ZONA ARQUEOLOGICA EL TAJÍN

Ceremonial center of the Tontoac culture, it is the sacred city of the dead and one of the most important religious centers of Mesoamerica. Built between 800 and 1150 AD, the site has one hundred and sixty-eight buildings and no less than seventeen ball games. Its main monument is the Piramide de los Nichos, with its three hundred and sixty-five niches that presumably correspond to the days of the solar year. The upper platform represents gods, sacred animals and the totonac paradise.

The existence of El Tajín remained jealously hidden by the Tontoac people during the Spanish occupation until it was accidentally discovered by Diego Ruiz in 1785. The city was only recently restored, buried in creepers and greenery. Everything had to be ready for October 12, 1992, the anniversary of the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, which is called "Race Day" here. Former president Salinas was supposed to come and inaugurate the site and the museum, but in front of the opposition met by this project of celebration of the fifth centenary, he abstained.

It is best to visit at the beginning of June, during the Xanath Festival, to attend the dances of the voladores and the negritos, or in March during the Cumbre Tajín Festival. There is a museum with beautiful pieces. At the entrance of the site, do not miss the extraordinary dance of the voladores that the flying men execute without net from the top of a big mast.