 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Here is a satellite image of the entire site at Xochicalco. It is
hard to fathom just how big and impressive it is. And the view from
up here are outstanding. Enjoy the tour... |
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Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico We walked for a while from the museum and then along a lower level of
the site. Then, around the corner, we headed up these steps and saw just how HUGE and
magnificent the structures were. |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico There was a tour group here, so we just went in the opposite direction
as they went. We spent literally the whole day at Xochicalco, between our visit at the
museum in the morning and then the site for the remainder of the day.
What an incredible day. |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico
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 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico
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Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico It's just amazing to visualize how ALL these rocks were quarried,
shaped, transported and built into these structures, so many years ago.
Many of the pieces were porous lava rock as pictured here. |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Just to get an idea of the size, do you see the couple walking up the
stairs, just left of the center part of the screen? |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Do we look like we belong here? :) |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico
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 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Indiana Jones enjoying a few minutes in the shade. |
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Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Look at that view! And look at how high up we are! The
lower area in this photo is where we we took the previous photo of the two
of us. Lots of climbing, good exercise! |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico We noticed at this site and numerous others that they press small
pieces of lava rock
into the mortar between the larger stones. As pictured here, there
is often a line formed by these stones. We are not sure if this is just a design, or
whether it has some
other significance or meaning. We don't think it's just a design as
it seems to have no rhyme or reason as you see above. Hmmm... very
interesting kids... |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Wow!! |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico This was our very favourite structure. It was called 'Pyramid of
the Plumed Serpent'.
Look at the carvings, they were all around and on both levels. Absolutely
amazing detail! |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Notice the head and body of a serpent winding its way along the wall? |
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Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico This is a close-up of the information plaque at the Pyramid of the Plumed Serpent. Similar plaques were located at all the major structures and areas around the site.
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Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico These guys are sitting cross legged under the curves of the serpents
body. We can't begin to describe what it was like to see these
carvings in person. |
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Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico This is another corner of the same building and we are showing you a close up of the serpents head. You'll notice that some of the pieces here are a lighter color. We think that some pieces were missing at the time when this structure was re-constructed in 1909. So, they patterned new stones from similar ones at other locations on the pyramid.
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 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico This is by far the biggest ball court we have seen yet! The walls
probably stand 25 feet tall. We are standing at the top looking
down into the centre. The two objects in the center are stone
'hoops' and they
would have originally been mounted on the sides of the walls. |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Now we are down at ground level at the entrance to the same ball court.
Considering the rules of this game, we think we prefer to play modern day
basketball instead. :) |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Close up of the stone hoops. |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico
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 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico Magnificent view looking over the valley and down at another large ball
court. If you look very closely you can see the hoops are still intact, mounted on each of the side walls. Very cool. We don't
have a close up of this ball court because we ran out of batteries late in
the day.
We look so many pictures that our camera could not keep up :). |
 Xochicalco, Morelos, Mexico This is way down the hill, past the ball court in the last picture.
In the last photo, you
see a grey area, just before it drops off to the valley.. that is where we
are now. This is our last picture of this incredible site. We
feel so fortunate to have been able to visit here. We are in awe of
the beauty and history of this location. |
 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico We then headed north to a city called Cuernavaca. There was nowhere to
stop and it was rush hour, so we were swept along until we were back out
of the city with no were to pull over until here. Once we pulled
over we re-arranged ourselves and stayed in this location for a couple of days.
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 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico This magnificent building is the 'Palacio de Gobierno' (Government
Palace) and it was located off the west
side of their beautiful square, Plaza de Armas. |
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Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico This is a huge statue of Jose Morelos located at the other end of the square. |
 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Their zocalo is one of those squares where it 'invites' you to have a
seat and people watch, or read or have your lunch. We really enjoyed
the ambiance of this square. |
 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Wow look at this building, doesn't it look like a fortress. This
is the Palacio de Cortes and has a lot of history. It was built by
Cortes between 1522 & 1532. This site was the location of a huge
pyramid, which he destroyed and then used the stones to build his own
fortress. Parts of the base of the pyramid are visible at some
locations within the fortress. After Cortes finished using this as
his residence, it was used as a prison and later, government offices.
It now houses the 'Museo Regional Cuauhnahuac'. |
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Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Inside the fortress museum... look at that ceiling and those walls,
incredible. |
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 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Absolutely incredible pieces! Also note the window and door up
above. |
 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Just gorgeous architecture, beautiful rock work and archways.
Also notice the rain spouts directing water away from the side of the
building. |
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Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Look up, waaaaay up. Outstanding. |
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 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Wonderful artifacts. Also, what a great room, look at the height,
the archway and that wonderful hardwood floor. |
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Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Notice the incredible artwork all along the wall. This was
painted by a famous Mexican painter by the name of Diego Rivera in the mid
1920's. We have
since seen his art in many prominent Mexican buildings. |
 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
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 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
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 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico And the churches. There are many, many churches in Cuernavaca.
We will show you a few of the ones we visited... |
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Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico This is one of three churches in the high-walled 'recinto' or compound. This is the Capilla del Carmen where believers seek cures for illnesses. |
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Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico This is the Templo de la Terceta Orden de San Francisco, begun in 1723. |
 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Inside the Templo de la Terceta Orden de San Francisco there's lots of intricate, gilded decorations... |
 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico This tile information sign indicates that the church was begun in 1529... The Franciscan monks who oversaw the construction added the skull & cross bones motif above the side door, a symbol of the Franciscan Order. |
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Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
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 Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico This was something we had never seen before. We're not certain
how it is used or for what... However, the majority of Mexicans are Catholic, so we
figure it may be for baptisms. If anyone knows, please let us know so
that we can put the correct information on this page. Thanks! |
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Outskirts of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Just one more church, we found this one on the outskirts of Cuernavaca
when we were out for a nice walk. It has such a pretty courtyard and
grounds, we took a number of pictures here. |
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Outskirts of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico Look at the work in the pathway...beautiful. |
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Outskirts of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
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Outskirts of Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
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| What a special update this one has been! We hope you
enjoyed viewing it as much as we enjoyed experiencing it. Can you
believe we are now heading into Part 8 and we are still in
July!! My gosh Barry and Cindy, slow down!!
Click here to read the next segment of
this Travel Log Series |
