Xochicalco

We went to Xochicalco on Saturday. It's the remains of a fortified city dating back to 700-900AD. The archaeological site is large and very interesting. It was very hot, and about 800m lower in altitude from where we are here on the hill above Cuernavaca. Apparently the time to come is on the 21st of June, solstice, when it is inundated with people seeking the spiritual benefits that are supposed to be maximised on that day.

Highlights of the day were:

Insects - we saw loads of colourful butterflies and bugs. No scorpions though, to Al's disappointment.

The observatory, inside a cave deep inside the hill, where the ancients had carved a hole, about a foot in diameter, up to the surface. It was a very sacred place - only the astronomer and priests were allowed in, and the measurements were so precise that they developed a calendar based on the passage of the sun across the opening. It was the wrong time of year for direct sunlight when we went but if you stood in the daylight under the hole, it looked like the opening scene in Mr Bean, where he stands under a spotlight. We all had a go at being Mr Bean.

The pelota courts - Pelota was a ball game with sacred and ritual meanings, played on a court with stone hoops on each side. Three playing fields had been excavated, one with the hoops still intact.

Beautiful carvings on the Quetzlcoatl pyramid (Quetzlcoatl was a feathered serpent, a symbol of power).


After this we had lunch at a Mexican roadhouse. It looked like a packhouse from the outside, a place where you might stop and buy a few chips of strawberries back in NZ. But inside it was full of people laughing, chatting, and eating at plain tables with bench seats and white plastic tablecloths. Our waitress came to the table and told us the menu in rapid Spanish (thank goodness we had our Mexican friends with us). We had cecina, thinly sliced beef that has been salted, then fried, and it was the food of the Gods. Really really delicious. We also had sopes, which are like little tortilla pizzas - corn tortillas are shaped with a low ridge round the edge to keep the filling in, usually beans and cheese, and sour cream. Most of the tortillas here are made from a special white maize flour.

Also on the table were chiles rellenos (fresh mild chiles stuffed with stringy cheese and cooked in tomato sauce), spicy pork sausage, whole cooked pinto beans and fresh cheese. We drank Yoli, a sprite-type lemonade from the neighbouring state of Guerrero, out of glass bottles. Yum.