Three Cultures

Today was a day full of activities. Ili's friend from Australia arrived yesterday in the afternoon, so today we took him to several places. We fist went to Calixtlahuaca which is about 10 minutes from our house. These are some ruins originally build by the Matlazincas in the Toluca Valley. It was eventually taken over by the Aztecs and this urban center was used to control a large portion of the Toluca Valley. The most interesting structure is the round pyramid seen in this picture. There are only two or three round pyramids in the world and this is one of them. Since the cite is rather small, it's a nice place to avoid tourists and enjoy the views of the valley. See this location in Live Maps.

On our way back from Calixtlahuaca, we stopped by the old church in Tecaxic. I'm not too sure about the history of the church, but I do know that it has gotten some write-ups in tour guides about Mexico. So, I guess it must have some nice architecture on the inside. Unfortunately it was closed, so we couldn't see inside. However the outside is very nice.
See this location in Live Maps.

Later in the afternoon after lunch, we headed to downtown Toluca. The main place we were going to visit is the Cosmovitral. Toluca isn't a very nice city, but if you ever go, you must go here. The Cosmovitral was an old market turned into a gorgeous botanical garden surrounded by stained glass windows. The garden is nice, but the main attraction are is the stained glass windows that surround the entire building. The design of the windows show the creation of the universe and good(day) and evil(night). The central piece is the representation of sun which looks spectacular as the afternoon light shines through it. See this location in Live Maps.

That evening when we were back home, Justin commented that it was amazing to be in places and building that were much older than anything in Australia.

You can see more pictures of Calixtlahuca, Tecaxic and the Cosmovitral in my Picasa Web Albmum.