Part of our agenda that came off according to plan was a day-drip to the Aztec ruins of La Quemada that are thousands of years old. They are 55 kilometers south of Zacatecas. This was the side-trip that I had been waiting for, the one that inspired my desire to go with the club to Mexico. First, we all caught a bus that dropped us off on a lonely stretch of Highway 54. After I took a group shot in front of one of the giant cactus we began the 1-kilometer walk to the ruins. As we walked up hill on the deserted road Robert asked a typical "Robert" question, " OK, now where are those ancient Aztec escalators?" He was our comic relief for the whole trip, always full of very funny ideas, and never embarrassed to voice them. While there, most of us got sunburned, and some of us suffered from vertigo climbing the steep stone stairways to the upper levels, but this was all expected; there were no surprises here.
These are some of my favorite photographs of the Aztecs ruins.
Vista from the Top of the Site
You can see the "Hall of Colums" in the top left.
Amphitheater for Vistors
It was reconstructed to blend with the rest of the ruins.
Hall of Columns
Cooking Pits?
Vertigo! Robert would not slow his assent so that I could include his head in this photo. I like it though because you can see just how steep the climb was.
Sacrificial Alter?
A Stairway to the Top of the Site
Part of our group took a more direct route.
All of the members of "Our Club" went on educational visits to many museums. We visited the Mask Museum of Rafael Coronel that was housed in 16th-century ruins. There were over 2000 masks that were used in dances and rituals. Many gardens have been planted around the museum within the ruins; it was truly fascinating and one of my favorite places. Our group also visited the Museo Pedro Coronel, Rafael's brother and fellow Zacatecan artist and collector. The Pedro Coronel Museum was housed in a 17th-centry former Jesuit college. It had artifacts from around the world as well as works by Hogarth, Picaso, Miro and others. We also toured through the ex-monastery in the near-by town of Guadelupe where some of Mexico's best colonial art graces the walls. Although it is an ex-monastery, they still hold some worship services there.
These four pictures were taken at the former monastery in the
town of Guadelupe. The art shown was painted on the walls inside.
These four photographs were also taken in Guadalupe,
