Every tourist location has its must-do locations; otherwise, you will leave feeling like you really did not experience that place. For Mexico City, it is a location about an hour drive outside of the city, the Teotihuacan Pyramids. This ancient city predates the Aztec culture that is so associated with this part of the world, and it is just as impressive as any of the other ruins that people can visit in Latin America.
Sadly, not a lot is known about this culture except for the fact that it has been around from 200 B.C.E. and that the Aztec people discovered this abandoned location when they first settled in what is now Mexico City. Despite the fact that the history of the place has been pieced together from what archaeologists can determined based on what they find while excavating the site, it was, at one time, an impressive civilization, and this city took up an area about 28 square kilometers, much of which is still taken over by the forest that surrounds this area.
Though they know the size of the original city, they have only recovered an area that is six square kilometers big. The part that they allow visitors to see is by far the most impressive of what has been uncovered. This included the two main temples, the temple of the sun, and the temple of the moon with the path between them also being uncovered. This major thoroughfare would have been where all of the important people of the Teotihuacans would live, but today, it is known as the path of the dead. This is because when the site was first being excavated, archaeologists believed that many of the structures that were left behind were tombs, but this is no longer the believed theory. Still, the name stuck, so like many other sites in Latin America, it is still what it is called today.
The path is just as impressive as the temples that it connects. The smaller steps that were used for the houses leads one to imagine what it would have been like to have lived in this part of the world at the height of its civilization. There are also a well, and murals along the path that if you know where to look, give even more hints of what it would have looked like back in the day. We were lucky enough to have a demonstration of how the Teotihuacans made their paints from the various materials they found in the area, and then how that could be used to make these paintings. It added so much to the experience, and only comes from having a guide to take you through the sight.
I definitely recommend having a guide that will take you through the sight. There are a lot of secrets held in these ruins beyond the murals and names, and the sight does not have any signs that explain what you are looking at. Some companies will even arrange for pickups at certain places around Mexico City, drive you out to the ruins, take you on the tour, and make sure you get back. The whole experience takes no longer than four hours to complete.
This part of Mexico is rich with history, and ancient cultures just waiting for you to explore, and it is a great way to spend a day if you are staying in Mexico City. Though it is a little out of town, and there is some hiking involved, it is mostly flat, and not very long. The hardest part was walking up the Temple of the Moon which has massive steps that you will have to climb up, but it only take a minute or two to make it all the way up. It gives you some amazing views of the whole place from up there, and makes you feel like at one time you could have been a part of the Teotihuacan cultue.
John Collings 