Teotihuácan: View from the sun pyramid at the Way of the Dead and the moon pyramid (left in the back)
There was one place in Mexico I really wanted to visit: Teotihuacán because I was extremely impressed by this place on the photos alone. These are prehistoric ruins near Mexico City. It was the dominant cultural, economic and military centre of Mesoamerica between 100 and 650 AD. The warriors of the Aztecs also knew this mythical place, but already found it as a ruin. They could not imagine that this place was built by humans and called it the place where gods are born.
High security at the bus terminal
On my second day I set out to visit this very place. First I had to go to the bus terminal by the extremly crowded metro. Luckily my Mexican friend joined me! Without her I probably would have been lost and would have arrived at a another, just not the right bus terminal. The security checks there are like at an airport including bag check. After a camera shot of your face, you finally get on a bus that would have failed all kinds of road safety tests in Germany. The most eye-catching was the broken windscreen. But the main point is: it drives! The already somewhat run-down bus finally left Mexico City to the north and arrived after almost 2 hours driving time. In between a street musician got in and made a bit of Fiesta Mexicana to earn some extra money.
Strange sounds in the city of the gods
Arrived at the place your hear shrill sounds over and over again. Whoa! What's that? Are there wild animals? Whatever it may be. This sound scenery paired with the prehistoric buildings and symbols will take you back perfectly to that time. How must these people have lived here back in the day? It is impressive with which finesse they had planned and built this place. The two dominant pyramids of the sun and the moon are connected by the cross-shaped road of death and are strictly aligned with the stars. Only a few years ago, a large underground cave system was discovered just below the Street of Death, where ritual ceremonies took place. And now only these majestic ruins remind us of this people.
Groundbreaking with people bricked in alive
During the construction of the buildings, animals and even humans are said to have been walled in alive within the pyramids in order to satisfy the gods with an offering. By the way, the shrill sounds don't really come from animals, but from vendors who imitated them with self-made pipe instruments. The sellers there offer less brightly coloured objects as in other tourist attractions in Latin America, but rather black and morbid objects such as skulls or skilfully designed animal sculptures. Otherwise I don't really like souvenirs, but I would have liked to buy some here, but it wouldn't have fit into my luggage or would probably have been broken. However, I bought my first sombrero here! Yeah!
To strengthen, we both ate tamales, a typical Mexican dish. These are plant leaves filled with cornmeal and optionally vegetables or meat and then steamed. At 5 pm Teotihuacán closed his doors and we headed home. Matching the morbid atmosphere of Teotihuacán, in the evening I visited the Real Under Club, an underground club in Mexico City. There I danced a bit to the local rock, industrial or gothic music.
Crazy food and drinks in the magic village
After a short break the next day I visited a magical village called Tepoztlán, which is lying in the south of Mexico City. Mexico has over 100 such magical villages, which distinguish themselves by their typical character as particularly worth seeing which was lying a little in the south of Mexico City. It was sunday, so the village was full of people. To my surprise, I was able to speak German in this town. My friend's Mexican friend has Austrian roots and has been living in Mexico for a long time. Together we first went to the local market to try some local food. Well, I didn't dare to try the sauce of locusts. I stayed with a burrito after all. After that I tried some alcoholic drinks: a fruit wine, a Mezcal (an agave liquor) and probably the weirdest drink: Michelada. The Michelada is a beer, with salt and chili (!) at the edge of the glass. The Mexicans are crazy about chili haha!
Almost got lost
All the alcohol served as a refreshment for a later hike to a somewhat outlying viewpoint. But all the sweating was worth it. We had a beautiful view of the village from up there - just for us. After almost getting lost in the scorching sun, we were overjoyed when we finally discovered a stand with cold drinks! Afterwards I went back to Mexico City, where I would stay another 8 days.
Going back to this town on a Sunday evening, however, is not a good idea, as I had to realize. In a city where so many people live and work, there are of course also many commuters and on Sunday evenings they all flock back to DF, as the locals say, to the capital. The 2-3 hours of traffic jam I had to endure are still normal.
