Who let the gods out...

This past weekend, my childhood dreams came true. Well, that is, I assume that in 7th grade when learning about ancient civilizations in Mr. Robertson's class I spent some time daydreaming about our oh so fascinating class material. In all seriousness, I really enjoyed that class. We learned about the ancient Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs and their customs, gods, and cities. I distinctly remember learning about Teotihuacan, the Aztec city of the gods, and looking at pictures of their pyramids in my geography book. However, this weekend, I got to climb those pyramids, walk along their Avenue of the Dead, and touch the ancient stones that once were covered with the blood of their human sacrifices. Yea.

We woke up bright and early to embark on yet another day adventure for the entire crew. Besides the rain which slightly dampened our mood (haha dampened...) everyone was excited for the day and therefore promptly fell asleep on the bus. Actually, there may have even been some disappointment that what we thought would be a three-hour drive was actually only an hour and half and we were woken up before we were able to get a solid nap in.

To our dismay, the rain did not let up, but we proceeded with a "ain't nobody gunna break my stride" attitude into this fascinating city. First we walked through a small museum that showed some ancient writing and artifacts. The picture at the right shows somewhat of what an Aztec home layout would be like. Upon seeing this display, I pose a question to the girls I'm with: "Don't you ever wish you could live back in this time, live off the earth, and go back to a bit more simplicity?!" Prompt response: "Nope." I guess they have a good point about human sacrifices and that it probably wasn't really that easy to live, especially as a woman...but still.

View from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun looking out on
Teotihuacan, the Avenue of the Dead, and The Pyramid of the
Moon on the right.

Anyways, a little background. Teotihuacan is an enormous ancient city probably built around 200 BC and lasted until its fall in the 7th or 8th century AD. The site layout is so aligned that the angle of the sun on a certain day during each summer helped them calibrate their senses of time, mark their crop planting, or perform certain rituals. The two main pyramids along the Avenue of the Dead are the Pyramid of the Moon and the Pyramid of the Sun, the latter of which is the second largest pyramid (or third, I have mixed sources) in the world, of which the first is the pyramid in Cholula that we went to Mass on the first week! Who knew!?

I would say the most epic moment of the day was climbing to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun and eating sandwiches. We'd just grab a sandwich and put it in our mouths. Oh, that's the only way to have sandwiches. While we were at the top the day's five minutes of torrential downpour decided to occur. So there we were, trapped on top of the second tallest pyramid in the world, just soaking it all it (haha soaking...). It was epic.

Us eating sandwiches. Mine was Nutella and strawberry jam, or jelly. Or preserves. Whatever it is, it tasted like chocolate covered strawberries and I got into it in a big way.

After this beautiful moment, we climbed down to walk along the Avenue of the Dead. Praise God for sparing us from falling down the treacherous and wet pyramid steps or we would have become our own human sacrifices. Speaking of sacrifices...Of course we couldn't leave this wonderful city without doing one of our own.

The one being sacrificed is the one and only non-med student. The one with the beard. The Pyramid of the Moon watches pleased, in the background. So did a lot of tourists.

There was an attempt at building a human pyramid that actually proved to be a huge fail and thankfully I don't have the pictures of that one. You can imagine that the random bystander we grabbed to capture that moment was amused at our attempt. We also decided to play a little bit of King of the Pyramid before moving on. Regan won.

  

View from the Pyramid of the Moon looking out down the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramid of the Sun on the left.

Libby, me and Malia on the Pyramid of the Moon!

Overall, very successful trip. On the way out, I even bartered with some market vendors and refused to pay their prices for a set of earrings with the Aztec calendar on them. Trifty-ness to the rescue. 

Everyone took off their soaked shoes when we got back in the bus. While waiting for the rest of the crew, we were jamming to some music while our driver was talking to someone outside. A girl, who shall remain nameless, stood on her seat and was shaking her groove thang in the window until I called to her attention that she was giving our driver and his friend quite the show. And they were enjoying it a little too much. We arrived back at UDLA half a Footloose movie later. I was still wet, tired, and hungry, but pumped that I had visited a place I had only ever hoped of seeing pictures of in the confines of a classroom. 

Mexpandable Waistlines

All I heard coming down here was "oooo you better not drink the water..." But here, the word "water" doesn't even necessarily mean water. At restaurants, "water" usually means Horchata or Jamaica juices. Horchata is made by soaking rice in water, straining it with something like cheese cloth, and adding cinnamon. Absolutely delicious. Jamaica drink is made out of flowers! It has a different taste to it, but I like it too. If water is available at restaurants, it is in a bottle and often sparkling. 

In addition to these two delicious "waters" there are wonderful and sweet juices that are very often fresh squeezed. Mango is one of my favorites, but I've had papaya, orange, and carrot. Yes, carrot. Ah, and here, just plain coconut. From a coconut. Not as delicious as I might have thought. What we all know as coconut flavor is quite different and must just include a ton of sugar. 

Well, that's it for this edition which has been more of just a fun fact than a "this is what I'm stuffing my face with" entry. But, as we all know, the drink accompaniment to each meal is crucial to the experience as a whole. So there you go.