Day 30: Based on Bruce's suggestion (thanks Bruce!) I headed to El Tajin today, which is a ancient city built by the Totonacs. These people were the first natives encountered by Cortez when he landed on the coast near Veracruz. They had lived here for 800 years and were conquered by the Aztecs just 25 years before Cortez's arrival. Thus they were eager to revolt against the Aztecs and ended up being instrumental in the Cortez's conquering of them.

The city is very different than Teotihuacan, in that it is in lush jungle as opposed to high desert. A short view of the grounds can be seen here.

The 3rd picture above, which looks like bleachers, is a Mesoamerican ball court. I'd come across one of these while playing Tomb Raider Underworld, and always wondered what the heck it was! In this game, which is like volleyball without a net, and using hips only, both the losing players and their fans would be beheaded and sacrificed to the gods. Depictions of these sacrificial ceremonies were on carved sculptures all over El Tajin (as in the rest of Mesoamerica too).

On my way out, I caught a performance of the Voldadores (video here). Four of them climb up a pole and then spin around from a rope tied to their waist as these ropes unwind from the pole. One guy, the priest, stays up top playing a flute and beating a drum. It has an interesting tradition, but I think it's absolutely ludicrous that the training takes 10 years. Seriously.

A sixth guy in costume went around asking for money before the performance. He stood in front of me for quite awhile and gave me a dirty look when I didn't give him any. I might have done so AFTER the performance, but I'm not too eager paying to watch somebody do what I'd rather do myself! I was hoping he didn't put a hex on me. So after the performance I went around trying to find him to give him a dollar but...

...A local girl saw me, and came up asking (in English this time) if she could interview me for a school project. She was with her family, and they video taped her asking me a lot of questions (in English) about who I was, how I heard of El Tajin, which is better -- US or Mexico, etc. So that was neat!

I headed down the Gulf of Mexico along the Emerald Coast (named so because the water is a beautiful green), to Veracruz. I tried to stop by some more burial ruins on the way but they were closed. In Veracruz, it was getting late so I just decided to stay at another... sex motel. This one was really nice too -- honeymoon sheets that spilled beautifully across the floor, nice music controlled by a switch on the wall, tiled wood floor, and the all important A/C.