Today we visited the Teotihuacan (Tay-oh-tee-huah-cahn) Archaeological Zone -- home of the 4th largest pyramid in the world and the 2nd largest in Mexico. Unbeknownst to us, the pyramid we saw in Cholula is the largest. It doesn't appear to be large because it is in the middle of the town with a road that bisects it thru the middle.
Anyway, the large pyramids dominate this site. The Sun Pyramid is the largest and the Moon Pyramid seems almost as big. In the 1980's when archaeologist started excavating this site, they used dynamite to remove the vegetation from the Sun Pyramid, thus removing about 3 meters (10 feet) of rock from 3 sides of the structure. We climbed the steps all the way to the top. John then climbed half way up the Moon Pyramid (people are not permitted to climb higher).
The picture shows the buildings surrounding the pyramids. This was a city that sustained 200,000 people and covered about 8 square miles of land. They have only excavated 10% of the buildings. Imagine what you would see in 600 AD when this city was in full swing. 60,000 people in the market everyday, trade with peoples from as far away as Guatemala or northward near what is now the US border. All surfaces in the city (walls and floors and roadways ) would have been covered with cement that was then covered with stucco and painted in bright colors of red, yellow, green and blue. No grass, no trees, no flowers to be seen. The place was structured to move all water away from the center -- even waste water.
The tops of each pyramid and base was where the buildings would be located -- homes as well as temples.
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