El Tajin

This morning we fell into a state of complete luxury. We were passengers on a beautiful, rattle-free Mercedes diesel pusher tour bus with someone else driving – and driving well. The Wagonmaster's wife stayed in camp and walked dogs for everyone so even Del and Pounder got a day off! Del is doing considerably better, by the way. Her knee isn't bothering her near as much. She was able to walk anywhere she pleased all day!

A bubbly Phillipina lady named Clara was an absolute delight. She gave history lessons (complete with quiz questions) and made the hour's trip to El Tajin fly by. At one point along the coast she pointed out a bi-conical pre-Columbian structure and explained it. The local fishing community had built a base cone over a natural gas vent in the earth. The gas fed a flame in a smaller upper, inverted cone that served as the first ever Mezzo-American lighthouse! Though it is stopped off today, the gas is still present and presumably could still be used.

We back-tracked yesterday's path for about forty minutes, but everyone enjoyed the spectacular scenery that we'd missed while driving or navigating. Back in the hills behind Papantla our first stop was at the ruin of El Tajin.

2,000 years ago the Totonac people started building a city where two rivers merged, and mountiains enclosed three sides of a small valley. The valley is far enough from the coast so that hurricanes, while wet and windy, pose no destructive threat. Not that the weather doesn't impinge; the name Tajin is Totonac for Thunder!

Two things make this city unique: it's age (founded during the first century AD), and it's

condition - since Cortez totally missed it! While Spaniards found it at the end of their occupation, it was abandoned by then, and never plundered.

To this day A Totonaco Indian traditional dance is still performed all over Mexico at cultural fairs. It is a daily event at the ruins of El Tajin as well. It is called Danza de los Voladores de Papantla.

Archeological digs have turned up evidence of much trade of goods and ideas. Obsidian, for instance, doesn't occur here, but their tools are of obsidian. There are many echoes of other cultures in the art and artifacts as well. The Totonacs had one very precious and truly unique thing to trade: Vanilla!