More Mysteries of Mexico
Trip Start
Jan 02, 2010
1
8
17
Trip End
Mar 17, 2010
Where I stayed
Poza Rica Hotel RV Park
Poza Rica, Veracruz-Llave, Mexico
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
With much regret we left Teotihuacan the morning of January 19th. We'd met so many good people and had such a great time, it was tempting to stay longer. Out of town on the country roads we passed fields edged with agaves, the succulent plant that looks like aloe vera. The Indians use these agaves to make a beer-like drink called pulque. I’m told that it tastes disgusting. We passed many farms where men and woman were harvesting green alfalfa using horse-drawn wagons and pitchforks. Old people carried bundles of firewood on their backs along the roadsides and there were many thatched- roofed buildings. It looked like a scene from a movie in biblical times.
Soon we were climbing windy mountainous roads with steep drop offs. And, would you believe it, lots of road construction. Modern yellow caterpillars cut through the red clay hillsides in almost vertical swaths. All available land was planted in a crazy-quilt pattern of varying types of green plants. Going down the eastern side of these mountains we were definitely entering a more tropical zone. The weather became quite warm and we passed palms, banana trees and more oranges.
Locating the RV Park where we were to stay in the town of Poza Rica proved to be a nightmare of narrow uphill streets, and again we unhooked the Toyota and sent two people out to look for it. We stayed in an RV Park outside the very fancy Poza Rica Hotel and had an OK meal at the hotel, again around $10.00 or 100.00 pesos.
In the morning we drove to the El Tajin ruins outside of the city and entered a world shrouded in cool fog and mist, highly unusual for hot, steamy Poza Rica. The Mexican government has built a beautiful park around the ruins of El Tajin and is slowly and carefully excavating, unlike Teotihuacan where earlier archeologists blasted the top off the pyramid of the sun with dynamite in their first attempt to uncover it.
At the park office we were able to hire a tour guide at 90 pesos for three hours. Fernando proved to be much more than a tour guide, however. He was an historian doing research on Indian ruins and had a vast amount of knowledge about all of the ruin sites. He gave us the history of the early civilizations that occupied this region and the usages of each of the buildings. In 1785 Diego Ruiz, who was sleuthing out illegal tobacco fields, discovered the ruins. The cultivation of tobacco was reserved for royal families at that time. Local Totonac Indians knew about the ruins but kept them secret from the Spanish. Ruiz could see only the top of the tallest pyramid sticking up out of the jungle.
Fernando explained the arrangement of buildings and streets, which had been based on astrological observations. This early civilization used astronomers to study the heavens and inform their priests of the best times to plant croups. Their daily lives were structured around the movement of the planets and city streets were aligned from South to North in imitation of the Milky Way. A precursor to the modern game of soccer was invented and played as a means of communicating with the gods of the sky. Fernando called the game something that sounded like "Kestrol" I’ll have to research that. There were 17 ball courts in the city, most used for the practice of this game, two for the playing of the real game twice a year. Two teams of 3 players each hit a rubber ball weighing 6 or 7 pounds and made from tree resin down the center of the field. The object was to keep the ball in the air and never let it touch the ground as it was passed down the field exactly as the sun travels through the milky-way. They could only hit the ball with their upper arms and thighs. It was a brutal game requiring enormous strength and skill. The best players were chosen by the priests and trained physically, mentally and spiritually to play the final games twice each year. The winner and best player was then sacrificed by having his throat slit. In this manner he was sent directly to the gods to make an appeal for successful harvests.
After using up all the arable land and resources, which caused a climate change, the people moved on and the jungle reclaimed the deserted buildings. Although the outsides of the pyramids were constructed by the Aztecs, they built their city over deserted temples that were already there when they arrived in the region. El Tajin had been a thriving city of 25,000 inhabitants and a trading center for surrounding cities, dating back to about 100 A.D.
Fernando said, “People create their gods out of necessity and fear.” “When conditions change, the gods are changed.” When the Spanish conquered Mexico in the 1500’s, the fryers and priests replaced each of the gods and their ceremonial spots with Catholic Churches and saints, thus explaining the large number of churches in Mexico. Festivals of the new religion were celebrated on the same days as festivals of the old religion. According to the Aztec calendar the next big earthly change will be on December 22, 2012.
We finished our tour of the ruins by 1:30 so we could watch the amazing Voladores ( Flying Pole dancers) performing in the square outside the Visitor Center.
Comments
Good to hear about your travels, Ellen! I am envious. Maybe some day... Do you speak Spanish? Fascinating story on the precursor to soccer -- a punishing game in more ways than I like to think about!
Why would they be pole dancing? Any explanation how that got started. Beautiful pictures. We've told other friends about your trip and they are enjoying your blogs.
THis is sweet i wish i could do it