August 9 - 13 we will spend time in Mexico City with the NBA group, Basketball Without Borders. Don will be coaching and I am along for the ride!
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| Bouquet of flowers in our room to welcome us. |
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| Chocolate welcome! |
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| Very modern and large room. |
America's Team Camp
Don is coaching at this team camp involving the best 16/17 year olds from Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Argentina.
TOUR TO TEOTIHUACAN
While Don is busy at camp I take a tour to the ancient pyramids near Mexico City on Thursday.
Teotihuacán ("teh-oh-tee-wa-KHAN") is an ancient sacred site located 30 miles northeast of
Mexico City,
Mexico. The ruins of Teotihuacán are among the most remarkable in Mexico
and some of the most important ruins in the world.
Teotihuacán
means "place where gods were born," reflecting the Aztec belief that the
gods created the universe here. Constructed around 300 AD, the holy
city is characterized by the vast size of its monuments, carefully laid
out on geometric and symbolic principles. Its most monumental structures
are the Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Pyramid of the Sun (the
third-largest pyramid in the world) and the Pyramid of the Moon.
The main thoroughfare, which archaeologists call the
Avenue of the Dead, runs two miles roughly north to south. The Pyramid of the Moon is at the northern end, and the Citadel
is on the southern part. The great street was several
kilometers long in its prime, but only a kilometer or two has been
uncovered and restored. The Avenue of the Dead got its forbidding name
from the Aztecs, who wrongly believed the little temples on either side
of the avenue were tombs.
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| We walked the Avenue of the Dead |
The purpose of the Pyramid of the Sun is not entirely understood, but it is built on top of a
sacred cave
shaped like a four-leafed clover. Given the grand pyramid above, this
cave was probably regarded as the very place where the gods created the
world. The cave is not open to the public.
The first part of the
Pyramid of the Sun was probably built around 100 BC, and the temple that
used to crown the pyramid was completed about 400 years later (300 AD).
By the time the pyramid was discovered and restoration was begun in the
20th century, the temple had disappeared, and the pyramid was just a
mass of rubble covered with bushes and trees. It's a worthwhile 248-step
climb to the top. The view is extraordinary and the sensation
exhilarating.
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| Pyramid of the Sun as we walked toward it. |
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| Pyramid of the Sun |
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| And here we go UP! No cables to hold onto at this point. |
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| View from the first level |
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| Cables provided in some places. |
The
Pyramid of the Moon is smaller and faces a plaza at the
northern end of the avenue. No cave or other feature has been discovered
in its interior. Its form may be patterned on that of the sacred
mountain to the north, the Cerro Gordo. The summit provides about the
same range of view as you from its larger neighbor because the moon
pyramid is built on higher ground.
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| Pyramid of the moon as view from top of Sun Pyramid |
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| Pyramid of the Moon |
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| At the TOP! Beautiful views of surrounding area and mountains |
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| Pyramid of the Sun |
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| Pyramid of the Moon |
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| My tour group! Thanks to Steven for the help getting up and down! |
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History of Teotihuacán
The early history of Teotihuacán is shrouded in mystery. Little
is known about its ancient builders, including their name, precise
religious beliefs, or language. The city became the epicenter of culture
and commerce for ancient Mesoamerica, surpassing Rome in size, yet its
inhabitants suddenly abandoned it for unknown reasons.
People first moved to the area around 500 BC. Sometime after
100 BC,
construction of the enormous Pyramid of the Sun commenced.
At its zenith around
500 AD, Teotihuacán's
magnificent pyramids and palaces covered 12 square miles (31 sq km) and
the city was larger in size and population than
Rome. Through trade and other contact, Teotihuacán's influence was felt as far south as the Yucatán and Guatemala.
Still,
remarkably little information about the city's inhabitants survives.
Evidence from their murals indicates that the Teotihuacános were
formidable warriors and that their aim in warfare was not conquest of
territory but the capture of prisoners who were sacrificed to
avert the end of the world.
In an effort to postpone this cataclysmic event,
humans were sacrificed
by the thousands. Humans also seem to have been sacrificed to dedicate a
new or expanded building. In the Pyramid of the Sun, the corner of each
step contained skeletons of children. Discovered below the Temple of
Quetzalcoatl were three burial pits full of skeletons.
Food in Mexico City
The food has been amazing here. We have breakfast at the hotel and every evening the NBA takes us out for dinner. Thursday night we went to Buena Barra and it was spectacular.
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| View from our upper level dining room. |
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| Fried cheese with sauces and shells |
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| Steak in guacamole |
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| Fish |
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| Steak sizzling on a hot stone |
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| churros with chocolate or caramel sauce |
