Mexico

to Japanse Version

Museo Nacional de Antropologia

Templo Mayor

Teotihuacan

Chronology

Xochicalco

Grutas de Cacahuamilpa

Oaxaca

Mitla

Chichen Itza

El Castillo
Pyramide del Kukulcan

Yagul

Monte Alban

La Venta

Palenque

Agua Azul

Uxmal

Chichen Itza

Tula

Travering Memo

Museo Nacional de Antropologia

View of the Museum's central patio and "fountain"

The Sun Stone

The Sun Stone

Extraordinary monument of this Museum

Olmec

The word "Olmec" means "inhabitant of the rubber region".

Olmec

Colossal head in stone
representing chieftains or ball gam players

Templo Mayor

Museo de Templo Mayor

Museo Templo Mayor

Teotihuacan

Pyramide del Sol

The influence of this city on the Central Plateau also reached the Naya area.

View of the Teotihuacan, taken from Pyramide de la Luna

Chronology of Ancient Mexico

Centro Mexico	Era	Mayas

Olmec		Formative period
	B.C A.D
Theotihuacan Monte Alban		Classics period Tikal (Guatemala) Copan (Honduras)
Xochicalco Mitla	乣 7 century	Palenque Uxmal
Tula	10 century	Chichen Itza
Templo Mayor	14 century 乣 16 century

Xochicalco

Xochicalco means the "Place of the House of Flowers" and is located southeast of Cuernavaca. It seems that the most illustrous personage of Ancient Mexico came from this region. His name was "Ce Acatl Topiltzin" and is more well known as "Quetzalcoatl".

View of the Xochicalco - Ballganme court

Ballgame
The Ball Court symbolizes the struggle between opponents.The court is a sacred enclosure in which dramatic rituals of human sacrifice took place, which was the principal objective of the game since its inception.

Hoop target

The gods would play with the rubber ball which would bounce from one place to another and when it would come to a standstill or would enter the opening of the hoop, this would be the moment of the decapitation.

The sacrificed blood in the court symbolized the watering of the earth in order that the corn would germinate. Its shapeis sloped and finished off with an upright adornment on which the hoops or "Tlachtemalacatl" are located.

Grutas de Cacahuamilpa

Oaxaca

Sky was dyed red and purple

Mitla

Grupo de las Columunas, from Patio del Norte

Sala de las Columunas

Calmly time and place

Yagul

Evening glow from ruin "Yagul"

Monte Alban

During Classic period, between 200 and 800 AD, the population in the Oaxacan Valley communities increased and the building of Monte Alban cntinud.

Juego : Ball court

from Plataforma Sur

La Venta

The word "Olmec" means "inhabitant of the rubber region". These people lived on the Gulf Coast, south of Veracruz and part of Tabascco. Villahermosa - city of Tabascco - there is "Parque-Museo de la Venta". A lot of open-air exhibitions show us the Olmec culture.

Parque-Museo de la Venta
The Olmec religion revolved around the fertility cult with the jaguar as the principal god. Religion was interlaced with the political and social organization, as in al the other Mesoamerican cultures.

Palenque

View of Ruinas "Palenque"

Templo de las Inscripciones y El Palacio

Tomb

Male head made in stucco and found as an offering in the Palenque tomb.

Agua azul

"Agua azul" is half day excursion from village Palenque

Uxmal

Uxmal is one of the most typical of the "Puuc style". "Puuc" - which differs mainly in the decoration made of stone mosaic on the friezes.

Uxmal

View of Uxmal : Cuadrangulo de las Monjas y Piramide del Adivino

Sound & Light Show (Luz y Sonido)

Espanol (from 19:00) , English (from 20:00)

Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza : El Castillo

Pyramid of Kukulcan is magnificent Toltec influenced structure

The red jaguar and the Chac Mool in the Castillo

Caracol

Caracol

Caracol : an Astromonical obsrvatory

The Mayas studied the stars from the round tower

Tula

Official Guide of National Museum said "There is no doubt that the Toltecs revolutionized many of the architectonic norms in vogue at the time in Mesoamerica."

Tula

Thousand Columns Group : Toltec culture reached the Yucatan Peninsua by conquestt

"Skull" on the friezes

Atlante sculputure representing a warrior

Travering Memo

Bus

Section	Time	Fee
Mexico D.F. - Oaxaca	5 hours	US 20 $
Oaxaca - Villahermosa	12 hours	US 24.6 $
Villahermosa - Palenque	2.5 hours	US 4 $
Palenque - Merida	9 hours	US 11.9 $
Merida - Mexico D.F.	20 hours	US 55.3 $

Entrance fee

Ruins	Fee
Teotihuacan	16 peso
Tula	14 peso
Xochicalco	16 peso
Monte Alban	14 peso
Mitla	10 peso
Yagul	7 peso
Palenque	16 peso
Uxmal	Free on Sunday
Chichen Itza	30 peso

Excange rate : US 1 $ = 8 peso
Entrance is free on Sunday

Cost Break-Down

three weeks trip in Mexico (without airline ticket, Japan - Mexico)

Total	US 550 $
ACCOUNT	AMOUNT
Transportation	US 224 $
Hotel	US 90 $
Meals	US 95 $
Entrance fee	US 30 $
Souvenir	US 34 $
Others	US 77 $

I hope you enjoyed the trip with me.
See you some day somewhere. - Feb.1998 -

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