Teotihuacán

Teotihuacan
New year’s day is a day of renewal and a day that many Mexicans choose to go to pre-hispanic sites which are said to have a certain special energy. Teotihuacan is one such place and maybe I have made myself believe in the special energy force surrounding the pyramids but I really do find a feeling of peace and renewal each time I go. On new year’s day it’s traditional to wear white and to climb one of the main pyramids – either the Pyramid of the Sun, which you can see in this photo, or the Pyramid of the Moon – where the photo was taken from. People scrambled up the pyramids by the hundred (or thousand?) and it’s rather chaotic and not a little dangerous. When you get to the top you’re supposed to just stand or sit facing the sun and the sun’s rays and its energy, or maybe it’s the energy from the pyramid… I guess I’m a little hazy about this. Or maybe it’s both – energy from the sun and the pyramid working in tandem. Whatever it is, it’s a great feeling.

I first visited Teotihuacan during my first stay in Mexico in 1991. It was my last “real” day in Mexico (which was followed by 2 days on a bus to Tijuana and then over the border to California.) This photo was taken then by Ricardo, who I went with.

My second trip was on New Year’s Day, well in fact, New Millennium’s Day, 2000, (although I do believe that the first of January 2001 was really the first day of the new millennium, but not to worry!) That day I went with Claudia and several members of her family.

The last time I went to Teotihuacan was in August 2001, this time with Rafa. It was the first time he’d been there and he was also really impressed.

Teotihuacan really is wonderful and makes me realise that I’m really not very eloquent! How can I describe the majesty of these pyramids or the sheer size? How can I explain the mystery behind these perfect structures that some say form a terrestrial version of the milky way while others say if filled with water could be an early warning system for earthquakes?
How is it possible that no-one knows the origin of Teotihuacan? Who built the complex and when? And, in fact, how? No-one knows – it had been abandoned for centuries by the time the Aztecs arrived in the region in the 15th century.

Me in Teotihuacan, August 2001

Me in Teotihuacan, July 1991