The Road to Teotihuacan

We decided to go to Mexico City to do some cultural/educational stuff.  As our friends already know we are the intellectual type of traveller always spending our time visiting museums, historical monuments, archaeological sites and never just hanging out at the beach surfing eating tasty food and loafing.   So first thing we did was book ourselves onto the Teotihuacan tour.  

This tours first stop is at a site in Mexico city called Tlatelolco which is the twin city of Tenochtitlan the Capital of the Aztecs. This is where Hernan Cortez who was a conquistador defeated the Aztecs and built a church using the remains of the Aztec pyramid he knocked down.  This is considered the difficult birth of modern Mexico as it was this point onwards where the Spanish and Indian cultures really started to mix. It was also the site of a massacre of protesters by the military prior to the Mexican Olympics and one of the worst hit areas during the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake. Sensing the bad jue jue, we hoped we wouldn't be hanging around too long. We wondered around here for about 30-40 mins and we had a cool tour guide called Fernando who spoke good English so we knew what was going on.  We saw the remains of the Aztec temple where they would cut people hearts out and show it to them, pretty brutal I thought, but it was considered an honour apparently.  We then went into the big church was built in honour of Santiago who is the patron saint of killing Moors but in this Church he is depicted killing Indians.  Cortez built the church in tribute to Santiago.  This was the start of the conversion of  the Aztecs and the rest of the Central American cultures.   

We then hopped in the bus and went to the next stop which was the Church of the Virgin of Guadalupe (VOG).  This church is in tribute to VOG as she was the main reason the Aztecs were converted to Christianity.  The Aztecs were not really that keen on Christianity (partly due to them not being down with crucifixion) until the VOG appeared to a local peasant on a hill and then made flowers appear that only grow in Spain and appeared on a rug or something. This hill was already important  to the Aztecs and this allowed the VOG to be a bridge between the cultures and the conversion of the Aztecs to Christianity. In this region the VOG is still considered more important than Jesus, girl power baby!! Also at this site is newer church, The Basillica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, that was built in the 1970’s and is the second most important Catholic pilgrimage site after the Vatican in Rome. Despite being really 70’s (in the ugly way as opposed to the cool way).  It did however have a very impressive organ and to prevent people loitering (worshiping) too long in front of a super important image of the virgin it has a conveyor belt system, so everyone can see it, kind of a good idea but a bit weird.

By Stuff and Things

Photos of stuff with the church of Santiago and the ugly popular 70's Church (The Basillica of Our Lady of Guadalupe).