Curse of the Pharaohs

We visited one of the most breathtaking and spiritual places on Tuesday; the ancient city of Teotihuacán, which is located 45 minutes from Mexico City. Its construction started 200 BC, and in the years 400-500 AD, it was one of the largest cities in the world, with a population of 200 000 people!! Over there, you can find three pyramids (Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon) as well as many living complexes. Its inhabitants were either Nahua, Otomi or Totonac ethnic groups – but it might also have been a multi-ethnic population. The city fell in 750 AD, due to unknown circumstances, but it might have been because of internal conflicts or attacks from other cities (some parts of the city have been burned and destroyed).

The site can be reached by taking the metro to Autobuses del Norte station, then buying a ticket from the “Piramides” kiosk, which will cost you 35 pesos each (3$ USD). The bus will take you to the gates of Teotihuacán. There, you need to pay an entrance fee of 51 pesos (4.30$ USD). Cheap as hell eh? When you arrive, you will enter some sort of small museum that will show you some artefacts and history of Teotihuacán, all written in Spanish. And then, you enter the sacred site…

The first monument you will visit is the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, later named Quetzalcoatl by the Aztecs. It was a very important religious and political center, and was built first – before the Pyramids of the Sun & Moon.

Details of the Pyramid... you can't climb it because it is very detoriated. It's 2110 years old!!

Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent

200 bodies of men and women (mostly men) were found as sacrificial burials as part of the dedication of the pyramid. Some men, believed to be warriors, were buried with some special necklaces, made out of human jaws – how metal is that?!

Sacrified warriors with human jaw necklaces - photo taken at the Museum of Anthropology (we went to visit this incredible museum on Wednesday)

After, we took the Avenue of the Dead (the main road, leading to all the pyramids) to the Pyramid of the Moon. Along the way, we saw many of what remained of living complexes:

Ruins of living complexes

Mural of a puma, found a few years ago while exploring the city

And here is a photo of the amazing Pyramid of the Moon:

Pyramid of the Moon - Photo taken from the Pyramid of the Sun

We could climb it about half way, which gave us an amazing view of the entire sacred site:

You see here the Pyramid of the Sun (left), and the Avenue of the Dead (right).

After this, we took a little break and then attacked the Pyramid of the Sun.

Us in front of the Pyramid of the Sun - see how great it is? It's actually the third biggest pyramid in the world!

That one has something like 351 stairs, and is a total pain in the ass to climb – as the air gets really thin.

Climbing the Pyramid of the Sun - see how abrupt the stairs are?

We actually took a small nap after the first set of stairs of the pyramid. Haha. It was really physical!

François, finally reaching the top!!

The view was amazing from the top – but didn’t really come out well in photo so we are not including any… haha. There was a lot of wind, and it was way colder than at the bottom. A real good feeling! Supposedly, the Pyramid of the Sun also served a purpose to worship the storm god. The locals made ritual sacrifices to attract rain. Bodies of children were found at the four corners of the pyramid. Also, a tunnel was found underneath the Pyramid – believed to be the entrance and exit of Xibalba, the underworld. We could not visit that one, unfortunately!

After this, we left the site and went to eat a nice Mexican meal. This visit was absolutely breath taking, and anyone visiting Mexico City HAS to go to visit this!!

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During the week, I made some Enchiladas at our hostel, with a totally typical sauce called “Mole Negro”, which is basically chocolate (non sugary), chiles, seasonings and oil. I’m sure you guys can find that at any latino groceries. The taste is very exotic and is not that good at first, but becomes addictive. For the meal, I used 1 chicken breast, 2 corn tortillas (put some water on them and cook them slightly on the pan to make then softer), some cheese, as well as 1/3rd of a Mole package. The results? See for yourself:

Pollo enchiladas con mole

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Last night I had my first DJ job at a local bar! I played metal from 5:30 to 9:30 at the Gato Calavera, a small but very busy bar a few blocks away from our hostel. It was really fun, and I was able to put some songs that normally people there don’t listen to. The owner, Tatiana, is also very nice – she let me do whatever I wanted, and paid me in beer! Woohoo!

Me at the Gato Calavera with my lightweight DJ gear.

My friend Fernando from the Hard Insurgentes store also came for a visit, along with Diego and his girlfriend.

Beer drinking and hell raising!

Tonight, I’m going to a thrash metal show, and tomorrow, I am DJing again at a Death Metal gig. So much metal! Haha! Life is great. Cheers!