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27th APRIL 2009 - A LOT OF WALKING AROUND RUINS & PYRAMIDS
I got up at 8ish, showered and dressed before heading for breakfast. I could only face one slice of toast that morning and filled up on a banana instead. No crazy girl at breakfast though and she had not returned to the hostel...must have been detained! Breakfast over, we finished getting ready and then set out to the tube station with the Czech girl from our room. I can't remember her name so I will just call her Phillipa from now on! We donned our masks for the tube and joined the crowds. Almost everyone was wearing a mask. Quite a weird experience to be honest and not a nice feeling at all!! Don't think I could become a surgeon and wear them for a living day in day out! We caught the tube all the way along the green line and then caught the bus from there to Teotihuacan Village. The bus ride was ok. Had to keep the mask on though and was a little stuffy! Not much different to English buses though and had suspension unlike in Fiji!!
Teotihuacan Village is an old settlement known
as God's city. It was occupied from 200BC to 700AD but is now mainly ruins. It is a site of great importance however as the legend of the 5th sun (whatever that is) was created there. The ruins are pretty vast and are spread along a 2km road called 'The Avenue of the Dead'....such a joyful name don't you think?!! The 2 main focal points of the village are 2 pyramids; Pyramid of the Sun and Pyramid of the Moon. Both very big and very impressive!!
Off the bus we spilt off from Phillipa as she had lost an earring. We helped her look for a while but it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack...impossible without a metal detector!! We explored the village slowly and made our way along the Avenue of the Dead. Loads of steps and crazy hot!! We were stopped every 2 minutes by a seller. I didn't understand half of what they were saying. They did keep using the line "nearly free" though which made me laugh! They were selling allsorts from jewellery to novelty whistles to rugs. All tat and I must have said "no gracias" at least 500 times
by the end...no kidding!! There were far too many sellers inside the grounds and it did spoil it a little to be honest especially the ones that hounded you and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. As we approached the Sun Pyramid there were loads of them and I took some of Patches O'Houlahan's advice; Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge!! Some swift moves were undertaken and Vince Vaughan would have been proud of those dodge-seller skills!!
The Pyramid of the Sun was huge. There were steps going right to the very top of it that you could climb. So so steep especially in one section and a little hairy. I had to lean forwards for fear of falling backwards. It got the heart rate up anyway and was good to get some physical exertion after 4 weeks of bumming around on beaches and being lazy!! We had a few photos taken at the top and took in the views. I am not sure if they have digital cameras in Germany because every German I give my camera to takes a photo of themselves before they realise which way my camera goes. I just let them go ahead now...it
amuses me!! After being at the top for 10 minutes, we commenced our descent. It was worse going down than going up because of the steepness. One mistake and you were a gonner!! Luckily I stayed upright and survived!
From the Sun Pyramid we made our way along to The Pyramid of the Moon. Not quite as vast but equally impressive. You couldn't climb all the way to the top but we got around 2 thirds of the way up. The steps were so steep that some people crawled up on their hands and needs for stability. I lived life dangerously and just walked up....get me!!! We sat up near the top for a wile and had a spot of fruit in the sun before making our way down again. Once down we had a look around a small market and visited some more of the village ruins. As we were eating ice lollies to cool us down, we bumped into Phillipa again and walked back to the entrance with her to catch the bus back to the tube station. The bus rides are funny too. Not like the tubes where sellers get on but instead people get on
and sing or play guitar. A bit like busking only on public transport instead of the streets. The woman singer was funny as every time we went over a bump her voice quavered. Makes life interesting anyhow though they weren't quite good enough to earn my pennies!! We missed our stop on the bus and ended up at a major bus station where news cameras were filming. The camera followed us for around 30 seconds walking through wearing our masks. We gathered that they were reporting on the pig flu! Not sure if we were on the news or not but either way that’s my claim to fame!
After eventually finding the right tube, we got on and made it back to the hostel for 4.30pm. It had been a very long day and I was mentally tired. I felt like I had done a days work (only without all the usual brew making). Travelling is exhausting sometimes but I would not swap it for the world...so much fun!!
After 30 minutes chilling on my bed, we went to the net to catch up on emails and blog. Mexican computers don't seem to be the best..they are all
dyslexic. The comma comes up as a question mark, the z comes up as a y. It takes half an hour to work out which keys are which!! Did not enjoy my internet time that evening at all and was glad to get out of the shop for some air. We headed from the net to the local shop to get something to eat for tea. Decided that we would try beans and cheese on toast…surely you can't go wrong with that?!!!
The beans were vile!! Kidney beans in a dark purple/brown coloured juice!! I could not stomach them and to be honest I didn't have much of an appetite anyway. I nibbled at a cheese toastie and Nat attempted the beans...brave girl!! Food finished we went back to the room. I tried reading and writing my journal but very restless; my mind was on overdrive and I didn't feel too happy!! I tried and tried to get to sleep but I couldn't. I ended up getting a really bad headache but even paracetemol didn't help. I looked at my watch...it was 5am and I still hadn't slept a wink! It wasn't that I wasn't tired because I was
absolutely exhausted but I could not switch my brain off no matter how hard I tried. I wriggled around for ages and think that I finally entered the land of nod at around 6am!!
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