Tag: murals

Teotihuacan Pyramids – Mexico City, Mexico

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.

The Comic World of Brussels

There are a lot of things to like about Belgium, the beer, the frittes, the chocolate, but the one thing that I am always surprised about when I travel out here is the comic culture. They were one of the places in the world that developed comics into what they are today, and they are proud of their contributions to this art form.

The Belgium people have created many comic titles that are enjoyed the world over, from Tin Tin, to the Smurfs, to Marsupilami. Their stories may not be the superheroes that are enjoyed by many Americans, but that should not deny the impact that these comics have had on the world. Their stories endure, and the style they employed to tell those stories should be analyzed and treasured.

The people of Brussels understood this about their national treasure. When they were looking at the blank walls of their city, they thought that the best way to beautify their city was to honor this tradition. They took the most popular of the characters that the various people in town told, and painted murals of them on those blanks walls.

It makes walking the streets of Brussels a fun adventure with every turn of the corner. You don’t know if you will see a mural or not, and if you do see one, you don’t know what character will transport you to a simpler time when stories could be told through this seemingly simple medium. There are so many of them on the wall of Brussels that you can find a map of a walking tour involving them at the local Information Center, and you can always see people making their way to discover them all.

Once you start to notice these murals, you start to notice that it goes beyond the comic culture of Belgium. There are many pictures that are painted on the sides of buildings, highlighting many different issues that are important to the people of Brussels. They are just not painted on the side of buildings, taking up the whole wall; instead, you have to look at the corners to find these great little pieces that still will make you laugh, but will also still tell a great story at the same time.

Some organizations took this spirit one step further to paint the spirit of their movement on their walls. It nice to see that this tradition came move beyond a simple idea to make the streets of the city prettier to see, but to also supply important political messages to the people of that same city.

These murals give Brussels its own distinct character that makes traveling here fun in unexpected ways. The cold winter days no longer seem daunting when you know that going from one place to another will come with it a quick trip back to your childhood. I love the way that the people of Brussels were able to take something that was completely unique to them and use it to give their city charm and character. So though I came for the frittes, chocolate and the beer, it was the murals that really captured my imagination while out in Belgium.