When I was in art school, I had the pleasure of having a really good teacher for my foundational art history class. Aside from a brutal final where we had to memorize 500 works (author/date/movement) and be able to complete a compare and contrast essay on any two (of the prof’s choosing), I had a great time in the class.

More history credits were necessary for graduation, so I decided to take one of his other classes, which happened to be Mesoamerican Art History. I soon found out that this subject was near and dear to his heart. He had actually studied under Linda Schele (a giant in Mayan iconography) and had even dug around in some of the ancient sites. As we should in a Mesoamerican art history class we started with the mother culture – the Olmecs. We still have examples of the massive ancestor heads they crafted. Most intriguing was their practice of destroying a city at a certain point in time, for reasons unknown to us today. Imagine people packing up, loading the caravans and rolling a 20 ton basalt head down the hill. We don’t know why they did this, but the idea of creation and destruction stuck with me. Perhaps they knew something about the exhaustion of resources or perhaps it was rooted in some superstition. We won’t likely find out, but it is fun to think about.

I’m sure it was partly my professor’s infectious enthusiasm, but the Maya stood out for me. This world and the other world, their strong connection to and understanding of the cosmos, and those gorgeous flowing organic lines – I was hooked. Years later, I’m still fascinated by the Maya and they are certainly one of the reasons I fell in love with Mexico. These mother cultures influenced many of the later mesoamerican cultures and induce a deep respect in me. Conquests and destruction later, I still feel reverent when I see someone with the classic Mayan profile.

So, you can imagine my excitement when the tour we joined was hitting Teotihuacan as one of the first stops after leaving Mexico City. While not Mayan, I still remembered the vibrant descriptions of this massive city from my classes (my professor had helped excavate there). The archeological museum gave us a pretty good preview, but I got all giddy when we first spotted it nonetheless. As the pyramid of the moon loomed in the distance, our guide Juan started outlining what we know of the city’s history.

Probably the most intriguing fact about Teotihuacan is that we still don’t know which culture was responsible for building it. The Aztecs found it after it was abandoned and claimed themselves as ancestors of the creators, but there is no direct traceable lineage. The site is indisputably massive and is difficult to describe. The largest pyramid – pyramid of the sun – is the third largest pyramid still existing.

We started our tour in some of the smaller buildings adjacent to the avenue of the dead – the main road that connects the major pyramids. Incredibly, in these secondary structures, you can still see vibrant paintings depicting various mesoamerican mythological figures. Depicted here is a jaguar blowing a feathered snail/shell trumpet.

Here are more feathered snail/shell trumpets along with the four petaled flowers which represent the four cardinal directions with the center being our world.

After snagging one of the better popsicles I’ve had at one of the vendors (tamarind for me and coconut for Switch) and a demonstration of the traditional painting (a special bug on a cactus paddle is where they get that vibrant red!), we scrambled up the pyramid of the moon.

Next was the massive pyramid of the sun, no small feat for a bunch of folks who usually live down at sea level, but if you go, don’t miss this. How rare not only that this gargantuan structure is still standing, but they still let you climb it!

Last we walked the surprisingly long avenue of the dead (I think we walked about a couple kilometers) to end our visit at the temple of quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent which still has some impressive reliefs. Apparently, they recently excavated a tunnel that joins the front pyramid to the back pyramid, so we are still learning new things about these ancient cultures.

This was  truly one of the highlights of the whole trip and I’m eager to see more Mesoamerican sites in future travels. Next up, I’m hoping to take a trip to Oaxaca and hit another highly influential site, Monte Albán. Until then, I’ll brush up on my Mayan iconography and dream of the temple vistas.