The long-awaited grand opening of the Centro Interpretativo Guachimontones took place January 3 at the popular archaeological site located 43 kilometers west of Guadalajara.
The round building harmonizes with the circular pyramids on the site and was scheduled for opening over a year ago, but the inauguration was postponed due to funding problems.
Some people were surprised at the sudden decision to open the center, especially since many of the exhibits are incomplete.
After cutting the ribbon, Governor Emilio Gonzalez noted that in 2011 Teuchitlán moved into position number seven among Mexico’s “most visited archaeological sites,” a remarkable achievement considering that these ruins were unknown to most Tapatios ten years ago.
“In 2011 more visitors came to the Guachimontones than to Chichenitza,” he boasted to the surprise of many present.
What can you see or do inside the new center? As you step through the door, your eyes first meet a 30-meter-long mural created by Guadalajara artist Jorge Monroy, depicting Teuchitlán as it may have looked 2000 years ago.
Following the mural to the left leads you back in time to the eruptions of the Tequila Volcano 220,000 years ago, thanks to which western Jalisco has its fertile soil and abundant deposits of obsidian.
At the far end of the mural you step into “The Underworld,” a long, dark, narrow tunnel which, officials say, will someday be filled with interactive devices, but now features only a glass-topped tomb beneath your feet, representing a skeleton surrounded by burial offerings, discovered not far from the museum.
Emerging from the Underworld, you step into the bright light of a large, round room offering a magnificent view of Lake La Vega, Teuchitlán and the imposing Ameca Mountain Range. Only two displays can be found here for the moment, one showing a most interesting “day in the life of” the ancient inhabitants of the area and the other focusing on how these people got their food by fishing in the nearby lake and raising crops using the ingenious Chinampa irrigation system, allowing them to feed 40,000 people more efficiently and ecologically than we can today.
If these two displays are a portent of things to come, a visit to the center promises to be – someday – an experience both educational and entertaining at the same time.
Although the displays are only in Spanish for some reason, enlightening bilingual signs have appeared everywhere outside the building and among the ruins.
Unfortunately, transportation between the center and the pyramids has been suspended, forcing most visitors to hoof it up and down the long, steep cobblestone road.
But Martelva Gomez Pineda, the center’s director, promised to allow “the old and the infirm to drive up to the pyramids.”
Visitors fitting this description should not hesitate to remind staff members of Gomez’s vow.
The Interpretive Center is open daily – except Mondays – from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.