Teotihuacan - Ancient Pyramides in Mexico

We were very blessed to have the opportunity to go to Teotihuacan (I have no idea how you say it!) with a guy from Curtis' office. He brought his girlfriend, and his brother and his wife and little boy. We spent all day sightseeing and walking! 

Teotihuacan – also written Teotihuacán, with a Spanish orthographic accent on the last syllable – is an enormous archaeological site in the Basin of Mexico, just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the pre-Columbian Americas.

The name Teōtīhuacān was given by the Nahuatl-speaking Aztec centuries after the fall of the city. The term has been glossed as "birthplace of the gods", reflecting Nahua creation myths that were said to occur in Teotihuacan. Teotihuacān is a Nahuatl (Aztec) name meaning "place where gods were born". Nahuatl scholar interprets the name as "place of those who have the road of the gods." This is because the Aztecs believed that the gods created the universe at that site.

Apart from the pyramidal structures, Teotihuacan is also known for its large residential complexes, the Avenue of the Dead, and numerous colorful, well-preserved murals. Additionally, Teotihuacan produced a thin orange pottery style that spread through Mesoamerica.

The city is thought to have been established around 100 BC and continued to be built until about 250 AD. The city may have lasted until sometime between the 7th and 8th centuries AD. At its zenith, perhaps in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population of perhaps 125,000 or more, placing it among the largest cities of the world in this period. Teotihuacan began as a new religious center in the Mexican Highland around the first century AD. This city came to be the largest and most populated center in the New World. Teotihuacan was even home to multi-floor apartment compounds built to accommodate this large population. The civilization and cultural complex associated with the site is also referred to as Teotihuacan or Teotihuacano.

 This is a photo of the Avenue of the Dead that runs down the center of the complex.  You can see how large it was.

This is the Temple of the Moon, taken from the top of the Temple of the Sun. The Moon is a smaller pyramid but still difficult to climb!

 Here Curtis is down in the middle of the complex.

 The photo above and below are both in the Governmental Complex of these Pyramides. You can see how steep the stairs are and the intricate carvings and design on them.

 I climbed down part way, then I got nervous (all right...scared!). The steps are literally straight up and very narrow. I bought me a hat (my only souvenir) to keep me from burning my head!

 I was determined to climb to the top of the Temple of the Sun. I counted the steps. 250 total! Each step was about 10" tall. Fortunately there were two sections you could stop and rest. That made the climb much easier. You can see they had a cable up the center you could use to hang on to if you needed it. I found going down was a cinch! You just start (get up the momentum) and not think about it and just GO!

 Here are more ruins. They were every where. So much stll undiscovered. Totally amazing!

 I thought this cholla cactus was absolutely beautiful! It was in full bloom and very lovely!

After the walking for 6 hours in the sun and enjoying the sights, Jesus (pronouced Hay-sus) surprised us by taking us to a really cool restaurant for a 3:30 show and dinner! It was in a grotto. You can see the light coming in from outside. There were no other lights. They only serve food between noon and 4:30 and then they close!  BUT, they had a floor show. It started with Aztec dancing. Men in (literally) loin cloths, and girls more covered dancing Aztec style, then the performance moved through the spanish era, into mexican style and it was all a folkorico presentation. Below is a short video where you can see the dancers.

When they were through, two men playing a big Harp he drug around and a guy on a violin played at each of the tables.

 I asked Jesus what he was having and that I what I ordered. Chicken mole green and red. Had no idea what I was getting, but it was pretty good!

Here is Curtis and I with our meal.  That glass is sparking mineral water with lime squeezed into it.
We then had a two hour drive back to the hotel. Traffic in Mexico City is major!

Mexico City LDS Temple Complex

I never had the desire to go south of the border of the USA except to go to the Mexico City Temple.  It was built in 1984 and it took me 28 years to finally get there. I had heard how beautiful it was, and it is! The temple is actually in a complex that holds within the wrought-iron fencing the Temple, MTC, Visitor Center, Distribution Center, Cafeteria that feeds the entire complex, Housing for the MTC and Temple President and possibly patrons.  There is a Ward Bldg next door (I don't know if it is a Stake Center) and a book store called "Zarahemla" much like a Seagull Book store.  I saw a couple of missionaries (Elders) in shopping for their leather scripture cases. I noticed each of the 6 missions in Mexico City had special scripture covers, lapel pins, etc...

 Here we are standing outside the temple.  The wind was blowing slightly.  It seemed the temperature was  76 degrees F with a slight breeze every day! Perfect!  We actually did a couple of sessions inside. Such a lovely day!

