p-day trip North and West of Mexico City to Tula

Ball court at Tula

 
Explanation of ball court in English. Nice!


The stairs that go up to an overlook of the ball court

Sister Beecher buying goods from a wandering vendor at Tula

An old woman and the young mother in the background at a vendor stand.  I bought a turquoise necklace for $8.

The group with President Call taking the picture. I also bought a bamboo rain stick for $2.

The short old woman

The burnt palace as seen from the top of the Quetzalcoatl pyramid.  Also an explination of the palace and the god Chac Mool

This must have been impressive before it burned 

We climbed the very steep stairs to the top of this pyramid to find a row of these ancient statue warriors that at one point held up the roof. They are carved out of basalt which is volcanic rock.  There is a volcanic mountain in the background.  

The pillars of the burnt palace and the huge plaza in the background that can hold 100,000 people

The basalt statues and the palace in the background.

relief of wild animals and human beings the introductory hall to the Quetzalcoatl pyramid.

Another of the very large pyramids at Tula.  The stairs were roped off on this one so we were not allowed to clime up them.  

some of the water works built into the pyramid

more views of the warriers

P-day trip to Tula

As we entered the city of Tula we saw this truck full of pigs next to us in traffic.  It made me think twice about having a pork chop for dinner.

The city of Tula as it would have been  in 900  through 1150 AD at its height.  Some of the first villages of Tula were established in 700-900  when the city was aligned at 17 degrees east of true north as were the main structures at Teotihuacan.  

The earliest well-defined settlements in the Tula area appeared around 400 BC and were probably under the political control of Teotihuacan.  Being settled this early could put it in B of M times.

We entered the orientation center first to become acquainted with Tula and the Toltec people.  These artifacts were in the museum/orientation center.  Just the feet and legs of a statue.  The detail is very impressive including the tied around the legs and feet.  

The head of a statue

The god Chac Mool.  Sacrifices were made to this statue/god and placed in his hands.  The same god is found in Chichen Itza so there are thoughts that the two cities are linked.  This statue/god was found on the site.

The jaguar was a significant animal in the Meso-American culture.  Even in the Olmec/Jaredite civilization the jaguar was a familiar symbol of power.  They knew their jungle animals and respected them.   

Tula was dedicated to the god Quetzalcoatl.  Rather is was the true great white God, Jesus Christ who was also known as Quetzalcoatl or another who came later and took that name it is not known.  Many leaders came after Christ and were also named as Quetzalcoatl.  The civilization of Tula had a pyramid dedicated to Quetzalcoatl but they also had a leader by that same name who was not Jesus Christ.  

A leader with a great headdress and elaborate clothing signifying importance.

A stone box.  I have seen many here in museums.  Some are huge and some are small  

I thought the picture of this young mother was very interesting.  Neal took a picture of Jackie and me so we could get her in the back ground.  Moments later he took another one of her.  

At this point in time the city of Tula has many large red ant beds.  

As we were walking back to the car we passed this sculpture of a serpent. The head is shown here and following the path you can come to its tail.  I am far in the back taking a photo of the tail which looks like a rattle snake tail built with rocks.  Quetzalcoatl is a feathered serpent so it was appropriate that Tula which had a leader and a pyramid named for Quetzalcoatl would have a serpent also representing Quetzalcoatl.

A relief of a Toltec ruler at the orientation center.

New Latino missionaries arrive every other week

With suitcases in the back of the truck the family has come to drop off their son.

It is a very sweet experience to watch new Latino missionaries arrive with their families every other Tuesday.  They stay here for two weeks and then go out to their assigned area.  Sometimes they travel quite far with their whole family to come to big city Mexico.  One sister came yesterday from Columbia to be a missionary at the Mexico Temple visitor center.  Today she came in for a band-aid after an encounter with her suitcase.  

Many of these new Latino missionaries seems to have new suits, new luggage and new shoes.

86 Latino Elders and Hermanas arrived today

Two sets of grandparents, plus parents and brothers and sisters came with this missionary.  I am sure they are so proud to have their missionary serve.  

Grizelda the receptionist from the clinic went up to help with the incoming missionaries.  

Hermana Montoya is a spunky 80+ year old missionary. Her husband is the doctor for the Latino missionaries here in the clinic.  She is greeting the incoming Latino missionaries. At one time she was in theater and the performing arts and still had that outgoing personality.  It is a different crew than we see on Wednesdays greeting the North American missionaries since we mainly speak English instead of Spanish.  

An Elder saying good bye to his brother who will probably be going on a mission by the time he gets back from serving for two years.

More last pictures and good byes.  The CCM golf cart serves to carry things and people from registration to arrival sites as well as carrying sick missionaries to and from their casa.

Service on P-days by the missionaries

Each week on P-day the missionaries sign up as a district for a service project.  This elder is washing windows at the clinic with a gatorade drink in hand.  

Cleaning the floor at the dining room/cafeteria

Cleaning the front desk at the clinic

Mucho black birds and mucho rain

Sometimes as I look out my kitchen window onto the fields in the back and I can see hundreds of blackbirds and sometimes red or green birds.  It is not unusual to see 200+ birds at a time.  I haven't made it out to take a picture of that many together but I do have a picture of  smaller amount gathered together.  These pictures were taken as I walked around the campus.    

Sometimes it just rains like crazy in the afternoon and evening.  Here the streets are flooded and so is the drainage system.

I was standing just inside the clinic trying not to get my cell phone/camera wet

These elders with no umbrellas were running for cover

In the middle of the storm Elder Thomas Marz from my ward came in to the clinic with his companion to get crackers for a Hermana in their district who was sick and hungry.  I think a little touch of flu or virus came with the last set of North American missionaries last Wednesday.  

Cactus in Mexico

I love to see all the cactus here in Mexico

This is a large cactus tree with red ripe fruit berries on it. They are big as a very large lemon.  Incidentally I can never find a lemon here in the stores.  I only see limes that are called limons or lemons.  I am developing a taste for fresh squeezed lime juice in my soup.  yum so good.

A close up of the berries

After seeing all the ripe fruit on the cactus trees as we went to Tula I wanted to taste it.  When we stopped at Walmart and I saw the same fruit for sell so  I bought one.  It was red and ripe inside with a lot of black seeds but only semi sweet. 

This was displayed in a  cactus garden and is called the mother-in-law seat.  I have five sons-in-law   who would probably be humored by that but I am not.