 Fire up! Just see if it is the right way first, hold on, it will tell me in a minute, it's going to either say what are you doing or it's going to be like yeah that's fine. At the moment my Google Maps hasn't moved, there you go, I think this is just my phone is so slow, I couldn't even keep up with it. Alright so yeah we're going to turn to the right here and then we're still on track. Perfect! Good morning world, welcome back to the channel. Stay number 376 on our circumnavigation around the globe by motorcycle. We're here in the capital of Mexico, Mexico City and you'll notice that there's no tank bag in front of me and there's no panniers on bumblebee. I don't know if you can see that but there isn't. Well that's because today we are not leaving Mexico City, we're having a day out. Woo! Woo! Yes we are doing a little bit of sightseeing here in Mexico City here. We are visiting Mexico's most popular archaeological attraction, the ancient city of Teotihuacan. That's right, we've seen pre-Columbian cities, pyramids in Ticale in Guatemala and Palenque in Mexico but both of those sites are actually Mayan sites and are way after this site that we're heading to today because this site is nearly 2,000 years old. Nice! This predates the Maya, this predates the Aztecs and the Inca and over 4 million people visit here every year so let's see what this place is all about. Yes! So it's about 32 miles through the city to the edge of the city and Google Maps says it will take us one hour so better throughout let's go. Wow this is crazy, so this is like an elevated highway and the lane going this way, we're on here and the lane going the opposite way is above us, it's literally a whole other highway above us. Wow that's a pretty crazy construction, yeah what a network of crazy highways this city has. Mexico City is the largest city in North America, second largest in all of the Americas behind Sao Paulo and apparently it's the sixth largest metropolitan area in the world and that's basically what we've been trying to navigate to to get from our hotel in the center to TOT Wakan on the edge and I can tell you we've already gone wrong twice. Ah there they are in the background, I can just about see the pyramids. Oh yes! Not like this giant one, that's a mountain but we have made our way out of Mexico City now and actually it's super cold, there's like this one toll road that we took and it basically takes you from like the middle of the city all the way out to here so it's actually pretty easy to get here pyramids. We're coming! Maybe we have to buy the tickets here. Hola. Hola. Biletera. Que entran directo, que queda el tento. Ok, ok. Gracias. Ok, he said door 2, puerto 2, right in front he said. Nice coupling eh, very good for our suspension. Haha, there's a bumpy ride in. We just bought our tickets with a parking and total that was 205 which is about 10 pounds. 10 pounds? Yes! Really good price. Incredible for such an amazing size. So we'll just go and park up close to the first pyramid here. Yes. And then we'll go check it all out. Yeah, incredible. Over one year conquering continents on our beloved Suzuki Vistrom 1050XT Bumblebee and we can't believe how reliable and awesome this bike has been. It's a true adventure machine and the fact that we even have Bumblebee to begin with is all thanks to our amazing sponsor, Motorcycle World, in my hometown, Northampton. These guys just sent us an awesome new video that they've made about their store and we wanted to share it with you. The place where Bumblebee is born. Welcome to Motorcycle World, the place to be for all things two wheel based in Northampton. Whether you've been riding for decades or you're brand new to getting on a motor bike, we've got everything you need all under one roof. We also offer park exchange and an array of major manufacturer used bikes. So for all you two wheel needs, your journey starts here. If you live around the Northampton area and want to meet Bumblebee after the trip, this is where you'll find her. So make sure you swing by. But now back to the video. So Bumblebee is all safely wrapped up in the parking and we've just come into the entrance. Have a look at what we've got in front. It looks unreal. Seriously. Wow. We did well together. That wasn't planned. So this is actually the largest pyramid here in Teotihuacan. And it's close to being the largest pyramid in the whole of the Americas. It is 66 meters high and it's called the Pyramid of the Sun. And the only structure in the whole of the ancient Americas that was larger than this was pyramid four in Tikal, which was 70 meters. This one is like so much bigger in terms of its base. Its base is more than 200 by 200 meters. So this is a massive pyramid. And by the way, I think he is like a kid's group. And they are excited. They are screaming. Yeah. Is this guy here? Scary. Crazy stuff. Oh my God. Why are they selling this stuff here? Every child has like a whistle or a jaguar thing or hello. So you actually used to be able to climb these pyramids, but they stopped that. I think it was during COVID that they stopped that. But actually it's basically done to preserve them because over the years, as people kept climbing them, climbing them, climbing them, that's basically degrading them. I