A week in Mexico City! Part three.

Day Five:
It was time for one of the most expected moments of our trip; we were heading out of Mexico City to the pre-historic city of Teotihuacan.
The archaeological site is about 40 km north east of Mexico City, so to get there we joined an excursion. This, we discovered, meant that we would stop at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas (Square of the Three Cultures) on our way out and at the Basilica of our Lady of Guadalupe on our way back. We might not have included these two attractions had it not been for the excursion, but they both turned out to be quite worthwile. It was just that I had this old dream about seeing the pyramids...I think if I ever get to go back I will try to spend a whole day at Teotihuacan...

The Square of the Three Cultures is a site in the Tlatlelolco neighborhood. It contains the remains of Aztec temples and a Catolic church built in1610, using the stones from the old Aztec temples. There is also a memorial in honor of the hundreds of students that were killed in the Tlatelolco massacre in 1968. So it represents the three stages of culture in Mexico, the pre-Columbian, the Spanish colonial and the independent "mestizo" nation.

After a brief stop we were off to Teotihuacan! I could hardly believe it when we got the irst glimpse of the pyramids:

The holy city of Teotihuacan - The Place where the Gods where created - was built between the 1st and 7th centry A.D. It was at that time one of the largest ancient cities of the Americas with at least 25 000 inhabitants - some say more than 100 000.

The Pyramid of the Moon, situated at one of the ends of the Avenue of the dead, the main street of the ancient city that runs on a perfect north-south axis.

Here we are at the first level of the Pyramid of the Moon, and you can see the wide Avenue of the Dead behind us.

The even bigger Pyramid of The Sun - the third largest pyramid in the world.

It looks easy, but it is a long and steep climb! It has a height of more than 63 meters. We know very little of the Pyramids and the culture of the teotihuacan who built them, there are tunnels under the pyramid, but the interior of the Pyramid of the Sun has never been fully excavated.What we do know is that the Aztecs made pilgrimages to the site and considered it a sacred place, but during the time of the teotihuacan it was a city with a mix of residential and work areas.

What I know is that it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life to be there, that I was in a state of awe and wonder as I looked around, and that I felt blessed to have seen one of my dreams come true.

After seeing the Pyramids going to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadaloupe was doomed to be a lesser experience. Our guide told us the story of Juan Diego and how Our Lady appeared to him, how his cloak holds her image and how Spanish roses grew on the Tepeyak hill.The original cloak can still be seen inside the basilica:

The pilgrims pass the image on moving sidewalks so that they cannot stop, important - since the lines are always long.

The image is housed in The New Basilica, built in 1976.

The Old Basilica built in 1709. As most of Mexico City was built on a former lake the land is unstable, and the Old Basilica was sinking, that was why a new one was built. This is the National Shrine of Mexico and holds great importance for the people of Mexico.