 This is taken around another side of the temple. It looks like the picture in the Book of Mormon where the savior visited the Nephites after his resurrection.

Notice the green circle in the above photo.  If you look closely you can see a family painted there.  If there should be an earthquake or some disaster while you are on the Temple Complex, this is where everyone is to gather to be "reunited!"  Now, doesn't that fit the purpose of the Temple!

 This is a picture of the MTC for Mexico.  Only they call it the CTM because in spanish the words are backwards.  Craig & Joan Hansen are the Mission President for the MTC.  Joan connected to us through marriage. We had a great visit with her for an hour. She even gave us a tour of the complex and some inside scoop! Pretty fun!

 This is one point she told us about.  These flowers are beautiful on the temple ground. But, if you look to the top left of the flowers you will see a white post.  This post stands about 4 feet above the grass.  When the temple was first built in 1984 the base of the temple was at the top of that post. Because Mexico City was built on an island and they filled it in, and are pumping out water, the entire city is dropping 1 1/5 inches per year!  The temple has hydraulic posts under it and is always adjusting the balance of it so it doesn't crack!

Someone was inside the Temple being married! I giggled at the this. How happy that couple must be!

Life in Mexico City

I was fortunate enough to go to Mexico City the last half of May, 2012, with Curtis. He is actually working there for now and this has become his home 2-3 weeks each month!  So the following pictures are random to give you a taste of what I saw "that was unique" and "interesting". 

This is the chandelier hanging in the foyer of the Crown Plaza hotel which was our home away from home. I never got a photo of the front of the building. It reminded me much of Hawaii, doors wide open to the outside air. They had security men every where. You would see them talking into their little microphones on their shoulders. Never figured out who they were talking to!

Here is a parking garage, not far from Curtis' hotel (home away from home). If you notice, the cars pull in and park, then they are raised up, and a second car then pulls in and parks underneath it. I thought it was very clever for saving space. However, if the white car owner gets back first, whoever parks under it has to have that car moved and then the white car would get lowered. I thought if the hydraulics malfunctioned, OOPS to the cars underneath!

 We went for a walk one evening and found this interesting itersection. It was like a wheel with spokes. But if you notice up around the top is a green walkway. You can walk all the way around and go down stairs to the roadway at each street.  We used it to go over to a park area. Pretty fun! Curtis said he often sees people jogging around the upper walkway for their exercise.

Guess what! There is a Walmart near the World Trade Center and Curtis' hotel.  The store is built on the main level with food courts and other shopping. But inside had different stuff. The photo above is how you buy "ice cubes" there. Not in a bag, but in plastic trays! Seems to me, people would just make their own!

 This is how ketchup, pickles, mayonaise, and a whole lot of food is sold. In bags with spouts for pouring! Then when I got back to the states my daughter had some baby food for Kellan in a similar container for fruit!

 Have you heard of Mexican Federales?  Well, as we were trying to merge onto the freeway, there was a caravan of about 20 large military trucks. It was like taking our life in our driver's hands to merge with these things who wouldn't let us in!

 Another night we went walking around. I guess the owner of this apartment didn't want anyone to mess with their property.  Interestingly enough, I only saw the photo above and the one below (with spikes) on one street. I didn't see them anywhere else.  Makes you wonder who lives there and what they do for a living??

 When I saw these spikes, I thought out loud "I wonder if we could install these in my HOA?" Would certainly keep the teenagers from climbing over the fenses to shortcut it across to Burger King!

Another evening we found a really nice park. There were parents sitting on benches under the trees while their kids played on amazing "kid stuff".  I thought "Wow! How cool is this!"  It certainly gave me ideas for my HOA! The building in the back ground is the World Trade Center. Curtis' hotel was right behind it.

 One Saturday we went to the Zocalo (Center of Mexico City where the city originated) and they had Aztec dancers performing. We also found this guy. He is a "medicine man" and the black thing he is holding is "Basil (yes the spice)" that is burning and he waves the smoke from the Basil over the person to get rid of any bad "stuff" and give you "good energy".  There were people lined up to have him do it to them.  Each person paid him of course. (Priestcraft is what I was thinking.)

 This was one of my favorite stops. We went here a couple of times - it is an ice cream shop. They had fruit bars (which I am eating - a coconut one), ice cream, shakes, etc... They were so delicious.  We had just walked for 7 hours and I told Curtis, "I am sitting to eat this one!"

We finished lunch one afternoon and walking past this odd site! A Pink Volkswagon Bug stretch limo! We had to cross the street and walk next to it to see what the inside looked like. You had to sit along one side facing the opposite side, not forward like in a car. Totally weird!

