“See for yourself.” Sam had been filming as he held the cell aloft. He quickly rewound and handed the phone to her. The footage was bouncy, but he’d caught an image of a Hispanic male in his thirties, walking alone, looking out of place. He obviously hadn’t been expecting to have to walk miles in the heat and was dressed differently than the other visitors, to his detriment.
“Doesn’t look very happy, does he?”
“He was probably thinking he’d be sitting all day, not going on a hike.”
“You know, you’ve just inspired me to pick up the pace and spend twice as much time walking the site as we’d planned,” Remi said, handing the phone back to him.
“Bad day to be in the ‘Follow the Fargos’ business.”
“Let’s make him earn his money, shall we?”
“You’re a hard woman, Remi Fargo.”
“Aye, that I am, kind sir. That I am.”
The Pyramid of the Moon loomed before them, with smaller temples on either side lining the avenue. They stopped at the Palace of the Jaguars, so named because of the colorful frescoes to be found throughout its interior, and savored the shade from the corrugated-metal roof before trekking to the Palace of Quetzalpapalotl, which owed its name to the illustrations on its walls of a mythical butterfly creature. It had been renovated and stood in most of its former glory. They took their time inside, fully aware that their tail was out in the harsh sun. When he finally followed them inside, they left and made for the Pyramid of the Moon, forcing him back outside.
“I almost feel sorry for him,” Sam said quietly as they started ascending the steps on the front of the pyramid along with a few other hardy tourists.
“Not me. Nobody’s forcing him to tail us.”
“He definitely got the raw end of the deal. Did you see? He’s wearing black leather dress shoes. Not a good choice for this kind of thing. He’ll be lucky if he can walk by the time this is over.”
“And there’s so much more to see. Wow, look at this view,” she said, then pulled her phone from her pocket and took some photos of the entire city spread out before them. The buildings shimmered from the heat rising off the pavement as Sam and Remi took in the awe-inspiring panorama.
“Where to next?” Sam asked.
“Oh, I think we need to see the Pyramid of the Sun, don’t we? And then we can finish up in the Citadel, which is the section with the Temple of the Feathered Serpent over on the far end.”
“Good thing we ate a big breakfast. We won’t be out of here until two or three at this rate.”
“And our tail will be limping on stumps by then. Didn’t his mom ever tell him that sensible shoes were important?”
“And sunscreen. Bet he wishes he’d brought a hat, at the very least. Should be a mean burn. We are at seven thousand feet. Ouch.”
“Now even I’m feeling a little sorry for him,” Remi said, “but not enough to wind this down. Am I correct that there were temple structures on top of each of those smaller pyramids before the city was destroyed?” she asked, pointing to the row to her left.
“That’s the assumption. Same for the top of this one, as well as the others.”
“Makes you feel very small and recent, doesn’t it? To think that all this was thriving fifteen hundred years before we were born. And now it’s largely mounds of dirt.”
“Nobody gets out of this alive. Which is a good reason to make the most of it while the sun’s shining. Which it definitely is today, as our friend can attest to.”
Remi took Sam’s hand. “Come on, let’s get to the big pyramid. Our boy down there seems like he’s getting way too much rest. And how long can he stare at the other buildings before he stands out even more? This is the main attraction, and everyone else has climbed the steps.”
The smaller temples along the way were large when viewed from the ground, the terrain beyond them rising nearly to their summits. When excavation had started, the city had been bumps
of land with an occasional structure peeking from the landscape, the earth seemingly eager to reclaim it as though wiping any trace of Teotihuacan from its surface.
They climbed the steps to the Pyramid of the Sun and gazed down at the rest of the complex two hundred feet below.
“Poor Quetzalcoatl’s pyramid’s kind of puny compared to this. He got shorted. Those feathered snakes get no respect,” Sam joked as a welcome breeze tousled his hair.
“Let’s stop in at the museum. No doubt it has air-conditioning. Let’s cool off there and then finish up with Snake Boy, shall we?”
“Sounds like a good plan. Especially the AC part.”
The museum was filled with artifacts that had been uncovered during the hundred years of archaeological exploration of the site and included a map and a simulation of what the city had looked like in its prime. All the buildings had been covered with plaster and bright paint, decorated with frescoes to honor the gods and celebrate important moments in the civilization’s history. They browsed for fifteen minutes, enjoying the cool of climate control, and then made their final way to the area called the Citadel by the Spanish, which they had thought was a fort but was actually a plaza that housed the Temple of the Feathered Serpent.