Conocer a Guadalajara (Dia 4)

Day four was a trip to Guachimontones.  We had to take a bus to Teuchitlan just west of Guadalajara.  The bus was probably the most interesting that we took on our trip.  Every time the bus shifted gears there was this horrible wrenching sound beneath our feet and we couldn't help but look at each other and wonder if we were going to get stuck out in the middle of nowhere.  However, we arrived without incident, which was pretty much a miracle considering that I drank too much water before we left.

Teuchitlan from Guachimontones

Anyway, after finding a rather disturbing bathroom, we found a taxi to head to Guachimontones.  The taxi driver was very nice and chatted about the town of Teuchitlan.  It's a small little town, but it's so quaint and quiet.  It was a short ride up to Guachimontones and wouldn't you know it, we came on the day in which admission and the museum were free!  Ha!  I couldn't believe our luck.  So, we headed to the museum first.  It's a small museum and everything was in Spanish, but there was a great little movie (in English) that gave us a good history on the site and the murals were quite beautiful.

So, a little history, the Guachimontones site is believed to have been populated as early as 300BC through about 900AD.  So, this makes it one of the earliest sites I've ever visited.  The site was discovered in 1970, but real research didn't begin until about 1996.  So, there is still a lot of work to be done here and the archeologists actually work in a side room within the museum.

Mural of what they suspect life was like during peak of site

  Just outside the museum there was a nice trail out to the replica wood and clay house they created.  It was a ridiculously hot day, so we were happy for any shade... even that provided by a small house.

What archeologists think the houses looked like

Once we got a good look at what the archeologists suspect the normal person lived like here, we headed off to the site... after a quick break to re-apply sunscreen.  The sun was blazing hot, so we tried to re-apply every hour or so.

 We headed up the most grueling part of our trip to Guachimontones.  The site is at the top of the hill, so we had to hike up this very steep hill and we had to take a break on the way up with the combination of the heat and the fact that some of us weren't quite as ready as others for a workout in 95 degree weather.  Some of us had a better attitude on the way up too.



We get up to the top and run into a ball court.  It's quite a bit different than the ones I saw in Copan, but then again Copan peaked much later than this area.  Either way it was delightful to see there were similarities across the sites... even if it was a less sophisticated ball court.

We walked around sticking to any shade we could.  The trees were so sparse they didn't lend much cover, but it was still better than being in the direct sun.  Parts of the site are still "untouched" meaning that the archeologists didn't re-build the piles of rocks.  So, most of the time you'd just see a huge pile of rocks.  I saw this in Copan as well, and I always find it interesting.  How in the world do archeologist take this pile of rocks and re-create what it used to be?  Also, why do these circular pyramids become a pile of rocks? Earthquakes, erosion? I just find it fascinating.  Anyway, our water quickly became just cool enough to be just short of boiling.  So, we didn't stay all that long, but we were pretty done after the hot sun and dust sticking to our newly applied sunscreen.  Overall, it was definitely awesome to see, but I wish there were more markers (or markers that weren't dulled by the sun's rays) and things to explain what you're seeing.  I'm sure that will eventually come as this becomes a more popular tourist spot and more research is done.

 We stopped by the museum to get some fresh water and some ice cream of course.  After trying to call our taxi driver with no success, we headed out on foot (there are no taxis waiting for passengers at the entrance of the site).  On our way out, we found some great photo ops. 

Yes, this is the dirt parking lot for Guachimontones.  We found it quite fun cause not only is it dirt, there are lines painted in the dirt.  I'm wondering how often they repaint them.






We found the front entrance to the site, so we of course had to take a picture there.

After passing the entrance we took a nice stroll down the hill back into town.  It was a very nice walk and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I was actually glad that we couldn't get a hold of our taxi driver.

As we walked through Teuchitlan we got to see more of the cute little town and ran into some local wildlife.  A lizard the size of my head!  It just stared at us as we took pictures and we wondered how close we could get to it.

We walked back to the main road and found our bus stop.  We stopped by an Oxxo (similar to a 7-11) and got some snacks.  Found another disturbing bathroom and caught our bus.  Luckily the bus wasn't quite so loud when changing gears this time and I was a bit more careful with how much I was drinking, so the bus ride back was much more enjoyable... for me anyway.  Not sure about the others.


We ended the day by eating at a taco place back in Guadalajara.  I'm pretty sure the people serving us thought we were crazy since we smelled like sunscreen, sweat and dirt... but we had a good meal and then headed back to the hotel.  It was only as I peeled off my socks that I realized how dirty we really were.  And no, those are not tan lines.