Monte Alban and Oaxaca

An early start so that we could get to Monte Albán before it got too hot (sorry to our readers in the cold UK). Monte Alban is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site located on a low mountainous range rising above the plain in the central section of the Valley of Oaxaca. The civic-ceremonial centre of the Monte Albán site is situated atop an artificially-leveled ridge, with an elevation of about 1,940 m (6,400 ft) above sea level so we quickly got out of breath when climbing the monumental staircases (Gregg’s knees still holding out). In addition the site is characterised by several hundred artificial terraces and a dozen clusters of mounded architecture covering the entire ridgeline and surrounding flanks.
Besides being one of the earliest cities of Mesoamerica, Monte Albán's importance stems also from its role as the pre-eminent Zapotec socio-political and economic centre for close to a thousand years. The monumental center of Monte Albán is the Main Plaza, which measures approximately 300 meters by 200 meters. There is an observatory from which the Zapotec priests were able to make very accurate calendars.
One characteristic of Monte Albán is the large number of carved stone monuments one encounters throughout the plaza. The earliest examples are the so-called "Danzantes" (literally, dancers), which represent naked men in contorted and twisted poses, some of them genitally mutilated. The 19th century notion that they depict dancers is now largely discredited, and these monuments, dating to the earliest period of occupation at the site, clearly represent tortured, sacrificed war prisoners, some identified by name, and may depict leaders of competing centers and villages captured by Monte Albán although our guide thought they might be “medical drawings” giving instructions on how to cure different conditions, we thought this highly improbable.
We spent the afternoon wandering around Oaxaca which is a very pleasant city. The Zócalo was a mass of red poinsettias with people wandering around in the afternoon sunshine. We also visited the market where it is possible to buy the local delicacy of fried grasshoppers seasoned with salt and lime, different sorts of mescal (similar to tequila) which one drinks with salt and lime (notice a pattern developing here?) as well as about 25 different varieties of chillis and molé sauce - made with chillis, tomatoes, onions, garlic, pumpkin seeds, salt, lime and chocolate – visitors to our house may have had Gregg’s version…one guest even used it to polish our dining table but I will mention no names here!
New Year’s Eve rapidly approaches and we are all off out together to a restaurant (even though Moctezuma has taken his revenge on another member of the group). Tomorrow is another early start as we are travelling even further into Chiapas state.

A Happy New Year to all our readers

Hark The Herald Angels Sigh

A long drive today (five hours) from Mexico City to Oaxaca with a few stops on the way. The first stop was to view the two volcanoes to the east of the city: Popocatépetl and Iztaccihuatl. Popocatépetl had its largest eruption for 500 years in December 2000 when the crater lid blew sky high throwing incandescent rocks for a radius of up to 2km with smoke and ash rising to a height of more than 10km. Today it was just belching out smoke while Iztaccihuatl stood benign with snow on its peak.
The next stop was Puebla – a truly beautiful colonial city, the deep blue sky and brilliant sunshine made it even more lovely. Puebla de los Angeles (‘City of the Angels’) to give the city its full name was founded in 1531 by Fray Julian Garcés who saw angels in a dream indicating where the city should be built, hence its name. It is also one explanation why Puebla wasn’t built over pre-Hispanic ruins like many other colonial cities. It is a charming, friendly city with a different church for every day of the year – and most of them of the gold-dripping Baroque style! The cathedral has onyx and marble statuary and gold-leaf decoration but the stunningly kitsch Capilla del Rosario wins hands down for Baroque excess. The chapel is a riot of gold leaf, although there is also some stunning Talavera tile decoration. It is hard to understand how, in a country where so much poverty exists, that there is not an outcry against the Roman Catholic church and its obscene excesses. Outside of the churches the city has some lively markets selling handicrafts and clothes but it is the beautiful colonial architecture that makes the city so attractive, many of the houses and shops being decorated with the Talavera tiles which are still made in Puebla. The city also has the house of Don Aquiles Serdan one of the forerunners of the Mexican Revolution; the sign outside says (in English) “This house was damaged by the thugs of the dictatorship and even still shows bullet prints in its facade.”
The drive continued along winding roads through wooded mountains at altitudes of between 1500m and 1800m, emerging at last into the warm red-earthed Oaxaca valley. We also had a couple of unscheduled stops for Peter – the first victim in our group of Moctezuma’s revenge!




