It should be illegal in hostels to have early alarms! For some reason, the older lady in our dorm has a 4.45am alarm set. She them gets up & goes out for what we assume is a run, before returning an hour later & having a loud, long shower, where she sings. Just to make sure were awake!
She does the same thing the next morning as well!
I kinda admire her spirit & it wouldn't be a problem if one of the guys didn't come into the dorm at 1am, shower & rustle around in his bag, waking everyone up.
Oh well, it's what you have to expect & tolerate at hostels when your paying next to nothing for accommodation. Thankfully our next lot of accommodation is a private room.
We have a big day ahead of us & eat plenty at the inclusive breakfast before setting off.
Our first stop is the Zona arqueologica de Cholula. This site is the buried pyramid of Cholula (Tlachihualtepetl) the museum, the tunnels, city ruins & the church called Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, that now sit's on top of the buried pyramid.
On the internet & between specialists in the field of archaeology, there is a lot of debate about if this is the biggest pyramid. The Guiness book of records & Wikipedia seem to think so based on total volume, which includes the earth which now sit's on top of the Pyramid, burrying it.
The people who oppose it being the biggest, don't want to include the earth that sit's on top or the church & insist that the biggest 'man made' pyramid is the great pyramid of Giza, making Cholula 3rd on the list.
We start of our explorations & experience of the Zona arqueologica de Cholula with the museum, which is again all in Spanish, however the artefacts, murals & 3D models give us a pretty good idea of Cholula & it's citizens.
She does the same thing the next morning as well!
I kinda admire her spirit & it wouldn't be a problem if one of the guys didn't come into the dorm at 1am, shower & rustle around in his bag, waking everyone up.
Oh well, it's what you have to expect & tolerate at hostels when your paying next to nothing for accommodation. Thankfully our next lot of accommodation is a private room.
We have a big day ahead of us & eat plenty at the inclusive breakfast before setting off.
Our first stop is the Zona arqueologica de Cholula. This site is the buried pyramid of Cholula (Tlachihualtepetl) the museum, the tunnels, city ruins & the church called Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, that now sit's on top of the buried pyramid.
On the internet & between specialists in the field of archaeology, there is a lot of debate about if this is the biggest pyramid. The Guiness book of records & Wikipedia seem to think so based on total volume, which includes the earth which now sit's on top of the Pyramid, burrying it.
The people who oppose it being the biggest, don't want to include the earth that sit's on top or the church & insist that the biggest 'man made' pyramid is the great pyramid of Giza, making Cholula 3rd on the list.
I am always going to be a bit biased, with my love for Egypt that began at the age of 10. For us the Pyramids of Egypt will always be the biggest & the best, based off our own personal experiences. I remember crying when we first saw them sitting on the edge of Cairo in all their magnificence. With Cholula, it was very underwhelming when you see it & think that it is meant to be the biggest pyramid.
We can appreciate both, however its hard to appreciate Cholula as number 1 when it is essentially just a giant hill with a church on top. It doesn't look like a pyramid & you wouldn't think there was some great, ancient structure underneath the earth if you didn't go through the tunnels that were excavated or visit the museum. This raises the question, what can be classified as a pyramid ?
Tom made a very valid point in saying that it is not fathomable or respectful to compare the Pyramid of Cholula to the Pyramid's of Giza & in doing so, the comparison takes away it's own individuality & makes people dismiss it. It should be appreciated for what it is, even if that is leaving it shrouded in mystery.
My question's to anyone who doesn't like my opinion, is why was it left abandoned to be covered in so much dirt if it was so big ? The great pyramid's of Giza are in the desert & somehow they still managed to be maintained so they can stand above the sand. Also why has nobody heard of it ? if it is the biggest pyramid ? & finally why is it not a world wonder in any category ? Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula, another great archaeological site within Mexico is recorded as being one, Why is the 'Biggest pyramid' in the world not recorded as one? For an archaeological site of pre-hispanic importance, it surely doesn't have a lot of reliable information about it on the internet. I have really struggled to find information & the pyramid seems to me, that it is relatively unstudied, perhaps the information is in Spanish, but surely the biggest pyramid should have more to read about it than what I can find.