This is where Curtis works. It is only 2 1/2 blocks from the hotel.  Notice the roll down doors over the front. Reminded me of Europe.  His office is up on the 7th floor.  You have to go through security to get in - I felt like I was boarding an airplane.  But at least I know he is safe when he is there!

Boston Trip - Part Two

This is my Part Two of my incredible Boston Trip in April 2012.  So to continue...

 To the left is Quincy Market. It sits near Fanueil Hall.  Inside this building on the first floor are a lot of different food shops - like a food court in a mall. Then you can go upstairs to tables or eat outside. Around the building in the plaza are lots of non-food stores, carts, etc...  While I was there they had street performer competition going on. There were jugglers, singers, high school bands, you name it. There was even a person dressed all in gold, even their skin that was showing was painted. He/She stood on a box and was a living statue. He/She would move slightly to let you know they were real.  Fun!

This is the Burial Monument of Paul Revere in Granary Cemetery. In this cemetery were buried: the Franklin Family (Benjamin's parents, siblings, etc), the 5 people killed in the Boston Massacre, and 9 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

When you walk around this cemetery - I could just see history every where! It is only a block from the Omni Parker Hotel I stayed in, and one block from the Captiol of Massachusetts.

Here is the grave marker of Samuel Adams, who was John Adam's cousin. One thing I learned about Samuel is that when he was at Harvard he wrote a paper about breaking away from England. No one had thought of that yet. He was the one who basically "fathered the Revolutionary War"! 

On December 16, 1773, Adams spoke at a town meeting against the Tea Act. That evening, dozens of men dressed as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships that sat in Boston Harbor and threw the tea overboard. I had family members who participated in this!


In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British increased their restrictions on the colonists. Parliament passed the "Intolerable Acts" that not only closed the port of Boston but also limited town meetings to one per year. Adams saw this as further evidence that the British would continue to limit the colonists' liberty.

In September, 1774, Samuel Adams became one of the delegates at the First Continental Congress held in Philadelphia. He helped draft the Declaration of Rights. In April, 1775, Adams, along with John Hancock, was a target of the British army advancing on Lexington. They escaped, however, when Paul Revere famously warned them.

Beginning in May, 1775, Adams was a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. He helped write the Massachusetts state constitution. He was part of the Massachusetts ratifying convention for the US Constitution.

After the Revolution, Adams served as a Massachusetts state senator, lieutenant governor, and then governor. He died on October 2, 1803 in Boston.


  In Boston there is a "red brick line" - much like the yellow brick road of Wizard of Oz. If you follow it from the starting point to ending point, you will be on The Freedom Trail. It is 2.5 miles long. It takes you all over Boston, Cambridge, Lexington and Concord to see historical sites. So as long as I was on the brick - I didn't get lost!

 This cemetery was founded on February 20, 1659, when the town bought land on Copp's Hill from John Baker and Daniel Turell to start the "North Burying Ground". Now named "Copp's Hill Burying Ground", it is the second oldest cemetery in Boston (second only to the King's Chapel Burying Ground founded in 1630). It contains the remains of various notable Bostonians from the colonial era.

  I went to the Boston Aquarium for a couple of hours one afternoon while it was raining.    I do not know the names of fish by what they look like except a few. But ever since the movie "Nemo" I call them by their movie names. So...in the photo below youwill see Dory, Gill and others.

Below you see "Nemos" aka Clown Fish.

Every state of the union that I have visited, I have tried to go to their State Capitol building if I am anywhere near it.  Boston is the Capitol for Massachusetts and it was only 2 blocks from my hotel. We had an hour tour by a wonderful lady who teaches US Constitution and had wit! On our tour was Arizona Representative from District 13 who just was appointed to take the seat of Richard Miranda. Our tour lady took him over to a guard who then took him inside the Massacushetts House of Representatives (in session!) and he got a really private tour. I thought that was very amazing.



This is a photo of inside the Senate.

 This is the original firearm (musket) fired by Captain Parker on Lexington Green at the British! 

Across the street from my Hotel was King's Chapel. King's Chapel was founded by Royal Governor Sir Edmund Andros in 1686 as the first Anglican Church in New England during the reign of King James II. The original King's Chapel was a wooden church built in 1688 at the corner of Tremont and School Streets, where the church stands today. It was situated on the public burying ground because no resident would sell land for a non-Puritan church.

1688 King's Chapel building (demolished)In 1749, construction began on the current stone structure, which was designed by Peter Harrison and completed in 1754. The stone church was built around the wooden church. When the stone church was complete, the wooden church was disassembled and removed through the windows of the new church. The wood was then shipped to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where it was used to construct St. John's Anglican Church. That church was destroyed by fire on Halloween night, 2001. It has since been rebuilt.

