The main features of the ruins are, first, the "Pyramid of the Sun," a huge mound which forms the most colossal structure of prehistoric man in America. #QotD

The most remarkable of the remaining monuments in stone of the peoples who successively or contemporaneously inhabited Mexico, are those well-defined and fairly well-known groups of ruins scattered at wide distances apart in the southern and south-eastern part of Mexican territory. The principal of these are: Teotihuacan, at Texcoco, in the Valley of Mexico; Cholula, in the State of Puebla; Monte Alban and Mitla, in the State of Oaxaca; Palenque, in the State of Chiapas; Uxmal and Chichen-Ytza, in the peninsula of Yucatan.

The ruins of Teotihuacan are situated in the north-eastern part of the valley of Mexico, some miles from the shores of Lake Texcoco and twenty-five miles from the modern City of Mexico. They are generally ascribed to the Toltecs, or, at any rate, to a civilised nation greatly previous to the Aztecs; for the ruins were abandoned and their origin unknown when these people arrived. Cortes and his Spaniards, defeated and fleeing after the terrible struggle of the _Noche Triste_, passed near to the great earth pyramids of the Sun and the Moon, which are the main structures of Teotihuacan; but even at that time they were--as they are to- day--mere mounds of earth, in which the pyramidal form has been partly obliterated by the action of time.

The very extensive mounds and remains which constitute Teotihuacan are of numerous pyramids, and some ruined walls which have been excavated of recent years. All of these are formed of adobe and irregular pieces of the lava of which the adjoining hills are composed. Rude carved monoliths of deities have, however, been recovered from the debris. The main features of the ruins are, first, the "Pyramid of the Sun," a huge mound which forms the most colossal structure of prehistoric man in America. It measures, approximately, at its base--for its outlines are so indefined that no exact form can be adduced--some 700 feet on each side, rising upwards in the form of a truncated pyramid rather less than 200 feet above the level of the plain. Next, the "Pyramid of the Moon," a similar but smaller structure--about 500 feet at base--distant from the first some thousands of yards along a strange road or path across the plain, known as Micoatl, or the "Path of the Dead," some two miles in length. From the summit of the "Pyramid of the Moon" the beholder looks down into the great courtyard of an adjoining group of ruins; thence his eye travels along this pathway to where the huge "Pyramid of the Sun" arises, far off, on its left-hand side. Between these and indeed beyond them, and bordering on the "Path of the Dead"--probably so called in relation to human sacrifice--are numerous other mounds, which were formerly pyramids of similar character, but of much less magnitude. Probably, in ages past, they were all crowned by temples, and ascended by staircases and terraces--evidences of which, indeed, still remain--whilst the slopes were probably covered with stone and stucco. It is stated that upon the high summit of the great pyramid--that dedicated to Tonatiuh, the sun--a huge stone statue of this deity was placed, and that a plate of polished gold upon its front reflected back the first rays of the rising sun. The name Teotihuacan signifies the "house of the gods." Doubtless it was, in unknown centuries past, the centre of a thriving civilisation and busy and extensive agricultural population. To-day the great pyramid casts its shadow toward a small village of jacales, upon a semi-arid plain.

Mexico: Its Ancient and Modern Civilisation, History, Political Conditions, Topography, Natural Resources, Industries and General Development (1909) by Charles Reginald Enock

It is certain that they built in honour of their beloved god Quetzalcoatl ... and probably also those famous ones of Teotihuacan in honour of the sun and moon - Savario #QotD

It is certain that they built in honour of their beloved god Quetzalcoatl the highest pyramid of Cholula, and probably also those famous ones of Teotihuacan in honour of the sun and moon, which are still in existence, though much disfigured (i).

(i). Betancourt says these pyramids were built by the Mexicans; this is certainly false, and contrary to the opinion of all other authors, American as well as Spanish. Dr. Seguenza appears to think they were the work of the Olmecas; but as we have no other remains of the architecture of that nation, by which we might judge; and besides, these pyramids being made after the model of that of Cholula, we are therefore induced to think that the Toltecas were the architects of them all, as Torquemada and other authors relate. (pp. 116-17)

The history of Mexico : collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts and ancient paintings of the Indians : together with the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards : illustrated by engravings with critical dissertations on the land, the animals, and inhabitants of Mexico by Francesco Saverio Clavigero

