Oddbean

GN, GM, nostr. It has come 🐸 . https://image.nostr.build/e638736addebb7428b97c7294717440850920519c4e3fe71c9a588a66372e132.jpg The chronic and discussion about don Marco's touring guide at the archaeological site of Cacaxtla, Mexico; along with a shill auto praise for his orange-pilling into bitcoin's. Scroll down onto this post to find the raw text; check after the comments for a link to a nostr's article format ;). If feeling like tipping don Marcos, his bitcoin's lightning wallet is hosted at @Blink – The Everyday Bitcoin Wallet 's with address id marcos_cacaxtla@blink.sv . If feeling like tipping us, @LePlebRoyale and I, why thank you so much dear nostriche, please feel free to do it at this post so we could maybe be orange pilling and romping some more places nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpsuymepvpe5fcd9q4mafczh9zcyn602segpzdldsz9p4epynjg42qys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdajx2un4dehx2unn9ehx2arhdaexktcqyr6f9psmz8lr8tcx62739y0c450hj0keu67kp3yqgqymz2za9uqzqt5kdya --- # Don Marcos' Cacaxtla Tour & Orange-Pilling > A chronic about SF and I's visit to archaeological site of Cacaxtla, located at the Mexican state of Tlaxcala. The read has orientation towards topics relating architecture, history and philosophy; however it also carries a biased favorable stance towards bitcoin and oikology. Expect internet-vocabulary slang. --- ### Spoiler alert!: This chronic is a spoiler of actual don Marcos' touring and insight of pre-Columbian era in America, which is worth checking on person. You can send bitcoin tips to don Marcos via his lightning address hosted at Blink's marcos_cacaxtla@blink.sv. Visit Tlaxcala, Visit Mexico ;). --- ### How it went? Before saying goodbye to don Marcos, he replied back to us about bitcoin —"it is something I'm not going to be using anyway..."—, so I replied back to him, —"well, your touring guide was also something we were not supposed to be using, ser..."—, and that reply seemed good enough to convince him to try receive bitcoin, —along some bread-of-the-dead breads—, as a reply of gratitude for his time dedicated to us. Maybe this paragraph is good enough for you, dear reader, to read this article at its whole. ### How it happened? SF and I arrived to Cacaxtla through a shortcut; we were bounced at the main entrance and I had to go back to the ticket office and do some extra walking. On the road I met don Marcos; he was at a medium distance reading a book and listening to a portable radio. As he saw me passing by, he offered me his touring guide. "We only have bitcoin remaining" —I said to him—, "Doesn't matter, whatever thing you want to give me, even a thank you, is plenty enough", —he shouted, and a "LFG!" I replied back to him—. --- ![cacaxtla-from-xochitecatl](https://image.nostr.build/9af77aca122fd945ccd58e01d3cb412664b3959eb6bd1a8272366f68f9d3b8db.jpg) ## What was the tour about? "The official description of this site is wrong; it is made up around the convenience of some few"; —was don Marcos first argument to start the guiding, soundly enough—. "Let me tell you first what I know, ser, please", —I reply back to him almost abruptly—, "I heard that Cacaxtla in reality was a even more important capital city than Tenochtitlan...", —to which he instantly replied—, "They were never in fight with each other as they tell us they were!", —that is to mean, don Marcos was talking about the on-going war between Aztecs and Tlaxcalans during the contact event with Spaniard colonizers—. At this point I have to disclose that it seems to me that part of don Marcos bias is shored along sketchy ideas such as a kind of mythical state of society where there was no *need* for war nor for criminality, that is to say, sustainable cohabitation, —or the *holy grail* of civilizations— for some nowadays theories of the urban; —"don't you say?..."—, I thought for myself... Back with SF's at the entrance of the site, don Marcos began his tour by explaining the errors of the official version of historians and anthropologists. "The friars are to blame for the misinterpretation of what was happening here; they were those who were sending news to the Crown and the Church", —he emphasized strongly, to which I noticed a tone of angst and immediately responded to him—, "but ser, most likely they were also told by their bosses what to write, and what not to write about; as how it nowadays happens with misinformation and two-way communications..." —and this argument it seemed to be good enough for him to gentle agree that it could have been the case, and we started walking and climbing. ![cacaxtla-map](https://image.nostr.build/3d53a79d49be5b9f02ab28e6e404607ee5611cc790a2000b2219aaf69c06ab6f.jpg) ## Use of land and *di*-vision of the cosmos "The sons had to do variety of community work since their young ages of living; thus their parents received land to produce the sustains for their sons' work." —don Marcos started telling us—, "By the time those youngsters grew and became adults, the land was given back and they were able to become members of society... ". Don Marcos almost knocked me belly up with these first sentences. "Whoa, whoa! Back to who? Who leased the land, was the tlatoani's (the kings)?", —I quickly inquired to him, so he replied back—, "You fellows have to understand, there was no polytheism back then, the only god was Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent. The tribes, or cultures