guess to keep them here and looking spectacular for future generations, we have to appreciate them from ground level. And there's no drones allowed, of course. So this is the view we get. Wow, but it is a really, really, really big construction. Wow. Unbelievable. Beautiful. It's hard to appreciate the scale of this from a year, but 66 meters high. Over 200 meters wide. So 2,400 years ago, there was only around 5,000 people living in this area. And they were just rural communities. But over the next 200 years after that, people started to come here and emigrate from different areas, and this place started to grow. And by the first half of the first millennium, so between zero and 500 AD, this place was estimated to have a population of 175,000 people, making it at the time one of the world's six largest cities. Which is really interesting, because Mexico City today also has the sixth largest urban population. TOT Huacán was the first city of the Americas. It's really one of the cradles of civilization, especially here in Mesoamerica. Oh my God, there's an entire horde of children coming. Run, Ollie! Run! Oh my God. So I'm going to tell you some more info before they arrive. Interestingly enough, just like Tikal, right after Xenith, this city fell and was abandoned. So by around 700, 750 AD, TOT Huacán was no more. Which is interesting, because that's around the same time that Tikal and Palenque were actually building their greatest structures. So maybe all the people just kind of gave up here and moved over there. But all subsequent civilizations and peoples that lived here respected this place as a sacred place, and TOT Huacán was known by the Aztecs as the city where the gods were born, and they actually believed that their gods were born here in this ancient city. Look at the size of this square. This city was built on an absolutely crazy scale. So behind me in this massive crazy plaza is the second pyramid here at TOT Huacán, and this is the Temple of the Moon, and this pyramid is 43 meters high. But the names, the Temple of the Moon and the Temple of the Sun, show just like a lot of ancient sites in Egypt and where we were in Tikal. A lot of these structures were constructed on astronomical lines. I don't exactly know the ins and outs of this one, but it's certain that they mean something in relation to the universe. Even for today's standards, this was a sophisticated city with sewage and drainage and planned city streets and avenues and residential areas. And just imagining this place on this scale 2,000 years ago, it's really, really impressive. It's a bit of a quieter area over by the Temple of the Moon. All the schools are moving this way. They are seriously probably about 200 kids walking around here. I mean they're so cute, but so loud as well. It's actually really nice to see that this is like part of the educational program that's going on here in Mexico, that like every school is bringing the kids here. Cool. So we get to go inside one of these places. Hola, Buenos. And you can even still see some patterns here on the wall. Wow. So this gives you a bit more of an idea about what it actually looked like for the people of Tiotihuacan from a living perspective, like not just the grand monuments, but actually individual rooms, murals on the walls, look at these beautiful carvings on the pillars. This would have been one of the residences of one of the elite of Tiotihuacan. So I guess not everybody in Tiotihuacan would have enjoyed such a luxury like this. Look at the view that they had. Everything under control. Do you feel like one of the elite of Tiotihuacan? I think this place would suit us nicely. Residence one Tiotihuacan square. So it's pretty amazing because this mural behind me was actually discovered in the 60s behind a wall. And that's why it's so well preserved. But this is actually an original mural from when Tiotihuacan was a living city. So it's probably 2,000 years old. You can see that it depicts a puma, and I heard from some of the English-speaking guides around us that the lines and the dots are representing that he is underwater and it's associated with the god of rain. So we're kind of getting some free info as we're going along. Either way, this is a pretty incredibly preserved example of Tiotihuacan art and gives us an amazing insight into what they believed in and the religion of the people. So we are back in the city after an awesome visit to Mexico's ancient past. Yes, it's always super impressive to visit all ancient sites. It's just incredible. And if you imagine like that, so many people have lived there and just the remains of the city you see now, it's like, it's very nice. 2,000 years later and it still impresses us now. It's really, really cool. So from the ancient impressive cities back to Mexico City, where it's busy and hot. I think I preferred the ancient version of Mexican cities without cars. Without cars, but with human sacrifice. Oh, yes. So I don't know. So we really hope that you enjoyed our little exploration here in Mexico City. So we will just head back now to the hotel. But we hope you enjoyed the video. If so, please give us a thumbs up to subscribe to the channel, share the video with your friends and family comment below and we will see you next time.