Today we have another day of visiting yet another ancient site situated south east of Mexico City in a town called CholulaAs we drive out of the city we pass many food and drink vendors enticing one to stop and purchase their productsLooking towards the fertile Valley of Puebla where Cholula is situatedWe pass rich fertile pasturesSeveral active volcanoes surround the rich valleyIt was amazing seeing the constant plumes of ash coming from the surrounding mountainsOur first view of the giant pyramid which looks like a hill with a church on topArriving in the busy town of Cholula where we are to visit the largest man made structure in the world which is now still covered by soil and vegetationLots of traffic!!!Finally we are dropped off near the ancient site of the Great Pyramid of Cholula. It stands 55 m above the surrounding plain and in its final form it measured 450 by 450 metresTickets were purchased and then we proceeded to the entrance to the ancient siteWe entered to Great Pyramid which consisted of almost 8 km of passages which have been excavated. We spent quite a while following numerous passages which at times made one feel slightly claustrophobic !! Once out of the narrow passages of the ancient pyramid we take the path uphill to the magnificent church, Santuario de la Virgen de los RemediosThe beautiful church was built by the Spanish in colonial times in 1584 and sits perched on top of the ancient Great PyramidParts of the of the ancient site were built at later stages and are exposed so can be easily visited From our elevated position overlooking Cholula we could see several churches Finally we arrive at our destinationSpectacular views over CholulaOnce we had visited the church we headed back down into the town
The main square of Cholula
On our return to Mexico City we came across an enormous traffic jam which completely halted the traffic for more than an hourOnce we started moving again, almost 2 hours later, we passed an accident site where there were several damaged trucks which had obviously lost control going downhillIn the evening after our long day of sightseeing we decided to have some light Japanese food at Tonton, a nearby restaurantDelicious dumplingsOur favourite edamame beans with a spicy coatingWe also enjoy some salmon sashimi and prawn sushi
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