The group of the pyramids of Teotihuacan is in the valley of Mexico, eight leagues north-east from the capital, in a plain that bears the name of Micoatl, or the Path of the Dead. - Humboldt #QotD

The group of the pyramids of Teotihuacan is in the valley of Mexico, eight leagues north-east from the capital, in a plain that bears the name of Micoatl, or the Path of the Dead. There are two large pyramids dedicated to the Sun (Tonatiuh), and to the Moon (Meztli) ; and these are surrounded by several hundreds of small pyramids, which form streets in exact lines from north to south, and from east to west. Of these two great teocallis, one is fifty-five, the other forty-four metres in perpendicular height. The basis of the first is two hundred and eight metres in length; whence it results, that the Tonatiuh Yztaqual, according to Mr. Oteyza's measurement, made in 1803, is higher than the Mycerinus, or third of the three great pyramids of Geeza in Egypt, and the length of its base nearly equal to that of the Cephren. The small pyramids, which surround the great houses of the Sun and the Moon, are scarcely nine or ten metres high ; and served, according to the tradition of the natives, as burial places for the chiefs of the tribes. Around the Cheops and the Mycerinus in Egypt, there are eight small pyramids, placed with symmetry, and parallel to the fronts of the greater. The two teocallis of Teotihuacan had four principal stories, each of which was subdivided into steps, the edges of which are still to be distinguished. The nucleus is composed of clay mixed with small stones, and it is encased by a thick wall of tezontli, or porous amygdaloid.

This construction recalls to mind that of one of the Egyptian pyramids of Sakharah, which has six stories ; and which, according to Pocock, is a mass of pebbles and yellow mortar, covered on the outside with rough stones. On the top of the great Mexican teocaliis were two colossal statues of the Sun, and the Moon : they were of stone, and covered with plates of gold, of which they were stripped by the soldiers of Cortez. When bishop Zumaraga, a Franciscan monk, undertook the destruction of whatever related to the worship, the history, and the antiquities of the natives of America, he ordered also the demolition of the idols of the plain of Micoati. We still discover the remains of a staircase built with large hewn stone, which formerly led to the platform of the teocalli. (pp. 84-87)

 Researches concerning the institutions & monuments of the ancient inhabitants of America : with descriptions & views of some of the most striking scenes in the Cordilleras! by Alexander von Humboldt

Morning in México City, from CONABIO hq

Beyond the valley and the terraced foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the two volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, rose clear and magnificent into the sunset. #QotD

Once more, down in Mexico City in December and though not quite "under the volcano" but in the general vicinity of Popocatépetl.

* * * * * 

Some quotes from Under the Volcano: A Novel by Malcolm Lowry:

TWO MOUNTAIN CHAINS TRAVERSE the republic roughly from north to south, forming between them a number of valleys and plateaus. Overlooking one of these valleys, which is dominated by two volcanoes, lies, six thousand feet above sea level, the town of Quauhnahuac. It is situated well south of the Tropic of Cancer, to be exact on the nineteenth parallel, in about the same latitude as the Revillagigedo Islands to the west in the Pacific, or very much further west, the southernmost tip of Hawaii— and as the port of Tzucox to the east on the Atlantic seaboard of Yucatán near the border of British Honduras, or very much further east, the town of Juggernaut, in India, on the Bay of Bengal.

Far to his left, in the northeast, beyond the valley and the terraced foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the two volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, rose clear and magnificent into the sunset.

Wer immer strebend sich bemüht, den können wir erlösen. Whosoever unceasingly strives upward … him can we save. GOETHE

I think I know a good deal about physical suffering. But this is worst of all, to feel your soul dying. I wonder if it is because to-night my soul has really died that I feel at the moment something like peace.

Over the town, in the dark tempestuous night, backwards revolved the luminous wheel.

...no, that too, whatever it was, was going: perhaps it had only been the coppery-tailed trogon stirring in the bushes, his “ambiguous bird” that was now departing quickly on creaking wings, like a pigeon once it was in flight, heading for its solitary home in the Canyon of the Wolves, away from the people with ideas.

“And perhaps it’s fortunate I’ve had some whiskey since alcohol is an aphrodisiac too. One must never forget either that alcohol is a food. How can a man be expected to perform his marital duties without food? Marital?

Enormously high too, he noted some vultures waiting, more graceful than eagles as they hovered there like burnt papers floating from a fire which suddenly are seen to be blowing swiftly upward, rocking.

