Mexico City, Mexico: Anthropologic Wonders and Goodbye

Mama Camacho and I spent the day getting lost in the National Anthropology Museum.  Impressively thorough exhibits and well-done models made this complex a delight to explore.  Our tour began with a view of Tlaloc, the rain god.  This massive statue--23 feet high and weighing 168 tons--was successfully transfered from the village of Coatlinchan to its current location in 1964 (during a rainstorm, of course).

After paying our dues to Tlaloc, we headed inside to begin our exploration.  Though the museum does an excellent job covering the history of man, the highlights were definitely the rooms devoted to specific Mexican cultural groups.  For instance, the facade of the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, above, which was removed from the site of Teotihuacan for display in this museum, was the anchor of the display on Teotihuacan culture.

The picture above shows one of the many impressive sculpture works on display in the Toltec room.

This stone, called the Aztec Calendar, was designed and carved by the Aztecs at the height of their empire.  It features the days of the week, the seasons, and the times of day.  Ironically, it was not a calendar at all, but was actually a sacrificial altar devoted to the sun (hence all the carvings about time, which, in the Aztecs' view, was controlled by the sun).

Mama Camacho and I in front of the facade of a Mayan pyramid.  Vastly different from the architecture seen in any of the aforementioned civilizations, the Mayas built superb cities and temples on the Yucatan peninsula.  The empire--strengthened by the fact that they were brilliant mathematicians (yay zero!), astronomers, warriors, and builders--was the last to fall to the Spanish conquistadors, and people living in the way of the Maya could be found undisturbed until the early 18th century.

After spending hours exploring the culture-specific rooms, we took a quick trip through the ethnographic part of the museum, which was organized by current Mexican state (the tapestry above is from the state of Nayarit).  Mama Camacho was most helpful in explaining this section of the museum!

Sadly, it was then time to go home to pack, though the flag did give me a lovely wave goodbye.  Though it has been a whirlwind, my trip to Mexico City was fantastic, and I can't wait to come back and see more of what this great city has to offer.  Thank you so much to Mama and Papa Camacho for opening their home to me and for showing me their city...I had an amazing time!