Visit Cholula’s Archeological Site

On Tuesday  we took a 20 minute walk from our campground to the center of Cholula and their archeological site.

     Cholula was an important city of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, dating back to at least the 2nd century BC. They built the Great Pyramid of Cholula which at first appears to be a natural hill surmounted by a church. Only a portion of the ruins have been excavated.

    
The temple-pyramid complex was built in four stages, starting from the 3rd century BC through the 9th century AD, and was dedicated to the deity Quetzalcoatl. It has a base of 1476x1476 ft) and a height of 217 ft. According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the largest pyramid as well as the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world, with a total volume estimated at over 4.45 million m³, even larger than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt which is about 2.5 million m³.

    
It’s a steep hike up to the church of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of the Remedies), which was built by the Spanish in colonial times (1594) on top of the site of a pre-Hispanic temple.

    
Great views of the volcanoes from on top of the pyramid. Popocatepetl on the left is the most active volcano in Mexico and last erupted in 1998.

The inside of the church is quite beautiful with lots of gold leaf, multiple alters and a beautiful dome

In the afternoon we cleaned off all the bugs we hit on our way though the large agricultural area on our way to Puebla. We plan to visit the historical city of Puebla tomorrow, there are buses & collectivos that go from near our campground to the city.