December 18, 2005

Huapalcalco Archaeological Site + Tulancingo (Hidalgo), 18.12.05



GPS Track Video


Photoset Map

Photoset Show

GPS Track: GPX (MapSource, et al.) or KMZ (Google Earth)

GPS Cycling Data:






Distance: 122 Km. Ascent: 595 m. Time: 5:18 hr, Avg Speed: 23 Km/hr, Max Speed: 57.3 Km/hr


Travel Report:

This bicycle journey was performed in the last days of the year, so the weather was really chilly. On top of that, I was suffering from a considerable cold that made me "enjoy" the trip. But, heck: I had been delaying this trip to the archeological site of Huapalcalco (in the mexican state of Hidalgo) for more than 2 weeks, so ... I had to do it :-)

I started in the northern Mexico City Metro Station of Indios Verdes. The climbing at this starting point is a little bit interesting, but after passing the initial hills, it is a walk in the park. This route, up to the Teotihuacan Pyramids is a piece of cake, because it is composed of plain terrain, with less than 200 meters of ascent.

Fun starts after the Pyramids, but anyway, this journey is not a mountain one. The whole ascent is less than 900 m. The real problem was the wind. That december northern wind. As we were heading to NE, this continuous chilly and strong wind was the most remarkable feature in the trip.

A moderate ascending starts that will only finish at Sanguilucan, 55 Km after the Pyramids. The state of the road is excellent ! As there was a lot of wind that day, the weather was really sunny, so the photographs obtained enjoyed a fair amount of solar light, so they were not so bad (for my standards, anyway) as you could observe in the photoset.

The landscapes were beatiful. The views of the road, the hills and those plains make me desire now a re-run of this route. After arriving to the road to Sanguilucan, the descent to the Tulancingo area starts. We need to pass the city of Tulancingo in order to arrive to the archelogical site at Huapalcalco (it is anyway a short ride from that city).

At Huapalcalco, we could enjoy learning about the history of the place (of Toltecan roots) There are no many pyramids there, but the positiong of the site in the middle of 2 big cliffs, made the view imposing, wonderful. There are even caves in the walls of these cliffs, but the path conducting to them was almost impracticable for my bike.

So, we took some photos of the site, of the pyramid, and the sourrounding area (there are a lot of nopales and cactus !). Sadly, there were no many visitors. When i was leaving the site, just a family showed up :-(

In Tulancingo I made a little visit to the Main Square, its Cathedral, Park and Kiosk. As Christmas was looming, I had the chance of knowing the first green Santa i had ever seen :-) After eating something, i boarded the bus that took me back home again.

Thank you for reading. Till the next journey.

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