Queretaro, Mexico: Teotihuacan

Hola amigos,

I really need to get better about updating this blog. I always have so much to say because I wait so long, but hopefully my entries, albeit long, are interesting.

I would like to preface this entry about Teotihuacan with a little commentary on the situation Mexico in regards to the drug traffickers. I've been told by various people in the United States that according to the American press, Mexico is a very dangerous country to visit because of the violence between the Mexican government and the drug cartels throughout the northern region. While it is true that President Calderon has sent thousands of troops to Ciudad Juarez and other cities on the border, it is NOT true that all of Mexico is full of destitute people who sell drugs and kill people at random. The facts, as I understand them, are these:

Violence in Mexico is generally between competing drug cartels and/or the Mexican Army. According to many of my Mexican friends and family, tourists are rarely targets of such violence and are cared for greatly by the police because, let's face it, we're an economic asset to this country, especially now with the economic crisis. Nevertheless, I will be honest and say that yes, there have been civilian injuries recently because violence has broken out in public areas, but I assure you that this is far from Queretaro and is confined to the border. In fact, I have not had one single problem in Queretaro or in any of the cities I have visited in Mexico.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I can find out more information from my professors and family members, whom know much more than I about current events.

That being said, I'd like to talk about my day trip to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City and the archeological site of Teotihuacan. One word easily sums up this trip: AMAZING! Being the history buff that I am, I was in seventh heaven looking at all of the amazing artifacts from the lost civilizations of the Toltecs, Mexica, and Maya.



This museum is incredible. Even if you don't like museums all that much, I'm sure you would love this one because there is so many incredible things to see, like this stone that the mexicas (aka Aztecs) used for their famous human sacrifices. It's incredible to think about what that stone was used for, let alone how ingenius these people had to have been to move the rock in the first place and carve it with such intricate details. Breathtaking.




After our brief visit in the museum, we boarded our bus to Teotihuacan. Even though I knew that Teotihuacan used to be one of the metropolis centers of the ancient Mesoamerican world, I never imagined that the abandoned city would be so huge and intact as it is. While the entire city is worth visiting, the main attraction of Teotihuacan are the two pyramids within the city: the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, both of which are absolutely gorgeous and absolutely climbable.

As you might have guessed, these pyramids were used for religious purposes and in fact, Teotihuacan means "where men turn into Gods" because it was one of the major religious centers in ancient Mexico. At its height, this city housed around 30,000 people but incredibly, no one knows why the city was abandoned or what happened to its inhabitants, Roanoke style. But even so, the city itself is enough proof that a highly advanced civilization existed here in the heart of Mexico.



In the near and undetermined future: my trip to Puebla and Cholula. Until then, take care!

Kaitie