Tom made a very valid point in saying that it is not fathomable or respectful to compare the Pyramid of Cholula to the Pyramid's of Giza & in doing so, the comparison takes away it's own individuality & makes people dismiss it. It should be appreciated for what it is, even if that is leaving it shrouded in mystery.
My question's to anyone who doesn't like my opinion, is why was it left abandoned to be covered in so much dirt if it was so big ? The great pyramid's of Giza are in the desert & somehow they still managed to be maintained so they can stand above the sand. Also why has nobody heard of it ? if it is the biggest pyramid ? & finally why is it not a world wonder in any category ? Chichen Itza in the Yucatan Peninsula, another great archaeological site within Mexico is recorded as being one, Why is the 'Biggest pyramid' in the world not recorded as one? For an archaeological site of pre-hispanic importance, it surely doesn't have a lot of reliable information about it on the internet. I have really struggled to find information & the pyramid seems to me, that it is relatively unstudied, perhaps the information is in Spanish, but surely the biggest pyramid should have more to read about it than what I can find.
We start of our explorations & experience of the Zona arqueologica de Cholula with the museum, which is again all in Spanish, however the artefacts, murals & 3D models give us a pretty good idea of Cholula & it's citizens.
Following this we walk back across the road & enter into the underground tunnels that were excavated by archaeologists around the substructures of the pyramid. Excavations were carried out at many different times by many archaeologists, the most significant one to do with the tunnels was started in 1931, this allowed for mapping & modelling of the pyramid to be done. It seems's as though excavation was started & stopped multiple times by many different people, but ultimately was abandoned when it became obvious that the pyramid could never be reconstructed in its entirety. One source claims that there is over 5 miles of tunnel's that criss cross underneath the Pyramid & are held in place by the ancient brickwork.
The tunnelling system is really cool & really well excavated, We are both really nosy & wish we could go down the tunnels that are blocked doff from us. As we walk along the main tunnel, we can see more tunnels that go down below us, branch of to the sides & continue up.
Once we emerge from the tunnels, after about 15 minutes, we walk towards the site that holds the city ruins & the one partially reconstructed side of the pyramid.
Here we can see the streets, what would have been some residential buildings, political centres & of course the alters. At its biggest size the city, which is an estimated 10 square kilometres, had an estimated population of 30 - 50, 000. Sadly there was not a lot left to look at.
Once we had climbed the partially restored staircase going up one side of the pyramid, we left the pre-hispanic ruins behind & made our way up the hill to the top where we would see the famous church.
Cholula has a bloody history. Human sacrifice has always been a part of the ancient civilisations & this site would be no different. One source claims that 400 bodies were found when the ruins were excavated. We did read about a specific alter that was used for the sacrifice of children, which were considered messengers to the god Tlaloc & could directly ask the god for water.
In 1519, the Spanish alongside the Tlaxcalteca warriors slaughtered thousands of people in the city of Cholula, in what would be described as one of the biggest & most violent act's committed by the Spaniards during the conquest.
Once the Spaniards realised the importance of Cholula's sacred Pyramid, Tlachihualtepetl, they built the Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, also known as the sanctuary of the virgin of the remedies, to replace the worship of pagan gods. They also were said to have built hundreds of other churches in the surrounding area. The church still sitting on top of the Pyramid/hill is the one we would visit.
To our surprise & luck, the city was celebrating some sort of religious holiday & we walked right into the middle of the festivities. There was firework's, flower petal's being thrown into the air, a procession of people carrying many different life size religious people & icons in glass box's on their backs. There was live music, lots of singing & when we entered the church it was covered in streamers & there was lots of people praying & listening to a sermon.
After finally making our way down & escaping the heart of the festivities we realise our proposed bus stop should be where a food stand is .... were not catching a bus anywhere near this tent city.
