small mountain. I decided not to climb it because not only is it really big, but it's also really steep. Not very Greg-friendly.

Once you hit the Pyramid of the Sun, you are entering the Street of the Dead. The street is wide with walls running along both sides. The walls have stairs periodically so you can climb up and sit. Picture in your head what you think an Aztec City would like and that's pretty much what it's like. Very cool.

Once I got to the end of the street, I was finally in a courtyard at the base of the Pyramid of the Moon. I did climb this one. It's not quite as steep, and although it's not as high, it's built on higher ground, so the view is just as good. In fact, I think it's probably better since you're looking straight down the Street. After about 20 minutes up top, I climbed down, and worked my way back to the bus.

While waiting for the bus, I met a father-and-son-duo from Iowa. I chatted with them for a while on the bus.

On arriving back in the city, I took the metro to the main city square, the Zocalo, in the historical centre of the city. I saw the presidential palace (holy huge) and the cathedral (also holy huge), but didn't spend much time walking around. My legs were really starting to hurt (the climb down was murder) and I was getting hungry as it was about 3:30. I went to Cafe de las Sirenas just to the north of the cathedral for a little mole poblano. So far, I was two-for-two on the restaurant department.

After lunch, I walked a couple of kilometers down Avenida de 5 de Mayo, past the Palacio de Bellas Artes, and the Alameda Central (a huge park). All of this to avoid having to change trains. The line running to the Zocalo was super-packed. I'm really surprised that nobody got pushed onto the track the platform was so full.

I took the metro back and then walked back to the hotel. I estimate that I walked about 17km all told. Ouch!