During the American Revolution, the chapel sat vacant and was referred to as the "Stone Chapel." The loyalist families left for Canada, and those who remained reopened the church in 1782. It became Unitarian under the ministry of James Freeman, who revised the Book of Common Prayer along Unitarian lines in 1785. Although Freeman still considered King's Chapel to be Episcopalian, the Anglican Church refused to ordain him. The church still follows its own Anglican/Unitarian hybrid liturgy today. It is a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

The photo to the left is taken inside. Notice the pews are boxes with little doors. There was no heating in the church. Families had their own box, would bring quilts and cover them while listening to the preacher. When one sits in the pews you can barely see over the box. That is why the podiums were raised so high so everyone could see! Amazing!

As I walked around Boston, I came across this Farmer's Market. Every time I walked through it I was so full from eating - I had no appetite to buy and eat anything else. But the fruit and veggies were beautiful! Smelled great too!

 Our final night in Boston we decided to go to some of our favorite food stops one more time.  We went for appetizers of Shrimp Coctail at a place called "Sail Loft". You buy the shrimp by the piece at $2.95. So you tell the waitress how many you want. They were big and fat! Caught locally and brought in every morning.

We then walked to the Italian area of Boston (just 5 blocks from the harbor) to Mike's Pastry for cannoli. His bakery shop is famous! Every where we went we saw people carrying these little boxes of pastry with his name on them tied in twine.  We ate our desert there next!

Then we decided to randomly choose a hole in the wall italian restaurant. It had maybe 10 tables in it. It was a little pricey but the food was really good.

L-R: Sandi, Kathy Reyes, Becky ?, and Jeannie Myrick at dinner.  And NO we didn't have any of the wine you see sittng on the ledge by us. We all had water.

The other fun piece of education we received when we first arrived in Boston was how to understand what people are saying.  This is what we were told:  if the word ends in an "a" you say "er" - example: idea would be ider (pronounced   i-dee-rr); if the word ends in "er" you put an "a" instead - example: better would be betta; you never say the letter "r" in the middle of a word, example: park would be pawk, car would be caw.

Also if we read on the menu the word "schrod" it means Cod, and we were told what Haddock was, but I don't remember what the word was. These words go back to the Old English days of Boston.

As you can see, I had a fabulous time seeing parts of our Nation's Birth and areas where my ancestors were in fighting for our Liberty. 

Boston Trip - Part One

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to fly back to Boston, MA for a National School Board conference. While there I attended many classes and heard some interesting speakers. One day and a few afternoons (even if it was pouring rain) we went sightseeing. So here are some photos of the things I saw. This is Part ONE of my pictures.  



 On Friday we had the entire day for a 7 hour bus tour. Truly it was the only way to see so much in such a short time. One of our stops was at Harvard University.  I never imagined I would ever be at Harvard. It was amazing.  The photo above is one of the many gates that surround the campus. So stately!

 This is one of the original buildings of Harvard! Notice all the windows for each floor. They all open up. Harvard was founded in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts
Bay Colony and named for its first donor, the Reverend John Harvard, who left his personal
library and half his estate to the new institution. The charter granted to Harvard by the Colony in 1650, with amendments and John Adams’s further definition in the fifth chapter of the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, is the authority under which the University of today operates.

For its first two hundred years Harvard College followed a set curriculum consistent with the instructional style of the period. It emphasized rhetorical principles, rote learning, and constant drilling. The faculty was very small, yet already distinguished. John Winthrop (AB 1732), who held the Hollis Professorship and taught mathematics and natural philosophy from 1738 to 1779, was in the colonial era one of America’s greatest men of science.

Harvard’s oldest buildings date from the eighteenth century. Massachusetts Hall (1720), Wadsworth House (1726), and Holden Chapel (1744) are the earliest. Hollis Hall has been a dormitory since it was built in 1763. Harvard Hall (1766) stands on the site of a seventeenth century building of the same name. It burned down one wintry night in 1764, destroying the 5,000-volume college library (then the largest in North America). But I was told that a lady and her son were on the Titanic. He was a great swimmer. But drowned when only his mother was allowed in a life boat.  She donated his inheritance in 1912 or 1913 to Harvard to provide books to the Library there. It is once again the largest Library of any University in the USA.

 While driving north of Beacon Hill were many homes dating back to mid 1770's. With the Revolutionary War going, citizens would paint their chimney stacks so people would know if they were for the Crown of England - white with a black band at the top, like the photo to the left.

