Another Pyramid to Climb

On Saturday Alejandro drove Nancy, Fred and me to Cholula, a city about two hours to the east of Mexico City on the other side of the mountains.  I know Cholula from when I went to school at the University of the Americas many, many years ago.  Back then Cholula was a sleepy, rural town on the outskirts of Puebla.  Today it is a suburb of Puebla with a population of over 100,000.  Tourism is now a major part of its economy, and the reason tourists come here is to see its pyramid.

The Pyramid of Cholula is, in terms of volume, the largest pyramid in the world... yes, bigger, although not taller, than the Great Pyramid of Egypt.  Most of it is covered with dirt and overgrown with vegetation, and it looks like a large hill rising up from the edge of the city.  The Spanish built a church on top of it.  

The previous weekend we had climbed the pyramids of Teotihuacán.  Now we were going to tackle the Pyramid of Cholula.  The climb is tiring, but since we were not climbing the original steps, but rather a paved path that goes up to the church, it was easier.

 We made it to the top.

The top of the pyramid offers a great view, although it was a mostly cloudy day, and we could not see the volcanic peaks of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl.

Below us was the city of Cholula with its many colonial churches.

From the other side we could see the city of Puebla, a bustling city which now has many skyscrapers (none of which were there back when I was a student).

Down the road from the pyramid, the tree covered area is the campus of the University of the Americas.  The trees and the university have grown since I was a student there in 1973.  

Whenever I return to Cholula, I never cease to be amazed by how much the area has changed.

We visited the church atop the pyramid.  The Church of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios was completed in 1629.  It interior is very beautiful, but unfortunately photography is no longer allowed inside.

Descending the pyramid we took a different path, one which led us to the Cholula Archaeological Site.  There have been extensive excavations along the southern side of the pyramid.

Before we left Cholula we watched a performance of the "Voladores de Papantla" on the plaza in front of the pyramid.  The "voladores" (flyers) perform a pre-Hispanic ritual in which they climb to the top of a tall pole.  They tie themselves to ropes which are wound around the pole.  They then hurl themselves from the pole and, as the ropes unwind, descend to the ground.