Teotihuacan

Teotihuacan is the city of Aztec ruins outside of Mexico City. When the conquistadores came, it had long been abandoned. No one really knows why -- epidemic, battle, who knows. The ruins were rediscovered many years later and the pyramids were rebuilt, so "El Sol" and "La Luna"(The Sun and The Moon) are not exactly the original pyramids. They are restored but still really cool. 

"El Sol" is the bigger one, and "La Luna" is the one with the view of the Avenue of the Dead. These pyramids were used in rituals of human sacrifice. The Aztecs were warriors, and their life was about growing food and going to battle. They would capture men from other tribes to sacrifice. I don't remember all of the details, but there was a long process that ended in bringing the captive to the top of the pyramid, cutting out his beating heart, and shoving his body down the pyramid. Afterward, the captor had to wear the captive's skin for awhile because if he hadn't been the captor, he would have been the captive. 

Because being taken captive was considered dying in battle, it was an honorable death. Men who died in battle and women who died in childbirth were considered to be warriors who died honorably. 

We climbed these pyramids last weekend, which was pretty awesome. I climbed both of them because El Sol is impressive and La Luna has the cool view. Ancient history is fascinating to me, and going to ancient civilizations is surreal. Like, woah, I just walked where people lived thousands of years ago. I always wonder what happened to them, how the city fell. How are our cities going to fall? Will people find artifacts of laptops and cellphones?