The bag, decanted on the faded, rustic seat, disgorged into its lid a bald toothbrush, a rusty safety-razor, his brother’s shirt, and a second-hand copy of Jack London’s Valley of the Moon, bought yesterday for fifteen centavos at the German bookstore opposite Sandborns in Mexico City.

However he was drinking tequila again now—and with no very clear idea how he’d returned so quickly and found the bottle. Ah, the subtle bouquet of pitch and teredos! Careless of being observed this time, he drank long and deeply, then stood—and

Finally the cat extended a preparate paw for the kill, opening her mouth, and the insect, whose wings had never ceased to beat, suddenly and marvellously flew out, as might indeed the human soul from the jaws of death, flew up, up, up, soaring over the trees: and at that moment he saw them.

Veda—God knows, Peter Rabbit; “Everything is to be found in Peter Rabbit,” the Consul liked to say

Ah, to have a horse, and gallop away, singing, away to someone you loved perhaps, into the heart of all the simplicity and peace in the world; was not that like the opportunity afforded man by life itself? Or course not. Still, just for a moment, it had seemed that it was.

“It’s mescal with me … Tequila, no, that is healthful … and delightful. Just like beer. Good for you. But if I ever start to drink mescal again, I’m afraid, yes, that would be the end,” the Consul said dreamily.

“I admit the efficacy of your tequila—but do you realise that while, you’re battling against death, or whatever you imagine you’re doing, while what is mystical in you is being released, or whatever it is you imagine is being released, while you’re enjoying all this, do you realise what extraordinary allowances are being made for you by the world which has to cope with you, yes, are even now being made by me?”

Life changes, you know, you can never drink of it.” “Not ‘drink of it,’ Señora Gregorio, you mean ‘think of it.’”

“Adiós,” she added in Spanish, “I have no house only a shadow. But whenever you are in need of a shadow, my shadow is yours.”

“Otro mescalito. Un poquito.”

“If you’ve really read War and Peace, as you claim you have, why haven’t you the sense to profit by it, I repeat?” “At any rate,” said Hugh, “I profited by it to the extent of being able to distinguish it from Anna Karenina.”

Ranged on either side stood bottles of Tenampa, Berreteaga, Tequila Añejo, Anís doble de Mallorca, a violet decanter of Henry Mallet’s “delicioso licor,” a flask of peppermint cordial, a tall voluted bottle of Anís del Mono, on the label of which a devil brandished a pitchfork. On the wide counter before him were saucers of toothpicks, chiles, lemons, a tumblerful of straws, crossed long spoons in a glass tankard. At one end large bulbous jars of many-coloured aguardiente were set, raw alcohol with different flavours, in which citrus fruit rinds floated.

Good morning to a hazy México City

United 1088: IAH to MEX

E17

United 1491: DCA to IAH, the presidential flight

Gate 14

Some of the biodiversity of Mexican Beetles I saw this week during a trip to Mexico City

Around the streets of Coyoacán: Mexican VW Beetle

Around San Ángel, Mexico City: VW Beetle

Around San Ángel, Mexico City: VW Beetle

"The Plaza Major, or grand square of Mexico, is one of the finest that exists." William Bullock #QotD

"The Plaza Major, or grand square of Mexico, is one of the finest that exists. The east side is occupied by the grand cathedral, and segrario, or parish church; the north by the splendid palace of the Viceroy; the south by a fine row of houses, the centre of which is a palace built by Cortez, and now called the Casa de Stada."

Six Months' Residence and Travels in Mexico by William Bullock (London, 1824)

"If seven maids with seven mops swept it for half a year" Lewis Carrol on the streets of Coyoacán, Mexico #QotD

'If seven maids with seven mops. Swept it for half a year, Do you suppose,' the Walrus said, 'That they could get it clear?' - Lewis Carroll

See also:

• Casablanca, Morocco
• Beijing, China

Buenos días y adiós, Ciudad de México

@Biodivlibrary presentation for @CONABIO staff in Mexico City

Will put it online soon.

@WUlate presenting on @Biodivlibrary to @conabio staff in Mexico. City

Otra Buenos días Ciudad de México!

El dinero, billetes, pasaportes, y dodo! Viajar a Ciudad de México ...

Heading to Mexico for a brief trip to work with CONABIO on the BHL.