We arrived in Oaxaca just as the sun was setting which was followed by a brilliant red sky in the east and a full moon rising in the west. A brief walk around the city in the warm evening air revealed it to be a very attractive place and also very friendly. At one point we sat to consult our guide book to see where we might find a good restaurant and immediately we were approached by a very helpful man offering assistance with our search or any translation that was needed. However Gregg is still a figure of amazement to many of the children – it is as though they have never seen anyone so tall, so white-skinned or so grey-haired. We found a wonderful vegetarian restaurant and sat in a courtyard with a fountain and had an excellent meal – but just because its vegetarian doesn’t mean they go easy on the chillies!

So Farewell Then...

... To Mexico City, we have enjoyed our visit but will not be sad to move on. We (almost) remembered not to use tap water even when brushing our teeth. We now start travelling and we’re not sure where our next wifi connection will be but stay tuned – we’ll be back.
G&Cx

Rivera, Trotsky and New Friends

Today is our last day in Mexico City before we join our tour and move on. We have met our fellow travellers and they all seem great people. An English couple from Bexley – we hit it off immediately as not only are they great travellers and wine-drinkers, his parents were thrown out of the Communist Party for being “too Trotskyite” – needless to say they have already visited the Leon Trotsky Museum and his grave here in Mexico City. The other eight people are Australian – and two of them had their luggage “mislaid” by their (different) airlines on the way here; we hope that doesn’t bode ill for the rest of our trip.
We have spent the day wandering around the city and marvelling at its diversity – but it is also a very tiring city, it seems to drain your strength away. But we didn’t let that stop us visiting a number of places to see some of the magnificent Diego Rivera murals. His themes include pre-Columbian society, modern agriculture and science, and a didactic Mexican history pointing to a Socialist future that would benefit all.

Our Lady Of Guadalupe (allegedly)

Just because Gregg loves to see religious tat (inevitable kitsch and/or bad taste) we visited the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe – the most venerated shrine in the whole of Mexico and only second to St Peter’s in Rome for the whole of the Catholic Church. It was here that in 1531 that, allegedly, the Virgin Mary appeared three times to a local native Mexica named Juan Diego and imprinted her image on his cloak. The cloak is preserved, set in gold and is venerated by the faithful on a moving walkway – there are so many of them that if they were allowed to stop there would be pandemonium 20 million come every year! It is surely no coincidence that the place where the Virgin Mary allegedly appeared was a native Mexica shrine to Mother Earth.
Again it was fascinating to see the traditions merging – so much so that the whole Basilica exists as a shrine to Mary and St Juan Diego (the native Mexica who was made a saint by the late Pope) not to Jesus or God. The crib scene had Mary dressed in a rather alluring fluorescent pink garment standing next to an orange cow. Gregg’s love religious tat satisfied we moved on.

Teotihuacan

Today we visited Teotihuacan - an enormous archaeological site about 50 Km north of Mexico City. To get there we went through areas of slum dwelling but each house had a satellite dish; the volume of traffic was also amazingly high – no wonder the city gets smog bound in the heat. Teotihuacan contains some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas. Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals.
At its zenith in the first half of the 1st millennium CE, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas. At this time it may have had more than 250,000 inhabitants, placing it among the largest cities of the world in this period. The name Teōtīhuacān has been translated as "birthplace of the gods". It is believed that it was this huge number of people that led to the city’s demise because they completely deforested the area. The city reached its zenith between 150 and 450 CE, when it was the centre of a powerful culture whose influence extended through much of the Mesoamerican region. At its peak, the city covered over 30 km² (over 11½ square miles). Notably absent from the city are fortifications and military structures.
The religion of Teotihuacan was similar to those of other Mesoamerican cultures. Many of the same gods were worshiped, including the Feathered Serpent (the Aztecs' Quetzalcoatl) and Rain God (the Aztecs' Tlaloc.) Teotihuacanos practiced human sacrifice: human bodies and animal sacrifices have been found during excavations of the pyramids at Teotihuacan. Scholars believe that the people offered human sacrifices as part of a dedication when buildings were expanded or constructed. The victims were probably enemy warriors captured in battle and brought to the city for ritual sacrifice to ensure the city could prosper. Some men were decapitated, some had their hearts removed, others were killed by being hit several times over the head, and some were buried alive. Animals that were considered sacred and represented mythical powers and were imprisoned in cages: cougars, a wolf, eagles, a falcon, an owl, and even venomous snakes.
The city's broad central avenue, called "Avenue of the Dead", is flanked by impressive ceremonial architecture, including the immense Pyramid of the Sun (second largest in the New World after the Great Pyramid of Cholula) and the Pyramid of the Moon. Along the Avenue of the Dead are many smaller talud-tablero platforms. The Aztecs believed they were tombs, inspiring the name of the avenue. Now scholars have established these were ceremonial platforms that were topped with temples. The Pyramid of the Sun is 64m high and 213 sq m at the base – covering almost the same space as the Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt. The sides are terraced and wide stairs lead to the summit. The Pyramid of the Moon is only about half the size and we had the best views of the whole site by climbing the steep steps to the first level of this pyramid – Gregg’s knees held out for both the ascent and descent!
4km further down the Avenue of the Dead is the area known as the Citadel, containing the ruined Temple of Quetzalcoatl – the Plumed Serpent, Lord Of Air and Wind. Lining the staircase are huge carved heads of the feathered serpents. This area was a large plaza surrounded by temples that formed the religious and political and mercantile centre of the city.

