It's not a slow car, it's a fast house

When we finally left San Juan Teotihuacan, we didn’t go far. Just a short drive away is the archeological site of Tula in the town of Tula de Allende. It is often overlooked, because Teotihuacan is so popular. But we wanted to take the time to look at the Toltec warriors with their atlatls and check out the geocaches on site.

We camped near the entrance gates and entered the park early.   That was probably not necessary, as the only crowd that showed up was a small group of adorable kindergartners on a field trip. We were able to wander the ruins without issue, and even hunt for the geocaches unnoticed. 

The top of the main pyramid once held a wood and palm frond building. Huge, stone carvings held up the roof of this structure. These carved Atlanteans were sacred, as was the resting Chacmool.  

Chacmool will likely be seen in our photos again, as this carving has been found from these Northern pyramids, all down through the Yucatan and even into El Salvador and Costa Rica. The table or plate in the center of Chacmool held a bowl, which contained sacrificial items. Depending on what was being requested of the gods, the contents could include incense, food, flowers or body parts.

At Tula there are a variety of important structures and carvings. Some well-preserved benches and rooms are interesting.  And on a grand scale, in addition to the carvings, there is a large collection of columns, which once held up the roof of the palace on this site.

We found one of the geocaches. It needed a new container, and we had one with us. We had to mark DNF on the other one we attempted.

Tula kept us thinking about Tenochtitlan (Mexico City before it was Mexico City) and the ancient cultures of this area. We will see more of these as we move southeast across Mexico.