We have arrived! (At El Tajin, that is)

Today was all about El Tajin - the very reason I set out on the odisea veracruzana. Once the capital of a Mesoamerican civilization which reached its apex centuries before the arrival of Columbus, it is now an UNESCO world heritage site and home of sprawling complex of temples, palaces, and other ruins. Again we were off the more off the "gringo trail" usual and again it was almost eerie: although we spent most of the day at El Tajin, we scarcely saw another person. Perhaps after trips to Cristo Redentor and Versailles I've come to associate crowds with "things worth seeing" but Mexico is certainly rewriting the rulebook. [As a result, most of my favorite places are all but deserted.] For this reason too, in additional to all of the obvious historical ones, El Tajin has quickly catapulted to the forefront of my favorite places ever. As if the ruins themselves were not enough - and if the pictures below and elsewhere don't do it justice, I can personally vouch for their "sufficiency" - the site's position deep in the heart of the Veracruz jungle made it possible hike within minutes from some of El Tajin's expansive ruins to deep jungle and back. Glorious.


THE Pyramid of the Niches, above.






You have no idea how hard it was to pick only five pictures. More at: http://www.picasaweb.google.com/littlefrankel