The tunnelling system is really cool & really well excavated, We are both really nosy & wish we could go down the tunnels that are blocked doff from us. As we walk along the main tunnel, we can see more tunnels that go down below us, branch of to the sides & continue up.
Once we emerge from the tunnels, after about 15 minutes, we walk towards the site that holds the city ruins & the one partially reconstructed side of the pyramid.
Here we can see the streets, what would have been some residential buildings, political centres & of course the alters. At its biggest size the city, which is an estimated 10 square kilometres, had an estimated population of 30 - 50, 000. Sadly there was not a lot left to look at.
Once we had climbed the partially restored staircase going up one side of the pyramid, we left the pre-hispanic ruins behind & made our way up the hill to the top where we would see the famous church.
Cholula has a bloody history. Human sacrifice has always been a part of the ancient civilisations & this site would be no different. One source claims that 400 bodies were found when the ruins were excavated. We did read about a specific alter that was used for the sacrifice of children, which were considered messengers to the god Tlaloc & could directly ask the god for water.
In 1519, the Spanish alongside the Tlaxcalteca warriors slaughtered thousands of people in the city of Cholula, in what would be described as one of the biggest & most violent act's committed by the Spaniards during the conquest.
Once the Spaniards realised the importance of Cholula's sacred Pyramid, Tlachihualtepetl, they built the Nuestra Senora de los Remedios, also known as the sanctuary of the virgin of the remedies, to replace the worship of pagan gods. They also were said to have built hundreds of other churches in the surrounding area. The church still sitting on top of the Pyramid/hill is the one we would visit.
To our surprise & luck, the city was celebrating some sort of religious holiday & we walked right into the middle of the festivities. There was firework's, flower petal's being thrown into the air, a procession of people carrying many different life size religious people & icons in glass box's on their backs. There was live music, lots of singing & when we entered the church it was covered in streamers & there was lots of people praying & listening to a sermon.
After finally making our way down & escaping the heart of the festivities we realise our proposed bus stop should be where a food stand is .... were not catching a bus anywhere near this tent city.
We walk until we emerge onto a normal street & can once again see traffic. We stop at an intersection to make a plan & have a choice of 3 cafe's, we walk into the closest & nicest looking one, in hope of using the Wi-Fi. While Tom tries to figure out a bus situation, I order a Moka helado & a Hazelnut cappuccino. Tom's hazelnut cappuccino is the biggest cappuccino I've ever seen & tastes amazing!
Mexicans do amazing coffee!
My Moka helado is a mocha hazelnut shake with a big scoop of coffee flavoured ice cream sitting on top. It's also very delicious.
We realise we can't catch any of the bus's to the next stop & instead order another uber. We have absolutely no guilt in doing this when it saves us so much time & is very cheap, as well as easy.
In no time at all we are at stop number 2; Volcan el cuexcomate. Which is also known as Mexico's smallest volcano. It's not actually a volcano, it's a part of a geyser that formed in the year 1064 when Popocate-petl erupted. This volcano is still currently active & is the second highest peak in Mexico.
Obviously the geyser isn't active anymore & was kinda underwhelming. We got to walk down some stairs & stand in the bottom. The geyser had been beautified, the stairs were hung with pot plants & in the bottom was a fish pond, which created the underwhelming feelings & made it hard to believe you were standing in a place were lava was.
Oh well, for 10 peso's each, it was good to tick it off the list.
After this we walked for about 15 minutes to a local bus stop. We were trying to figure out which bus to take, when an older Spanish lady approached us & asked. We explained we wanted to go to Fort loreto. She seemed to understand & grabbed our hands pulling us towards the road. She then started gesturing at a local bus. Once it had stopped she Checked with the driver & pushed us in before waving goodbye.
She was incredibly nice to help us.
The local bus was blaring a mix of Spanish & Latin hits that we had heard & are popular in western countries. Songs like despacito & gasolina. There was no seat belts & the driver was extremely relaxed about weaving in & out of the traffic like he was, it was definitely a skill. I'm sure his driving would be classed as reckless back at home, but I think it's just how Mexican's drive.
