Some people ride rollercoasters...

...we ride buses in Cuernavaca.

It was definitely a white-knuckle ride to the pyramids yesterday. Not that we were expecting a luxury coach, but we certainly were kept alert by the way that the drive of our ¨micro¨ seemed to be playing chicken with other buses on the roads. We made it, however, and it was completely worth the hot, dusty bus ride.

The pyramids at Xochicalco were an important civilization around the year 700 AD. The structures have since been reconstructed to reflect their original positions, and they are remarkable. We visited the Pyramide de Quetzalcoatl (a warrior god whose image was a plumed serpent), an astronomer´s temple where the solstices were tracked and where the calendars were kept on track, and a pyramid where special ceremonies took place, including a space for playing a ball game in which the winner was given the highest honor- to be sacrificed to the gods.

I found myself staring at the ruins trying to imagine what it must have looked like at the height of it´s existence- so little is known about why it was deserted and how life was back then. So much of their lives must have been so different from ours today- and yet, so similar in some ways- there would have been families and shops and gossip and fights...people working and cooking and sleeping...laughing and jokes, lovers and enemies...kids playing games, adults talking ¨grown up talk¨... It really makes me appreciate both the uniqueness of cultures around the world, and also marvel at the human-universals that are found in every corner of the world. I am, however, grateful that MY culture does not include a sport in which the winner must die- although I can´t say I personally would be too worried about winning at soccer or some sport like that...

We´re going to stay one more night at our B&B in Cuernavaca...today we´re going to take it easy, maybe do some shopping for local artesanía and see some museums. We´re pretty exhausted from our wanderings yesterday- not only did we climb several pyramids, we got lost several times walking around Cuernavaca (the streets here are not on ANY kind of grid or system.. it´s kind of like free-style street building), and probably walked at least 10 miles looking for the bus stop. Our piernas are like jell-o today.

Here are a few pictues from yesterday- one is this sign we keep seeing that simply points to ¨Mexico¨...which I can´t really figure out, since, well, we´re IN Mexico. The others are of the magnificent stone work at the pyramids- which was just stunning.

Abrazos desde lejos,
Katie