Mexico is located in the northern hemisphere, so the spring equinox arrives every year in the month of March; this 2022 is scheduled to happen next Sunday, 20th at 15 o'clock with 33 minutes downtown area.
Whether to welcome spring or autumn, every six months the equinoxes divide the days on Earth almost in half, giving us approximately 12 hours of daylight and another 12 hours of night light. This is because the earth's orbit and its axial inclination align with the sun so that the rays of this body of light directly reach the equator line.
Over time, the belief that this phenomenon is ideal to “charge energies” was shaped and, although this premise has no basis in the traditions or customs of pre-Hispanic peoples, welcoming the “Nuevo Sol” has become popular and resignified to take advantage of this process of transition from winter to spring.
To enjoy this phenomenon and welcome spring, Mexico has a wide variety of archaeological sites open to the public, however, it must be borne in mind that due to the COVID-19 pandemic some of the most popular ones such as Cobá in Quintana Roo will remain closed, so below are three alternative options and the costs to visit them.
Tula, Hidalgo
Sheltered by imposing stone Atlanteans, in the state of Hidalgo is the archaeological zone of Tula. Legend has it that this city was a spiritual and cultural center founded by the mythical king and priest Quetzalcoatl, who took refuge in the place after avenging the death of his father and which gave origin and splendor to the Toltec culture.
The archaeological site of Tula is located approximately 85 kilometers north of Mexico City and was, along with Teotihuacán and Tenochtitlán, one of the most important main urban centers of the Central Highlands of Mesoamerica.
With strong winds and a semi-dry climate, the vestiges of an artistic and religious culture were reflected in the temples and buildings that are still standing in this archaeological area to date. From the Atlantean building to the snake wall, thousands of tourists enter its ruins to connect with a piece of history or simply learn the traces of an ancient culture.
The archaeological site is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., access costs 75 pesos per person and only adults over 60 years old and children under 13 can enter without paying. Retirees, pensioners, disabled people, teachers and active students who have their current credential will also enjoy this benefit. On Sundays, access is free for all age groups.
To get to the archaeological site from Mexico City, you will need to board a bus from Terminal Norte to the municipality of Tula de Allende, which will cost approximately 170 pesos per person only one way. From the capital of the State of Mexico, the cost per personal ticket to that municipality will be 245 pesos, and if you want to travel from Querétaro it will be 267 pesos one-way.
Palenque, Chiapas
Between the intense green of the Lacandon Jungle and the humid and warm climate characteristic of southern Mexico, one of the most notable cities of Mayan culture was built during the third century, Palenque. At the same time that cities such as Calakmul or Tikal reached their splendour, this archaeological site became one of the main ceremonial centers of the time.
It was the site of one of the most powerful dynasties of the Mayan culture, to which the mythical ruler Pakal belonged. Archaeological and anthropological studies of the hieroglyphic inscriptions of its buildings suggest that this civilization was related to others through trade networks of exchange or alliances between groups of rulers.
It is also known that Mayan inscriptions have been widely studied because they are one of the first manifestations of writing in Mesoamerica with a logosyllabic alphabet, and because of their calendaric systems: one cyclical, as in other parts of Mesoamerica and another linear, called the long count.
The archaeological site of Palenque is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and access costs 80 pesos. As in Tula, seniors and children under 13 are free as well as teachers, students, disabled people and pensioners. On Sundays, admission is free for all age groups.
To get to Palenque from the capital of the state of Chiapas, you will need to board a bus that, depending on line preference and comfort, will cost between 300 and 670 pesos. The journey from this point is approximately 6 hours.
For its part, if you want to get from Villahermosa, Tabasco, the cost of a bus to the Magical Town of Palenque will cost between 250 and 400 pesos one way. From Mexico City, you can board a bus to the capital of Tabasco or Chiapas, whose prices range between 1,000 and 2,100 pesos, and then board one of the other means of transport mentioned above.
Monte Alban, Oaxaca
On the top of a mountain in the central valley of Oaxaca, the city of Monte Albán was founded in 500 BC, one of the most important in Mesoamerica and capital of Zapotec culture. Data from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) suggest that at its best, this city was home to approximately 35,000 people.
Monte Albán was the capital of a State that imposed taxes in kind (corn, beans and pumpkin, among others) on the communities it controlled. Merchants from different localities came to the city for exchange and circulation of different goods, it was also a center for the production of ceramics.
The main square of this archaeological site was artificially leveled, is 300 meters long by 180 meters wide, and has a capacity to accommodate up to 15,000 visitors; the architectural organization of the site reflects the hierarchical relationship between its inhabitants.
For its part, the Teotihuacan culture played an important role in the construction of this city, because through its architecture, ceramics and mural painting, the remarkable link between the two cultures emerged. In this way, the beauty and historical value of Monte Albán led to the fact that in 1987 this archaeological site together with the center of Oaxaca were named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Access to Monte Albán is free for all ages on Sundays and those who are not students, teachers, disabled people, pensioners, seniors or children under 13 years old, must pay 80 pesos to enter the archaeological site. Visiting hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Getting to this important archaeological site from the center of Oaxaca is very easy and can be achieved by boarding a taxi whose journey will cost approximately 100 to 150 pesos. One of the most accessible ways to get there is also from the municipality of Tehuacán in Puebla, where the cost of a bus ticket to Monte Alban will range from 400 to 600 pesos.
If you do not wish to arrive from Mexico City, you must board a bus from Terminal Poniente to the capital of the state of Oaxaca, depending on the preferred line, a one-way personal ticket can cost between 500 and 900 pesos.
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