Viagem Arqueológica Antigua-Cempoala e Quiahuiztlan

Amphibian Tour's English-speaking guide was sick at home with a bad case of the flu. Salvador, who is primarily a Spanish speaker, filled in at the last moment. Between Salvador's elementary English and our elementary Spanish, we managed to have a wonderful tour -- and lots of fun!! We were very surprised and pleased by size and complexity of the Quiahuixtian (I still cannot pronounce this name!!) and Cempoala archaeological sites. The setting for the Quiahuixtian site is spectacular with an vertical, craggy, rocky "karst" mountain looming over the site -- and with an amazing view of Playa Villa Rica and the Gulf of Mexico (yes, that is the correct name!) in the distance. The cemeteries at Quiahuixtian are both eerie and interesting. Cempoala is a very large site with both smaller Totonac structures and huge Aztec/Mexica temples/pyramids. Salvador helped us to understand the brutality of the Mexica's domination over the Totonacs. The Totonacs had to pay huge tributes/taxes to the Mexica and to supply the Mexicas with a large number of people for human sacrifice. It is no wonder that the Totonacs formed an alliance with Cortes and the Spaniards to overthrow the Mexica empire. The most impressive part of the Antigua tour is the incredible ceiba trees. We enjoyed a lovely late lunch of mariscos in Antigua -- and were entertained by two great musicians. Salvador shared astounding family stories with us. His great grandfather lived to the age of 105 and had 21 children!

Highly recommended. Although the visit is only half a day, the service is highly recommended. The site of Quiahuiztlan is surprising, we had a partly cloudy day and even so the view was incredible, with sunny days it must be wonderful. It is also a pre-Hispanic cemetery that you have to know