January 21 2014

Was it worth it? Yes, we had a comfortable ride, just the two of us, in a minivan with our pleasant and knowledgeable guide Cuauhtémoc Benítez and El Tajín, a UNECO World Heritage Site, was worth the effort. 

The time passed quickly while Cuauhtémoc giving us a running commentary on the province of Veracruz as we drove north to the site. We arrived to find we were almost the first persons to visit that day. The busy Christmas season was finished and we had the site almost to ourselves. We started our tour in the excellent museum with photos, a layout of the site as it once appeared and displays of some of the best carvings from the site. 

El Tajín dates from Classic period (300-900 AD). The exact origins are unknown but Teotihuacán, near Mexico City, was probably built by same people in what is known as Classic Veracruz. 

El Tajín flourished from 600 to 1200 AD and during this time numerous temples, palaces, ball courts, and pyramids were built. The city controlled much of what is now the state of Veracruz, due largely to its location on the ancient trade routes between Mexico and Central America. For reasons unknown, the city declined and after 1200 AD the abandoned city was taken over by the jungle. The Spanish knew nothing of the lost city until it was accidentally discovered in 1785.

The discovery piqued the interest of European adventurers but it was not until the early 20^th C that archaeologists started uncovering the city. It is estimated that one half of the city still remains hidden.

We started our tour in the area called Tajín Viejo, old Tajín. We walked across the large Plaza del Arroya, the city marketplace where items have been unearthed from many other countries. Besides the marketplace, Tajín Viejo was a religious site, with several major temples and ball-courts. The largest of the 17 ball-courts, Juego de Pelota Sur, was decorated with carved images of underworld deities and a ballplayer being decapitated in order to approach the gods and ask for pulque, a drink made from agave plants, for his people. 

The first temple to be discovered and uncovered was the Pyramid de los Nichos, with six receding tiers rising to 20M. It is the only temple in Mexico with carefully constructed decorative niches on all sides, a total of 365 in all, signifying a calendar year. The niches are deep enough to suggest they were caves, allowing safe entrance to the underworld. Pyramid de los Nichos was constructed as series of temples, with a new bigger one built over the previous temple every 52 years. 

The city’s elite lived in Tajín Chico, on a hill top overlooking Tajín Viejo. Several of the buildings had stone friezes and other decorative touches. A palapa (palm leaf thatched) roof over one structure was built by archaeologists to protect murals and work on interior carvings. The less fortunate residents lived in villages on several hills just beyond Tajín Chico. 

Down a stone path from Tajín Chico was a large area surrounded by stone walls built in a square spiral containing 2 ball-courts. This was the Gran Greca AKA Xicalcoliuhqui AKA Great Enclosure, enclosing 12,000 sq M. We were left to admire the niches on the sides of the walls, similar to those on  the Pyramid de los Nichos, as the interior was not accessible. 

After a good lunch of chicken mole in a restaurant outside gates recommended by Cuauhtémoc, we drove back to Veracruz, passing several cars towing another old car. Cuauhtémoc told us this is a daily occurrence. The old cars are bought in Texas auctions and are driven to Guatamala to sell by the quickest route, down the coast to Veracruz, or farther south, and across the isthmus to Guatamala. We were back at our hotel just after 7PM, tired but happy to have visited El Tajín.