Teotenango

My former students will attest to the fact that I am fascinated by archaeological sites.  I have visited almost all of the most famous sites in Mexico.  Now, many of my trips will include a visit to a lesser known site.  Often they turn out to be just as impressive and as worthy of a visit as the places which draw large numbers of tourists..

Yesterday, Alejandro and I took a drive out of the city to the ruins of Teotenango.  They are located 50 miles to the southwest of Mexico City... about an hour's drive if the traffic is not bad.  Teotenango was built around A.D. 900 by a tribe known as the Matlatzincas.  It is built on top of a large, rocky hill which they terraced to create their city.  In 1474 Teotenango was conquered by the Aztecs, who built a military garrison here. 

                                             After a hike up the hill, we arrived at the ruins.

         From the ruins you can look down on the present-day town of Tenango del Valle which was built
                                                           after the Spanish conquest.

After a couple of hours exploring the ruins, we could see that a storm was coming.

The top of a pyramid is definitely not a good place to be during a thunder storm,

so we left and returned to the town at the bottom of the hill.

Houses of Tenango del Valle clinging to the hillside.

We made it to a restaurant in the town before the rain began.

We both had "cecina", thin slices of dried, salted beef.

It was pretty good.

By the time we finished dinner, the rain had stopped.

We made it back to Mexico City before dark.