Day trip to the ancient city of Teotihuacan

One of the highlights of the Mexico City area is the ancient city of Teotihuacan. It's a little difficult to get to from where we are at Pepe's Hotel and RV Park, but Pepe's sells organized tours to the ruins site, along with a guide and a bus. So our group took them up on that.

Yesterday was the first day of the year where the Mexican population is back to work and school. It was suggested to us that we leave early to make the best use of our time, so we were all on the bus at 8:00am.

Ruth and I have been to Teotihucan twice before. I think next time we won't hire a guide. We could easily lead the group ourselves. Also, the organized tour includes a stop at a cheesy touristy place where they try to sell you overpriced tequlia and mezcal as well as some expensive (but really nice) handmade tourist trinkets.

Nice handmade replicas... for a price.

One of the attractions of Teotihuacan is that you are still allowed to climb part way up the Pyramid of the Moon, and all the way to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun. Five of us did both both of them.

View of the Avenue of the Dead with the Pyramid of the Sun on the left.

At it's peak, around 200 AD, they think that Teotihuacan was the sixth largest city in the world. Population estimates range from 125,000 to 250,000 people.

The Patio of the Pillars.

The Pyramid of the Sun is the 3rd largest in the world.

People on top.

The orange line is actually fencing for when there are too many people up there and they have to form a line to get to the top. You would think they could have used something that would blend in a little better!

In the distance is another section that is still being excavated.

Kevin and Ruth, looking at the Pyramid of the moon.

There we are coming back down the stairs.

Around 1:00pm we went for lunch. There are a quite a few tourist restaurants around the ruins that are geared towards bus loads of people. We ended up at the Tlacaelel Restaurant, which turned out to be decent enough. Ruth and I each had the all you can eat buffet for 205 pesos (10.75 USD, $14.25 CAD) per person. We did not need much for supper!

In the restaurant.

The tour also included a stop at the Virgin of Guadalupe church. This is a big deal for those of the Catholic religion. Again, Ruth and I have been before and we really didn't need to go again. Not many in the group were overly interested... another reason why we think if we do this next year we will organize it ourselves and take this stop out of the equation.

The Virgin of Guadalupe.

This is the original fabric and image.

Here is the short version of the story... back in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds, the Spanish were trying to convert the native population to Catholicism. They were having a tough time of it, until the indigenous Juan Diego was visited by an apparition, and ended up with a piece of cloth that miraculously had an image on it. This convinced the population to convert.

If you want to read more... https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4201

And then it was back to the RV park in time for happy hour.

Overall, a good day but as I said we think we would do some things differently next time.

Today and tomorrow are both days of rest with nothing official planned. I'm sure we will find lots in the area to keep us busy though!

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