3. Before Spain
May 2026
Our crash course in pre-Hispanic Mexico started in Teotihuacan, a 90-minute drive from Mexico City. Having learned our lesson from the Chichén Itzá debacle (set #1), we booked a private tour to visit the ruins. Built by a pre-Aztec civilization, it was the largest city in the Americas at its peak around 500 AD.
Much is unknown about the civilization, as they did not have a writing system. But they did leave behind a city with glorious and imposing structures, including the Pyramid of the Moon, connected via the Road of the Gods to the Pyramid of the Sun. It is possible to climb halfway up the Pyramid of the Moon. From this vantage it becomes apparent that the profile of the Pyramid of the Sun matches that of the mountain behind it, a mind-boggling feat of ancient architecture.
Our pre-Columbian education continued at the Anahuacalli Museum, a gorgeous and imposing temple of early Mexican art. Diego Rivera designed the building to hold his vast collection of 40,000 artifacts, with 2,000 on display. The museum makes the visitor feel like an archaeologist in a pyramid discovering these objects themselves, a brilliant illusion formed by the architecture and materials. This effect is somewhat broken on the upper level, where vast Rivera sketches fill the walls.
We concluded our lesson in pre-colonial Mexican history at the National Museum of Anthropology. Reading ahead of time that very few placards are in English, we booked a private tour with a guide. She happened to be studying for a master’s degree in anthropology, and gave us a wonderful overview of the museum highlights.
We covered the Olmecs, the Mayans, and of course the Aztecs. We learned about the famous Calendar Stone, which was unobstructed by fellow visitors for just long enough to grab a photograph. We also learned about a long, sculpted façade which was looted from a Mayan temple in the jungle by an American and forcibly repatriated by the Mexican government.
Perhaps the highlight of the museum was the architecture itself. The central courtyard is shaded by a massive awning, held aloft by a single column that performs triple duty as a structural support, modern totem pole, and mood-setting fountain.
The civilizations that built cities rivaling their European contemporaries and that produced remarkable works of art are often reduced to a few paragraphs in American classrooms. A week spent among their monuments, artifacts, and descendants revealed how much we did not know and how much more there is to learn.
Recipes: Classic Cuban Negative, Vibrant Arizona.
Artistic Direction: My Wife.
Mexico City Photosets:
La Ciudad
Food
Before Spain
Museums
