Christmas Eve at Teotihuacan

So we got to Mexico City, and the best hotel in the country.  It was extremely clean and very pretty with these pretty courtyards.  Chloe immediately made camp on a platform intended for luggage.  So we got her some blankets and made a bed for her.  It was great; she loved it.

The next morning, we set out for Teotihuacan.  We had a great tour guide, Arnold, and entire tour to ourselves, so we could ask anything and take as much time as we wanted.  Along the way, he pointed out some sites in the city.  The most interesting was the monestary where the pinata began.  He said it started as an object lesson for the kids.  The treats inside represent heaven, and the clay pot (that's right, traditionally they're made from clay pots, not paper mache.  They're still common but, can you imagine?  How dangerous is that?) represented the obstacles or sins that keep us from heaven.  The spikes represent the 7 deadly sins.  And you have to destroy sin to get the treats inside.  Isn't that cool? 

So anyway Teotihuacan was built and then abandoned for no known reason.  Then the Aztecs found the ruins, named them, and invented legends to explain how they happened.  Arnold's son is Mormon, so he explained how the city is set up relative to us.  The two main pyramids were temples and then about 100 other pyramids were built for Sunday worship and then there were houses, only a few of which are left and unearthed.  They first took us to a store where they demonstrated things about how the Aztecs lived.  This cactus was used for all sorts of things.  It provided alcohol in the center, paper as you peel the leaves, needles were taken from the sharp points of each leave, and fibers could be pulled apart and used for cloth.  We got to see a man weaving cloth using 1/2 cactus fibers, and 1/2 cotton. 

Apparently obsidian (a black glass) helped put Teotihuacan on the map and we got to watch a man carving it.

We later got to watch a demonstration on how they got some of the inks used to paint the city.

The whole city was painted in red which was taken from the eggs of a parasite that grows on another type of cactus.  And they would just cut and wet a particular weed to color in yellow.  Then they would use juices from the cactus to set the ink, and that's how it has lasted these many years. 

In the houses, Arnold showed us how they created in door pluming.  They re-routed a river so it would run through the city.  This is a toilet.

This is a representation of the God of Gods, the god of wisdom, the White God.  Represented by a feathered serpent.  The representation doesn't make sense to me, but the names do.

This is an amazing carving of an owl on a pillar.  Birds were used to represent the highest spiritual position.

We also got to see how the pyramids were constructed, first with dirt, then covered with rocks and mortar, then a thick layer of cement, a thin layer of stucco, and last red paint.  We first climbed a little one and overlooked what looked like a pool or baptismal font.  Arnold said it was probably a patio.  

We then climbed the moon pyramid (the smaller of the two main pyramids shown in the background) and then the sun pyramid.  It was quite a treck, but we did it!  The whole way, I kept thinking, "I'm so glad it's December."  The weather was great, cool in the shade, hot, but not too hot.  We had a great time; it was totally fascinating, especially with the Book of Mormon perspective.  But it did make me want to see Tula, where there are pyramids with the temple still in tact on top.

The poor kids were troopers!  Chloe walked and walked; we missed lunch and nap-times, but they did great.  After all of that, we had lunch/dinner, and went back to the city.  We briefly saw the Basillica de Guadeloupe.  We learned some other neat facts, saw some of Christmas Eve Mass and played in the courtyard.  The coolest part of that for me was the nativity scene, which is behind that fence in front of the basillica.  Here's a camel from that nativity.  The wreath looking thing decorated the stable.  These are typical here.  It looks like they're made from cactus or onion, but I have no idea what they're made of.  I saw lots of them on Day of the Dead and asked Hector (a native) what they were made of and he didn't know.

The next day, Christmas day, we headed home.  We had some extra space and the kids slept most of the way and it was a very pleasant trip.  We got home around 2:00 and Santa had come.  That post is up next.