Baroque and Roll

Ventured into the centre of Mexico City today – a total assault on the senses and totally bewildering to boot. On the way here encountered a very disturbing side to the city when we passed a very large group of street children living in the most appalling conditions on the side of the road and running after cars begging. In a city of 25million people we began to wonder how so many could be gainfully employed and we guessed at a million being security guards or policemen, another half-a-million directing traffic/pedestrians (actually standing in groups of three or four in the middle of roads wearing florescent hats and white gloves blowing whistles) another half-a-million waving yellow flags to inform motorists that the parking lot for which they work had places and a similar number sweeping the streets – and the streets are surprisingly litter free – and today the main avenues were car free because it was “Bicycle Sunday”
At the Zócalo (a huge plaza which is the political and religious nexus of the Mexica Empire, Spanish Viceroyalty and the Mexican nation) in the (very) hot sunshine the thousands of people were determined to have a “traditional” xmas including having the tree with “icicles”, the skating rink, toboggan run, snowman making and thousands of colourful decorations. The noise of drums accompanying the “Aztec” dancers mingled with the cathedral bells, the numerous barrel organs and buskers (from a violin and cello duet to a jazz trumpeter). The smell of the huge variety of street foods mingled with the smell of the copal incense of the “Aztec” healers and the far less charming odour of the port-a-loos.
The Baroque cathedral was dripping with gold and ornament – far more than any church in Rome and the crib scene was enlivened by flashing multi-coloured light strings to show the Magi the way to the stable. Needless to say when the Spanish conquerors arrived they built the cathedral on the sight of one of the most sacred centres of Mexica worship. Over the past 30 or so years archaeologists have been unearthing this ancient site and have revealed no fewer than seven pyramids built one on top of the other – Mexica beliefs dictated that a new pyramid had to built for every 52 year cycle. It was fascinating to walk through the site and even see one of the “skull racks” which formed the foundations of the pyramid. Two religious edifices existing side by side and the beliefs they represented intermingled – which one had god on their side? Especially as now, because of seismic activity, the cathedral is sinking and the Mexica Templo Mayor is rising

Boxing Day

Dawned bright and it was good to be wandering around in short sleeves and sandals. Spent most of the day at the Museo Nacional de Antropologia – a vast collection of pre-Conquest Mexican culture. A very well organised collection with each major culture that contributed to the evolution of Mesoamerican civilisation well represented in its own room. We thought we should try and get as good an understanding as we can before we venture off to the sights where these people built their civilisations. The museum also had what in England would have been called a ‘Blockbuster Exhibition’ of Pompeii – but we gave it a miss. We had a lovely lunch at the museum cafe which included a salad with cactus leaves and flowers.

The Aztec 'Sun Disc'




Outside the museum we watched voladores first dancing then climbing a very high pole before spiralling downwards attached to ropes. By mid afternoon is was getting a bit humid and smoggy so we wandered through Chapultepec Park, with its thousands of ahuehuete trees (sacred to the Aztecs) and camellias, azaleas and poinsettias all in flower. The park was full of families wandering around wearing very colourful clothes and eating even more colourful sweets – including purple candy-floss. One thing we have already discovered is the Mexican liking for sweet foods.

The Longest Xmas Day

We left Heathrow at 12.40 flew for 11 hours and landed in Mexico City at 18.00 – not sure if we will get used to these time zones. Vegetarian Xmas Day lunch at 39,000 feet was an international affair – green salad with French dressing; mushroom and spinach risotto with an optional dressing of Mexican chilli sauce; English mince pie and cream; Californian wine and French brandy. First impressions of Mexico City as we were driven from the airport just as it was getting dusk were not favourable – far more gritty than Naples and roads that make those in Hackney seem like well-repaired super-highways. However we soon checked in at our über –cool 21st floor room at the W and looked out over a vast metropolis of 25 million people. The room has a shower (with hammock) at one end. Luxuriously quirky and our treat to ourselves before we start touring.

