[ Mexico City: Part II ]

This is going to be a gigantic post, because the past two days have been filled to the brim!

Tuesday we began with Tlatelolco, the sister city of Tenochtitlan. The first two pictures show our guide, Eric, and the temple behind him dedicated to Quetzalcoatl. We used the codices to identify the glyphs and were able to figure out which part of the calendar they were! Tlatelolco was the economic hub, while Tenochtitlan had political and religious power. So, although Tenochtitlan is better known today, Tlatelolco actually had a larger temple! You can see the seven shells coming out of it, built up by generations of rulers.

This is the Caja del Agua, a water reservoir in the Franciscan church (which is considered the first Western university in the Americas). It was surrounded by murals bearing both Christian symbols and Mixteca motifs. We had VIP access to this room—not just anyone can go there!

 Next we went to Templo Mayor, the largest temple in Tenochtitlan. This temple is dedicated to Huitzilopochtili, the sun god, and Quetzalcoatl, the wind god (represented by snake heads because he was a feathered serpent).

This is a 19th century canal for black water.
I thought it was both beautiful and hilarious because
it cuts right through this huge temple.

You can see the walls where each king would've built another
layer onto the temple!

This round carving is considered a piece of architectural work, yet it was also used in sacrifices. To recreate a cosmic story, captured soldiers were dismembered then thrown down the side of the temple where they would land on top of Coyolxauhqui, who was similarly slain by the sun god for trying to terminate their mother’s pregnancy. 

This is a demonic woman pictured in the "birth pose."
The Aztec women would squat to give birth, only
holding on to a metal rod above their head. Interestingly,
her heart has perhaps been intentionally removed.

These are the two originals in the museum!

This is a chac mool. Offerings were placed in the bowls, and
they were often found chillaxing atop temples.

This is a recreation of Templo Mayor!

After Templo Mayor, we met a friend of Danny’s who is also an archaeologist but is currently the head curator of El Museo Nacional. He gave us a tour of dig sites in the old treasury which aren’t open to the public yet! He was hilarious and wildly energetic in his proposed theories for what had happened there, and he ended up joining us for dinner afterwards! 

It was an incredibly long day of standing and taking notes on history, but it was really fun too! I had gone for a run that morning and managed to eek out a whole mile! (I recently hurt my knee and that was my first run since!) Unfortunately, it is still giving me problems and after standing all day it was swollen. :( I didn’t go for a run the next day, thank goodness! It was another long day of standing.

We began the day by going to the actual National Museum, where we saw Diego Rivera’s murals!

This mural is an amalgamation of important historical events in Mexico. It generally goes from the bottom up and out, but each segment has its own message and significance. 

This was a mural of what a market in Tenochtitlan 

might have looked like! It is also a personal favorite! :)

We then talked about a few “commonly-overlooked-but-still-significant” historical sites as we made our way to the metro. Once on the metro, we went to Chapultepec, which means grasshopper hill. It was, as Danny called it, “the pleasure gardens of the Aztec kings.” The glyph for it, appropriately enough, is a grasshopper on a hill!

This is the monument dedicated to the 6 cadets who committed
suicide rather than be conquered by the US during the war with Mexico.

Inside the gates were flying Totonoc performers! They climbed a huge pole, tied themselves up in ropes, and proceed to swing down in circles until they reached the ground again! It was incredibly to watch, and it’s an old tradition done in June to bring the rain. 

We then got to go to a place that I have wanted to go to for years: El Museo Nacional de Antropología!!! It began with cavemen and worked through all the major Mesoamerican societies. It was phenomenal. And huge. And interesting. And just generally amazing.  John also led us through, giving a 4 hour long lecture on everything and anything. We then did an activity of trying to decode different monuments!

"Los Bebedores"

This is a ball court! (Think Road to El Dorado.)

These are what our codices look like!

This is the Aztec sun calendar with the creation story!

These figures would be dressed and a human heart
would be inserted so that it had both a body and spirit.

This is another personal favorite! It is an optical illusion
because the two snake heads look like a human face from afar!
It is also part of an important Aztec story!

This Flower Lord is covered in hallucinogenic mushrooms
and is in the ecstasy pose.

After INAH, we had dinner and went back to the hotel. I went out walking for awhile and stopped by the bakery and a park! I was so surprised to see how many people and performers were still out, but it was a lovely night so I can’t blame them. :)

Paz y amor,

Abby