As I have been working nights in Mexico it allows me some free time during the day. So I organised a day tour and headed up with a guide to see the site on my own so I can get the most information about this place.
Everything about the place is impressive. The Pyramids (there is two major ones) are what people come to se but its not what the site is all about. The site is a religious ground where the practicioners, did all they could to appease the natural gods. The site is often attributeds to the Aztecs but this is wrong as they didn´t get hold of it until about 15th century. It was built well before them by a local tribe.
The city complex has over 2000 rooms, a lot of which are underground and most are temples. They are still excavating under the Temple of the Sun (the biggest pyramid) and under the Temple of the Moon. Both of which are linked by a prehistoric cave system that has yeilded some of the earlist human remains in the whole of the Americas. The ancient tunnels formed the baseplan for the location of the two temples. It really is an amazing site.
It is also HUGE. make no mistake you will be shattered just from walking the perimiter. The original city complex was 20 square km and contained an estimated 100000 people. Which is amazing for 2000 years ago and would make it one of the largest cities in the World at the time.
The temple of the Sun is the equivilant in height to a 20 storey building and there was a platform on the top used for ritual sacrifice to appease the gods. The main walkway called the avenue of the dead (named by the aztecs as they thought the pyramids contained the remains of ancient kings - they don`t) was originally covered in a white marble flooring, which is remarkable when you realise its 2.5km long!
I have heaps of pics on my flickr site, just follow the link to the left.
If you go to Mexico City and do not go to this site you will be the poorer for it. Mum will kill me when she sees the pics and finds out just how impressive a site is!
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