It was a 40 minute bus ride, which cost us $0.87 AUD, where we saw lots of different locals get on & off. The driver dropped us right out the front of Fort Loreto, sadly it is closed on Mondays, something we didn't anticipate.
We took photos of the water fountains & some of the exterior walls.
Straight after the fort, we followed a foot path past a park with a pond & some sleeping ducks & down to a suburb called Barrio de xanenetla, known for its street art.
It's hard to know where to look or go. We were starting to get hungry & decided to walk towards the city centre & just see what we could see.
After about 40 minutes of walking we located an ATM & with some local help, found a vegetarian restaurant where we ordered some of the best Mexican we've ever eaten! It was amazing & we left so full, we felt like we could pop! Luckily it was just past 5pm, so this would do us for dinner. On our way home we walked through the Bazar los sapos, which was being packed up. We saw a few wooden carved things & some woven bracelets & jumpers, but we essentially missed seeing it.
It was with relief when we were showered & tucked into bed. My feet were throbbing from all the walking, we easy would have done between 10 & 15 kilometres today. Being on tour in Africa has made us lazy & our feet soft, it's nice to be on our own exploring cities & exercising again.
- Alli
Mexicans do amazing coffee!
My Moka helado is a mocha hazelnut shake with a big scoop of coffee flavoured ice cream sitting on top. It's also very delicious.
We realise we can't catch any of the bus's to the next stop & instead order another uber. We have absolutely no guilt in doing this when it saves us so much time & is very cheap, as well as easy.
In no time at all we are at stop number 2; Volcan el cuexcomate. Which is also known as Mexico's smallest volcano. It's not actually a volcano, it's a part of a geyser that formed in the year 1064 when Popocate-petl erupted. This volcano is still currently active & is the second highest peak in Mexico.
Obviously the geyser isn't active anymore & was kinda underwhelming. We got to walk down some stairs & stand in the bottom. The geyser had been beautified, the stairs were hung with pot plants & in the bottom was a fish pond, which created the underwhelming feelings & made it hard to believe you were standing in a place were lava was.
Oh well, for 10 peso's each, it was good to tick it off the list.
After this we walked for about 15 minutes to a local bus stop. We were trying to figure out which bus to take, when an older Spanish lady approached us & asked. We explained we wanted to go to Fort loreto. She seemed to understand & grabbed our hands pulling us towards the road. She then started gesturing at a local bus. Once it had stopped she Checked with the driver & pushed us in before waving goodbye.
She was incredibly nice to help us.
The local bus was blaring a mix of Spanish & Latin hits that we had heard & are popular in western countries. Songs like despacito & gasolina. There was no seat belts & the driver was extremely relaxed about weaving in & out of the traffic like he was, it was definitely a skill. I'm sure his driving would be classed as reckless back at home, but I think it's just how Mexican's drive.
It was a 40 minute bus ride, which cost us $0.87 AUD, where we saw lots of different locals get on & off. The driver dropped us right out the front of Fort Loreto, sadly it is closed on Mondays, something we didn't anticipate.
We took photos of the water fountains & some of the exterior walls.
Straight after the fort, we followed a foot path past a park with a pond & some sleeping ducks & down to a suburb called Barrio de xanenetla, known for its street art.
It's hard to know where to look or go. We were starting to get hungry & decided to walk towards the city centre & just see what we could see.
After about 40 minutes of walking we located an ATM & with some local help, found a vegetarian restaurant where we ordered some of the best Mexican we've ever eaten! It was amazing & we left so full, we felt like we could pop! Luckily it was just past 5pm, so this would do us for dinner. On our way home we walked through the Bazar los sapos, which was being packed up. We saw a few wooden carved things & some woven bracelets & jumpers, but we essentially missed seeing it.
It was with relief when we were showered & tucked into bed. My feet were throbbing from all the walking, we easy would have done between 10 & 15 kilometres today. Being on tour in Africa has made us lazy & our feet soft, it's nice to be on our own exploring cities & exercising again.
- Alli
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