On to Teotihuacan!

Hola!  

 

This is our last day here, and I need to start the blog with the concert from last night.  Truly, how young people can hear anything at all, as we were, quite literally, HIDING from the noise levels last night!  Sometimes the hotel actually shook from the intensity of the sound!  We are VERY lucky that our suite is very long – we shut the double-glazed doors and proceeded down the hallway to our sitting room, which fortunately also had a door (not double glazed) that was fairly solid and helped shut out what was happening on the Zocalo right under our windows.  Added to that, I used both regular soft earplugs and then occasionally even my noise-cancelling iPods.  Again, they helped, a bit, for a while, but when the building was shaking; incredible! 

 

About 3 pm

About 4 pm

Just about time for the warm-up acts

Ballet folkloric

About 6 pm

About 6:30 pm

About 10:30 pm

It's finally over...

The “entertainment” (I refuse to dignify it as a concert) started about 5 pm with a variety of warm-up acts that included ballet folklorico.  At times, the noise wasn’t horrendous – but as we got closer to 8 pm and the main course, Grupo Firme, wow, did the noise level go up too – and I’m not talking audience levels here, I’m talking turning up the sound levels!  The Grupo played from 8 until 11 pm, but of course they “had” to do an additional set – I thought, truthfully, the crowd would NEVER disburse and go home.  Finally, it was over about 11:30 pm.  Thankfully – although something over 100,000 people don’t all leave at once – people were milling around outside for an additional 1-2 hours.  Honestly, I’ve never, ever seen that many people in one place before!  The closest I can get is at the ending of the Tom Hanks “Angels and Demons” movie when the newly elected Pope walks out onto his balcony in St. Peter’s square to meet his new audience.  It was incredible!

 

The poor clean-up crew started breaking things down and cleaning up immediately, and they were still going when the sun rose this morning.  No wonder the Zocalo always looks so nice.  My issue, though, is that after something that (so-called) stimulating, I have a difficult time getting to sleep.  And, true enough, I wasn’t able to nod off until 4 am this morning.  I was able to get about 3½ hours of sleep before we were up and getting ready to head out this morning, but boy, by about 2 pm this afternoon, my bottom was really dragging!

 

So!  Yet another lovely breakfast upstairs at the Terraza, and out about 9 to find 1) and place where an Uber could reach us, and 2) a driver to take us to Teotihuacan!  We were able to manage it fairly easily, although the first three drivers turned us down!  I think drivers just jump on jobs, and then when they realize where the party wants to go, they change their mind.  At any rate, we got a very nice driver to take us out to the archaeological site.  [Although, it seemed to us that he hadn’t been to Teotihuacan before and didn’t really know the way!  Thank goodness for Waze!]  And now, I must digress just a bit.  

 

The first time we went there, about 3-4 years ago, I had no idea what to expect.  I had no map, I had no “plan.”  Turns out, there is not just one entrance to the site – there are 5 – all spread out around the property.  Last time, we were told by a helpful person (someone probably “steering” unsuspecting tourists to their own location), that we should go to Gate 2.  This actually turned out well, as we entered at 2, and I was able to climb not only the Pyramid of the Sun, but the nearby Pyramid of the Moon as well.  We had then walked the entire walkway (Street of the Dead; charming name, yes?) and come out at Gate 1.  However, by the time we got there, we were both pretty tired, so we had lunch and didn’t spend much time at the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, which is really quite beautiful.  So, this time around, I very specifically wanted to accomplish two things – 1) Temple of the Feathered Serpent, and 2) the Site Museum.  (No way was I going to climb the Moon and Sun again, that’s for sure!)

Two upside down Indians twirling on pole

Entry gate 1

Pyramid of the Sun

Sunken courtyard with Temple in the back

Temple of the Feathered Serpent

Detail

On my way up the Pyramid

Looking at Pyramids of the Sun (right) and Moon (left)

 

Me resting half-way up

Made it to the top!

The Feathered Serpent temple was really beautiful, and not all that difficult to climb.  From there, we took it slowly and followed the signage down a road to find the museum, which is immediately on the side of the Pyramid of the Sun.  Toured the museum, which was very good, and had a nice rest in their large courtyard area.  The museum is very close to Gate 5, so we thought we’d give that one a try.  (Now part of the difficulty of getting picked up by Uber at Teotihuacan is that there is a ticket booth out near the highways, and then a large parking lot for cars with an additional close-up ticket booth.  Last time, we didn’t realize that we had to walk back out to the road, otherwise the Uber driver has to pay the entrance fee.  So…this time, we not only cleared the parking lot, but the ticket booth as well, and spotted a small museum right outside the gate.  We headed there, and actually got a pretty good cell phone signal, and I was able to call Uber.  And, believe it or not, within less than 3 MINUTES, Miguel was there to pick us up!  He was a great driver, and in less than an hour, we were back in Mexico City in time for a late lunch!

 

Love the headless pot!

Doll with articulated arms and legs!

Beautiful mural

Brazier with detail

Fresco of Tlaloc, the God of rain

Beautiful model of site looking out on Temple of the Sun

More Tlaloc, Rain God

We had him drop us off at the Hilton, and headed directly to Go Tan, our favorite Mexico City Argentinian restaurant.  Lunch was fantastic!  We both (strangely enough!) ordered the same thing – beef empanadas to start, followed by pounded boneless chicken breast cooked with garlic, a nice green salad with tomatoes and onions, and small plates of whipped potatoes (with garlic!). As R says, we didn’t DARE call another Uber to get us back to the Gran Hotel, as they probably wouldn’t let us in the car!  So, being as tired as I was, it took us awhile to get back to the Gran, but we finally made it, and, we are definitely in for the day/night!  I was able to get a nice nap, which feels great, and now I’m getting us assembled for our trek back to California tomorrow!  We were hoping for Monday Night Football on TV, but instead are inflicted by the NY Yankees vs. Toronto…UGH!  Like I said previously, for a really super hotel, their television selection STINKS!  Oh well!

 

Fabulous lunch!  Lots of garlic!

So, off tomorrow to the airport!  Take care, and sending all love and good wishes!

 

m

xxx