El Tajin Ruins

Sunday 16 November 2008 - El Tajin Ruins, Veracruz, Mexico

Nikki, Raziel, Pete & I had a very early start catching the 7am bus to Xalapa to be on the 9am bus to Papantla. The trip to Papantla was meant to be 5 hours but because it was Sunday with many people not working I think the roads were pretty quite and we arrived early. As soon as we arrived, we found the local bus route that goes to the ruins of El Tajin, another 40 min bus ride down the road. When we first arrived at the ruins we were presented with a bustling market. These are mainly for visitors to teh ruins and have locally hand made crafts including hand embroidered blouses, skirts and dresses, hand made dolls, jewelry and touristy t-shirts. Through the market was the grand entrance to El Tajin, along with a museum. As it was Sunday entry was free but on other days adults are $45 paesos. Our first impressions were overwhelming. There were many pyramid structures, setting neatly amongst lush green manicured grass. As we walked past each ruin we were feeling different emotions, wonder, peacefulness, and even anxiety. The Tajin temple itself is amazing. It is a pyramid with 365 windows representing each day of the year, along with the four sides representing each season. It is believed to have played a major role in worshipping the seasons particularly during the harvest. It was very beautiful but also gave me a very uncomfortable feeling. In front of the Tajin was a narrow court area surrounded to the left and right with what appeared to be seating to view what was happening on the court. This area made me feel really uncomfortable and later we found out that an ancient ball game was probably played here where 2 teams played football with 4kg solid rubber ball. The winner of the game would be sacrificed to the gods with their head chopped off as a sign of offering strength. The site itself is quite large with probably only a quarter accessible to the public. It appears as though there are still many areas that have not been uncovered. As far as the tourism is concerned, there are not many westerners there at all, and it is more of a local attraction rather than an international attraction. For this reason, I'm so glad we were able to go. The ruins still carry their ancient wonder without commercialism taking over. After going through the ruins we wandered through the museum for a while, and then out into the courtyard area where an ancient dance was being performed. 5 dancers would dance around a very tall pole, to the tune of one of the dancers flute and drum. After the dance they all climb to the top of the pole, at the top their are 4 ropes which they wind around the top, and then attach to their waists. The flute player sits on the top of the pole while the 4 others hang upside down by the rope. They start to slowly spin around the pole, and as the rope untwines they get closer and closer to the ground, until they come to a stop. Behind the market were local stalls with local food being prepared where we stopped for a bite to eat and a beer. Then we took a taxi back to Papantla and wandered around the streets for a while. Papantla is the home of Vanilla, and the shops that were open were selling vanilla beans and everything you could make with them including jewelry and art and liquor. We got some liquor, and got some earrings. Our return bus home to Xalapa wasn't until 11:45pm so we had a bit of time to loose. Unfortunately being a Sunday, not much is open in the way of bars, so we spent the last 2 hours just waiting at the bus stop. Our journey home was pretty quick arriving at 3:30am, then getting a taxi back to Nikki's house. As we were driving home we went past the abattoir and in our sleepiness thought we heard a cow scream as we were driving past. It's not a pleasant sound.