Couture Socks

Thank you to everyone for the best wishes for our journey. Thanks also for the gifts – it is always invidious to single out one person but we just have to say a special thank you to Tracey for the hand-knitted walking socks...

 

The adventure begins

Getting Ready

Not much to report as yet but we thought there ought to be something to see when people get the blog address and come to have a look.... now that you’re here why not add this page to your favourites or even become a blog follower? It will be good to know that friends and family are following us. We have loaded a map so that you can look at our itinerary – beneath the map there is something that says “View C and G go r-t-w in a larger map” click on this and it should take you to our map in Google Maps, you can then view it like any Google map (view as map/satellite/terrain and small/large/huge/so big you can see the path we have to climb to get to Machu Picchu). There is also something about the Moctezuma exhibition we went to at the British Museum in October (our ‘test’ blog to make sure it worked).

We haven’t actually started packing yet although we are beginning to assemble stuff so we can see just how much we’re going to have to leave behind. Just how does one pack for four months travelling with no porters?

Richard, our house-sitter, has been introduced to the quirks of the Martin-Smith household and also to our neighbours and he says that he is looking forward to living here (well it HAS to be better than a tent at the Lee Valley Park campground – his usual address).

Gregg fue a las lecciones españolas en La Casa Internacional y esperanzas que él ha aprendido bastantes para supervivencia en América latina. Aqui está una fotografia de nuestra clase ultimo, para entonces más que mitad habian salido!

Map of our r-t-w journey

View C and G go r-t-w in a larger map

Moctezuma Exhibition at The British Museum

As part of our preparation for the R-T-W trip that will start off in Mexico we went to the Moctezuma exhibition at the British Museum. The exhibition poster declares “Moctezuma - Aztec Ruler” but once inside the BM tells us that the correct terminology is ‘Mexica’ (pronounced Mé-shee-ka) and not Aztec. Whatever we call them, sacrificial and blood-letting rituals lay at the centre of their culture and wherever we looked, the BM's exhibition testifies to this remorseless obsession - various aspects of blood letting are depicted in the photo collage (suprisingly photography was allowed). Click to enlarge and see the ribbon of thorns being pulled through the tongue... One of the exhibits was a small stone box with beautiful symbolic carvings which originally would have held a ritual blood-letting implement owned by Moctezuma.


A spectacular eagle vessel, carved from andesite stone, has a cavity in its body which is the place where the hearts of human captives were once held. They had been sacrificed to feed the Sun, and a dedication stone for the Great Temple is carved with the dynamic figures of Moctezuma's uncles, zealously piercing their ears with sharp bones to let blood flow into the toothed mouth of the stone, channelling it into the earth.

Fangs leapt out even from the sculpture installed in the emperor's own palace. Moctezuma, who had many wives and 19 children, built a colossal residence in Tenochtitlan (present day Mexico City). But he made sure that visitors to his grandiose residence felt terrified rather than welcomed. They were confronted by images as nightmarish as the feathered serpent, carved from a basalt block, who bares immense and rapacious teeth at everyone rash enough to gaze at him.

Physical contact with Moctezuma was forbidden, and citizens were ordered to lower their eyes in his presence. Anybody who refused might well have ended up as one of the real skulls ranged in public display on racks around the Great Temple where Moctezuma carried out prescribed rituals and oversaw human sacrifice.

The highlights of the exhibition were the three jade mosaic sculptures:

The first was a mosaic mask of Tezcatlipoboca - skull of the smoking mirror - one of the four powerful Aztec creator deities. An inlaid human skull with real teeth, lined with deer skin on which the movable jaw is hinged. The long deerskin straps would have allowed the mask to be worn during ceremonies.

The second was a double-headed serpent, a sacred image probably worn as a chest ornament on ceremonial occasions. Made from turquoise, mother-of-pearl and coral inlay.

The third was a jade mosaic mask with mother-of-pearl eyes and teeth which is used as the poster of the exhibition.















All in all, well worth seeing as an introduction to the late Aztec (sorry Mexica) period just before the conquest. Now we just need to get our heads around the other Mesoamerican cultures that existed prior to the Aztecs such as Olmecs, Teotihuacan, Toltecs, Zapotecs, Mixtecs and Maya....