Xochicalco

Xochicalco: July 24, 2008

Right now we are taking a bus (public transit) to Xochicalco, which stands for “The place of the house of flowers.” It was unexpected that we would be going today. The trip was supposed to be on Monday. I am so tired of going and going and just want to stop and rest, but as we are driving up I am getting a little more excited to be going. I will just have to rest up tomorrow, since we don’t need to be anywhere until 11 am and even then we are going to Guadalupe’s (our host mom) temescal for pampering. In typical Aztec style, the migrating, militaristic group came to a beautiful hill with lots of flowers, liked it, took it and called it Xochicalco : Xochi-flowers, Cal- house, Co- place. The place of the house of flowers. The pyramids of Xochicalco were already there when the Aztecs arrived, having long ago been abandoned by the original builders. The indigenous people that lived in the area were still using it as a trading center. Since it was in a central location, people came from all different directions to trade their goods. There is also a tunnel that leads to what many call the “Observatory”. This tunnel ends in a small room with a circular hole cut in the ceiling that goes all the way up to the surface. At different times of year and day the room lights up differently. We were there about mid day so there was an intense light coming straight down into the room, but because it was not at the solstice, that was all there was. Apparently, people come from all over on June 21^st to see the whole room light up.

All of the pyramid sites that we have been going to are all-high up, basically at the top of the hill and have the most amazing scenery. Perfect, beautiful locations, Xochicalco does not look as grand as Monte Alban or Teotihaucan, but there is more being excavated, maybe it will be even grander someday.