Under the Volcano

This is a view from our Airbnb on the 12th floor.  The volcano Popocatepeti, (it means smoking mountain) .... is smoking as the sun is setting.  It is a very active volcano but is about 60 miles from us.  It is a constant menace and spews dust and gasses into the air which is not so clean anyhow for a city of 26 million, at a considerable altitude.

We went to see Teotihuacan today.  It is a name that means "turning men to gods" and is one of the largest temple complexes in North America before 1600's.  And it is a mystery who founded it.  It was not Aztec as they came down later from the north  This was founded around 100B and lasted until about 700 AD.  It is believed perhaps that it was a combination of different peoples that were displaced by a volcanic explosion that founded this site.

This is a view of the Avenue of the Dead, I almost died it was so hot.  It is very impressive in architecture all aligned, the temple of the Sun and the temple of the Moon with all sorts of other smaller temples on the way.  This is what is called "sloped slab" construction and a distinctive aspect of this type of building.  You can no longer climb up the sides but I didn't want to do that anyhow.

This is the temple of the Moon, smaller but with many frescos.  There were tunnels beneath these structures and animal and human skeletons were found within. 

Sloped slab

Selfie.

The private quarters were beautifully decorated with reliefs and frescos.  Only a few survive but you can imagine how it would have looked.

These are mythical animals that are in water fighting. 

This is what they believe to be a serpent.  Often they represent Quezalcoatl a mythical feathered snake and Tlaloc (god of water), he has what looks like googles on.

We were very disappointed to find that the Diego and Frida Studio was closed for 5 days to repaint the blue.  But we are not giving up and will be back to see the rest of these buildings.  That blue is intense.

I love this cactus fence that surrounds their studios.  So we walked over to the house that Trotsky lived in at the end of his life with his wife. 

Trotsky in exile in Mexico became friends with Diego and especially close with Frida.  He was assassinated there after having survived most of his family dying under Stalins' reign of terror.  The house is well described in Barbara Kingsolver's book "La Lacuna".  A good read about this era.  In the above photo you can see how the doors were steel plated enforced.  The house has sentinels too but finally it is one of his guards that assassinated him at the desk below with an ice pick.

I love the colors of this room but this was where his secretaries kept order.

This bright kitchen was also a reminder of how he lived although his life was a mess and he was in great danger. (like the Giverny kitchen).  Carpe diem.