Thursday, Feb. 11

This was a day I had been most excited for. The day we got to go to Teotihuacan. I had been anticipating this day since I learned about it in my Mesoamerican art class. I felt like a kid going to see Santa in candy land on my birthday while riding a pink glittery pony. Yes, I was a little excited. I was so antsy once we were in sight of the temple of the sun (it was SO BIG!). I had to be patient though and walk through where the common people lived before we would climb the pyramids... We finally get there and first saw the temple of Quetzalcoatl*, which is a beautifully ornate pyramid the Aztecs built another plain pyramid over... I don't know why they did this, but I am just glad they have it excavated now! Ron then led us to the pyramid of the sun, which is HUGE! Ron is a fast walker and I was the only one who kept up. The others took their time, but I was WAY too anxious to dilly-dally. I also learned a lot walking with Ron which was neat. We finally arrived at the base of the pyramid and I was just mind-blown. it was MASSIVE! As my eyes scaled its immensity, i could barely believe it was built just with hands... The trek up was not that bad (I think I can thank my adrenaline for that). The view from the top was gorgeous. I felt like I could see all of Mexico! I would have liked to stay at the top of thie pyramid all day... But we had the pyramid of the moon to explore next, which was further down the path. The pyramid of the moon isn't as tall. Unfortunately, we were only able to climb about half way up due to reconstruction/unstable steps. We then descended and saw other things I didn't really care about, then had lunch at the coolest restaurant I had ever been to! This restaurant was in a cave!! (well, like an open airy cave) It had a neat atmosphere and was much cooler inside which was nice after the long hike/climb. After this we were picked up by our van. I then conked out very quickly. Next thing I knew, we were in the city again and people were telling me to wake up and open the door. Apparently, we were going to see the Basilia Virgen de Guadalupe. It was a grand and modern church that held the original famous catholic depiction of Mary (I think?) It was a big deal whatever it was.

*the plumed serpent. Was a major deity to all ancient Mesoamerican cultures.