Many years ago K' father had found a place called Xochitepec where there was an wonderful old style hotel with a grand pool and restaurant that you could use even if you could use even if you were not a guest, and in a setting so beautiful that many is the Mexican who has been there that they have thought about using it as a place to hold their weddings or anniversaries.
Again it was a little far out from the city centre, so we had to drive there, but as before this was only a benefit and not a problem and even if it was longer than just a few minutes the scenery was worth the wait.
The price of the breakfast was not exactly cheap, but then considering if it far out and non guests can use it I feel that this is a good thing as I would hope it would be a little bit more expensive than normal to keep it slightly exclusive and prevent it from being swamped with tourists and passing travellers.
Lovely arched walls and walkways, an authentic horse drawn carriage, large fountain and enough flowers and palmtrees to please even the most demanding nature lover are all carefully spread out over a few acres of land that you can walk around without having to enter the hotel itself, which again leads an extra level of privacy and security to any guests who do decide to stay there, and having been there for a day I could think of few places that had the mix of convenience, history and beauty all wrapped up in such a stylish way.
A open and varied buffet with inclusive drinks was enough to fill me up plenty, and it was a good job too as after here we planned to take another longish car journey to visit K's favorite archaeological site at Xochicalco and both along the road and at the destination there would be few places to stop and eat that I would want to do so.
Arriving there the first glimpse of the structures on the high green mountain top are when you are almost there, as the place is less well known than other sites of interest and has been much less excavated due partly to its hard to reach location and partly due to lack of available funds.
A museum at the entrance is included in the entrance price, which is hardly anything when you consider what it covers, and once you start to look around the site you get a real sense of history and beauty.
The site itself is actually probably one of the largest in the Americas, and although from the low entrance below it looks like just a few squared top pyramids, but once you start to ascend up the hillside and then look back you can see the surrounding hills are actually littered with a myriad of other stuctures stretching far into the distance.
Even a momentary study at the structures that are uncovered reveals that what is on show is far from all that is there, and more time, money and labour a complex twice its size might eventually be unearthed, but the fact that it hasn't and the fact that it is less well known all adds to its mystery and alure. During the few hours that we walked round it I barely saw fifty other tourists and much like Copan, this was of great benefit as I could really be alone with my thoughts and send my mind back in time to how it was when the place was filled with the sounds of an Indian civilization now long since departed.
Again using small stone and rock they erected structures of perhaps a simple design, but they are no less impressive when you consider the size and the care with which it was built, and K' also told me that from space many of the achaeological sites right across Mexico could all be seen to be places along a straight line, which further impressed me as the distance and line of sight between each are not only great but also obstructed by mountains and rivers.
At the time of its creation and original height of power, they locals played a bizarre game called 'Juego de Pelota', the rules are a bit unclear, but apparently it was played right across the Indian world at the time, and involved two teams partially covered in padding, a concrete ball and a large concrete disc held high above a double open ended court with angled walls.
As I understood if from K's explanation, from the relics left over and from the wall mounted display model it appears to be a bit like violent sideways basketball with the overall winner being declared a hero or great worth who is then sacrificed to the gods in recognition of his skills.
I have no idea why anyone would want to play a game where if you won you would be killed, and while I have no idea what happened to the losers, I would privately think that the whole killing the winner part was drempt up a feeble but cunning Indian who used it as a way of eliminating his opposition in terms of romance or political power.
Another part of the site was the observatory, which was nothing more complex than an artificially constructed cavern that was placed in totaly darkness except its single chimney opening directly upward and used to both study the sky but also as a primative xray device, using the bright sunlight to penetrate and observe a persons limb on the smooth flow below.
Having been to the totally darkened cavern in Peru, this place did not phase me and it was funny to see K's reaction as she walked with a sensible degree of hesitation while I was happy strolling along and offering to take photos to light up the way.
The whole place closed to the public sometime around dusk and with it being a couple of hours drive away from the city centre, we decided to drive back and along the way I got to see a wonderful Mexican sunset as we drove along the motorway, passing hills, fields and volcanoes barely visible in the distance.
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