One of the things we wanted to see while in Mexico were the ruins of Aztec cities. The first one we got see was the little known city of Xochicalco, which means “in the place of the house of flowers”. Archaeologists think it was built sometime around 900AD and only lasted till 950AD when it was burnt down and abandoned. The Spanish first found it in the 1700’s but no archaeological work was done till 1905, when archaeologists started clearing the plants from the pyramids and reassembling some of them from the stones found nearby.

This pyramid was the first to be restored and it sits on an area they called the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a plateau on top of a massive pyramid, and was the place where the priests and nobility lived, and where most of the temples were.

Here’s a view looking down from the top of that plateau. You can see there’s another pyramid in the background, and further behind you can see the valley and lake below. With a view like this, it’s no wonder the Aztecs chose this spot for their city.

Steps leading to the acropolis

Since archaeologists began studying the site, they’ve found 32 tunnels but only explored one of them - the observatory. This tunnel leads to a room which the Aztecs used as an observatory for studying the stars as well as keeping a precise yearly calendar - they counted 365 days a year - for when to plant and harvest crops.

Opening of Observation “Tube”

They did this by building a precise “tube” that stretched from the roof of one pyramid to the observatory below. The observatory had a polished white floor which was used as a sort of mirror for the sun, and depending on what part of the floor, it would rise and set in they would know what day it was. To observe the stars, they would put a pail of water under the “tube” and it would act as a mirror where they could look at and document the galaxies.

It’s actually quite cool to visit a little-known site such as this one. The first thing you notice is that there aren’t throngs of tourists everywhere, and you can actually take your time seeing things and take pictures of the monuments rather than the other tourists. We did see a few tourists though, but they were few and far between, and most of the time we had the place to ourselves.

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