From Mineral country we drove closer to Mexico city, the trip was going to an end. The next stop was 90 km away – Teotichuacan, the town by big pyramids. We noticed the Sun Pyramid already from the road, so massive and impressive. But we left the visit to them for tomorrow. First of all we checked in to our hotel Olin Teotl – on a quiet street, at last we will get the peace and quiet we wanted!
It was 20 min walk from gate #2 which is right in front of the Sun Pyramid. The hotel was really nice, and very empty on those days. It had 2 big inner gardens, with lots of plants, flowers and a swimming pool for the summer guests. We got a big room with real original art – I enjoyed it a lot! Made the stay more perfect:
And then we drove to see another monastery, Acolman, but instead of taking the highway – we took a small road and had to give up after an hour of driving through endless “topes”. So it is left unseen…Just saw some two other churches on the way:
This one impressed by the abundance of live flowers all over – even walls were covered with them and they smelled strongly, lilies did…
On that road we were lucky to notice a fish restaurant – the food and service were very good! If you are going there with a car -drive from Teotichuacan to Acolman and on the right hand side you’ll see it. Right after you leave T.
The downtown of Teotichuacan is pretty nice, there were some people dancing Aztec sacred dances, lots of street markets, some nicer streets than the others. Lots of dentist offices, I guess it is a good idea to use their services in Mexico versus USA:
Tthe next day we got up early and rushed to the pyramids – on the way we saw one ancient palace of Tetitla, with some frescoes still left. The plan of the building is pretty elaborate, lots and lots of rooms, and then each room seemed to have a theme- it was painted in the same pattern or same picture: 
This last one- the bird – seemed to be the most interesting and unexpected. We entered the Pyramid park at 9 am through the 2nd gate and stayed there until 3 pm – never got bored, wanted to stay longer, but got tired :-): 
Top is the Sun Pyramid, and bottom is the Moon Pyramid, which is lower, but not so wide, therefore it looks taller. All thso optical effects…
The long path that leads to the Moon pyramid is called Paseo de la Muertes – Aztecs thought that the structures along the road are mausoleums. But they are not, so it should not be a Road of the Dead:
The best part – we could climb the Sun Pyramid, to the very top, and also walk on its terraces around and enjoy the clean and dry air around, the space, the good energy and the views:
I even did some yoga on the top terrace of Sun Pyramid:
Then walking through the palace of Quetzalpapotl and admiring its central court, sculptures and frescoes that were still survived the ages: 
All those reliefs were painted, were colorful. This court is restored, some of the column stones are not originals.
The serpent head by the entrance:
Evidently the ancient people who first built the pyramids and the city had a sewage system installed, they had holes and underground canals and collectors and all drained into a small river running in the middle of the city. Here is their elaborate sewage system:
After the palace we again had more energy and climbed the Moon Pyramid – it is not restored to the very top, so they let you climb only the first part of it to a big platform. From there- the view is to the Sun Pyramid :-). On the left you can see a mound – it is also another small pyramid, still buried iin soil, this is how they all looked when Modern Ages came, by which I mean Spanish:
There is a museum on the right side of Sun Pyramid – with all the treasures they found in their diggings, sculptures and bones of evidently sacrificed women. I liked the other artifacts more than bones :-). There is one room with transparent bridge over a small version of Teotichuacan:
There is a small Botanical garden by the Museum, all native plants, and not very small ones. The biggest surprise to me was to find that Ruta or Ruth or whatever it is called in English – our national Lithuanian flower used in wedding ceremonies- is native to Mexico! 
One more view of the giant. It is to be said that the basis of the Sun Pyramid is the same as the one of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. But it is two times shorter, that makes it not so steep and easier to climb!
Then we headed to the opposite direction than the Moon Pyramid is. The path was even wider but not so smooth – we had to go down some steps to some plazas, then up again, then pass a bridge over a poor sewage river and then again till the end of this big field of the park and on the left we reached another big plaza which was a trade plaza in historic times and a strange double pyramid at its end:
Here we climbed one smaller pyramid and are looking towards the other, which still has some sculptures and reliefs left, even the shells still intact:
The restoration works are still going on:
Here is part of the plaza – how many people lived there, how many of them gathered in those big plazas…They think that at its best times Teotichuacan had over 100,000 citizens…And then something bad happened, an uncovered secret what, and the citizens destroyed what they could, especially the frescoes, and left. Only then the Aztecs came when the pyramids were overgrown with nature. 
Spending time in the Pyramid park was was beyond impressive! the feeling is so good that if I lived in Mexico – I would come there for fueling myself with good energy. As tired as we were after the Pyramids, we still managed to drive around the whole big fenced park and see another separate palace of Tepantitla – this one is known for its especially elaborate remnants of frescoes. The first one depicts joy and happiness, people paying games and spraying water. The second is of a priest:
The next morning was our flight back home. We drove to Mexico city on highways. which was also tricky for we had to do a triangle maneuver and change 3 highways to get to the right one. And then once we got there – we missed the “Retorno” sign and got on the wrong road as we expected, no matter how much we prepared for it on Google maps…Luckily at least this time the GPS “lady ” helped us and we were even to early for our flight. Avis people provided us with nice service and I can only praise them! Thank you little Red Car to take us back safely!
