Xochicalco

This weekend, I took the bus about 45 minutes to the ruins of Xochicalco. It was beautiful, and a lot bigger than I expected. The ruins included several small pyramids for religious worship, ball fields, houses, an observatory and event halls. Much of it was reconstructed but there were also several original artifacts and carved stones on display in a museum at the main entrance.

View from the top of one of the pyramids. I believe that’s Lake Tesquitengo in the background, which used to be a city in a valley until it flooded. You can scuba dive there to see the ruins.

The things that were found here suggest a mix of native cultures, not just the Talhuica Indians or just the Aztecs, for example. The most notable ruin was the Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent, which was decorated with pictures of priests and, of course, plumed serpents.

A lot of people were also excited about the observatory, which was an underground cave where you can see a hexagonal ray of sun shining down during certain months. It looked like a regular old sunbeam to me, but what do I know? Apparently the light shimmers later in the afternoon and some people say they can see the image of Quetzcoatl, the warrior god.

This stone in the middle was used as a calendar. This area also had great acoustics. A single clap had a roaring echo.