OR, if they were a Patriot and friend to breaking from England - neutral color chimney stacks as photo left shows.  The thing that impressed me most was there was NO MIDDLE ground. You were on one side or the other and EVERYONE knew it.

The photo on left was taken at Lexington-Green. This is where the first shots fired in the Revolutionary War. I also toured the Massachusetts State Capitol (in Boston) and saw the original musket (I think that is what the gun was called) that was fired here by Captain John Parker. When the patriots fired it killed the British General. They also grabbed his gun and it is also hanging in the Capitol building.  Now, who would have thought to grab those two amazing pieces of history!!!

The yellow building below is of Brickman Tavern located next to Lexington-Green. This is where the farmers waited for the British Soldiers to arrive for the fight.  Paul Revere made it this far to warn the Minuteman (farmers) that they were coming.  So many of the men got tired of waiting on the British there were only 77 of them still there when the British arrived - 700 Brits! We were out numbered  10 times greater! Yet, we won that first battle. 

 In the surrounding areas of  Concord, MA are many famous authors. We drove past Louisa May Alcott and Ralph Waldo Emerson homes. Famous writer Nathaniel Hawthorne is best known for The Scarlet Letter.

The Wayside Inn is the photo on the left! It really exists.

Old Manse (what he called his home) is still the home to his family's furniture, including his writing desk. The former home of famous writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow also served as "headquarters for General George Washington during the Siege of Boston, July 1775 - April 1777.

The photo below of Walden Pond. Yes, it's that Walden Pond, the one where Henry David Thoreau lived. Thoreau, best known for writing Walden, as well as his 1849 essay, "Civil Disobedience" lived at this location from July 1845 to September 1847. It needs a lot of work to restore it, but was fun to see.

The photo below is called Fanueil Hall. It is an old building, first built in 1742, sits at the site of the old town dock. Town meetings, held here between 1764 and 1774, heard Samuel Adams and others lead cries of protest against the imposition of taxes on the colonies.  This was  referred to as "the Cradle of Liberty".  I had family who participated in such discussions as part of the Sons of Liberty. So being there was thrilling!

On November 6, 1979, Faneuil Hall was the site of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's speech declaring his candidacy for president. On November 3, 2004, Faneuil Hall was the site of Senator John Kerry's concession speech in the 2004 presidential election.












The Old State House built in 1713, is an historic landmark served as a merchants' exchange as well as the seat of colonial and state governments. In 1761 James Otis opposed the Writs of Assistance here, inspiring John Adams to state "then and there the child independence was born." A cobblestone circle beneath its balcony marks the site of the 1770 Boston Massacre when British soldiers fired into a crowd of Bostonians. Fugitive slave Crispus Attucks was among the five victims who died that day.  Wow!
 

 We also drove along the freeway and low and behold what do we see outside the window! The LDS Boston Temple! I sure wish I could have gotten closer or had time to do a session. 

We went to see the USS Constitution. A ship! It was also known as "Old Ironsides". Constitution is most famous for her actions during the War of 1812 against Great Britain, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five British warships: HMS Guerriere, Java, Pictou, Cyane and Levant. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname of "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. She continued to actively serve the nation as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons, and circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy. Retired from active service in 1881, she served as a receiving ship until designated a museum ship in 1907. In 1931 she started a three-year, 90-port tour of the nation, and in 1997 she finally sailed again under her own power for her 200th birthday.

As a fully commissioned US Navy ship, her crew of 60 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies, educational programs, and special events while keeping the ship open to visitors year round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty US Navy personnel and the assignment is considered special duty in the Navy. Every 4th of July they sail her out into Boston Harbor, fire her cannons (yes they still work!) and then sail back to dock at the end of the day.

 

 

 

I walked over to the "Old North Church" built in 1723.  It is Boston's oldest church building and still an active Episcopal Church. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow memorialized Old North's role at the start of the Revolutionary War in his poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere." On the night of April 18, 1775, sexton Robert Newman hung two lanterns in the steeple to warn Charlestown patriots of the advance of British soldiers. When Mr. Newman got ready to leave the building the British soldiers were at the front doors, so he ran up through the center of the church and escaped through this window. This is a replica of the lanterns hung. 

So stay tuned, the Part Two will be coming shortly.

Boston

I arrived in Boston. Long flight! I am here for a national school board conference with 2 others from my board. We are staying in the Omni Parker House Hotel. Right near the freedom trail. This hotel is the home to Parker House rolls and the famous Boston Cream Pie. Tomorrow is all day touring.