Saturday, April 19, 2008

Greetings from the top of the world


We just got back from Mexico and are recovering-- not just from the exhaustion of traveling, or the excitement of spending time in one of the world's greatest cities, but also, alas, from the (clichéd but true) illnesses we picked up: Eric from the stomach bug, and Daniela from a nasty sore throat.

But I thought I'd post a few pictures as a preview.....

These are all from Teotihuacán, a few dozen miles outside of Mexico City, a place whose incredible pyramids were quite ancient and mysterious to the Aztecs, who believed them to have been the birthplace of the gods.

It was very sunny on the day we visited, and much hotter than back in the city thanks to the lack of shade and the heat-absorbing properties of the stone. It had been very cloudy in the city that morning, so we didn't think too much about sunscreen (foolishly)-- big mistake! Both of us got some sunburn as punishment for our lack of foresight.

Of course we could not resist climbing the Pyramid of the Sun, tallest at the site and approximately as tall as a modern 5-story building. Lots of steps!

(I shouldn't admit this, but the climb wasn't as arduous as it looked...)


The view from the top-- that's the Pyramid of the Moon over our shoulders.


Going down is a bit hard on the knees, not to mention somewhat vertiginous...


Eric climbed the Pyramid of the Moon on his own, or at least as much of it as is allowed. One can only go about halfway up...

The view from the top (actually only about halfway) of the Pyramid of the Moon. You can see the road lined with other structures (called the Avenue of the Dead), the Pyramid of the Sun in the back left, and the little tiny people scattered around, including one on top of the structure in front left.

There's much more to come, from Teotihuacán and elsewhere in Mexico, in a few days, so stay tuned!

2 Comments:

At 11:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How fun!

Welcome back!

 
At 12:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

VIVA EL CURA HIDALGO!!
VIVA LA INDEPENDENCIA!!
VIVA MEXICO !!

 

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