we know nowadays were named just the past century, Aztecs, Mayans, Olmecs, Mississippians, Incas, you name it... it could be said that all of them were just one...", —don Marcos by then got our attention, and continued— "They did not used names in the same ways we use them nowadays, that is, they weren't called Marcos or Moses like you and me, instead they used names by references or titles given by others...", —by then don Marcos gained our interest— "how do you know? a reputation-based system...?" SF and I murmured between ourselves... ![sitio](https://image.nostr.build/64aa1bbd8fbcd93e6cb2b07e859aa935df5b90ce097d138cc5613c1493f10565.gif) As we arrived at what it seemed to be the eleventh level of the pyramid, the official route of the site began as well as the official tour of don Marcos showing us his interpretation of the fresco murals. "The leased land had to be given back to the townships. All of this changed as Europeans introduced the concept of money; before that, there was the custom of bartering", —don Marcos sentenced and I inquired no further as what he said rhymed with what I have read at Kubler's and Rainer's literature—. "The official version says that this site, Cacaxtla, was a royal palace" —don Marcos continued sentencing whilst showing us a banner of information proportioned by National's Institute of History and Anthropology, and continued—, "however they always look the other way with blank eyes whenever they are questioned about the hundreds of corpses also found at this site", —don Marcos sentenced with confident irony—, "You kids have to understand that the vision of the cosmos they had was heavy weighted around the concept of death, that is, they lived to die. To die was an honor and so no all were allowed to die that easily...". Don Marcos sentences came easier as a breeze out of his mouth, however became ice cold as I was translating them to SF, both with our skins getting pale and pale as we were reasoning ideas around them. As I told SF's just two days before meting don Marcos, back at the archaeological site of Teotihuacan, located around 100 kilometers Northwest of Cacaxtla's, —"In Kubler's is said that the concept of work was different back in those days, I mean, people was not used to work in exchange of money but recognition; and pulque was an alcoholic beverage meant only for some few members of society as a sign of status...", —I was telling him whilst we were rushing the Calzada-de-los-Muertos road towards the Pyramid of the Sun due to closing hours—, "Later, due to European's customs and concepts for work and money, the local customs were blended and pulque instead of being achieved it was just bought...", —"So they were proof-of-work instead, ser!"—, SF replied to me right away toxicly whilst we discussed a bet-for-sats for who crossed from side to side through a mini-passage at a structure by crawling ;)... we agreed to let it for another day. In the other hand, the lease of land by the townships also ringed bells about Rainer's theory of oikology, that is, the conformation of societies and urbanized settlements in-around the very basics of both *the concept* and *the necessity* of housing, that is to say, it is not so hard to imagine the situation on which a family arrives to a new town and they have to make their own way into establish a cohabitation with the new place of inhabit. ![mural-de-la-batalla](https://image.nostr.build/473973c672cae0c198b44a6d550fcb0804b06bec35c7fa277c91e0e3447f3e15.gif) "There was no inhabitants in here. In this place, or pyramid as is known nowadays" —don Marcos continued as we arrived to the patio that is in front of the so-known Mural de la Batalla (mural of the battle)— "and the same sentence can be said about Teotihuacan, or Cholula, or Tenochtitlan, you name it, all of these places were ceremonial places dedicated to the cosmos and their deities; at whichever of these pyramids you would find at their cusps a series of Teocalli, that is, a series of built structures that represents the 'House of God', to which door was brought a series of celebrations, offerings and sacrifices...". And once again, don Marcos sentences coincided with my personal bookmarks of readings about architecture and philosophy... As we went through don Marcos tour, I could overhear the discourse of another young guide leading another group of visitors; it seems that his emphasis were heavy weighted towards an appreciation for the Sun, our always astral companion, whereas don Marcos emphasized the importance of the orientation of the self in the World, —"Inhabitants back then were guided by cardinal points and colors in nature,"— he continued whilst describing his interpretation of the main fresco painting of the site, —"to the North there were the sites heavy in red tones, those places where related to death, fire and thunder, such as Teotihuacan; at the West there were the places of favorable weather conditions, the color blue was characteristic in relation to life, this place Cacaxtla is one of those dedicated to Tlaloc, the deity of rain and water; to the South there were the places dedicated to Earth, yellow was their color and ceramics their main activity, Oaxaca sites are examples; as for the East, the white color was meant for the wind and the yearly seasons". Towards the end of his touring, he mentioned the importance of the color black as it was used to paint the skin of the so called 'semi-gods' ocēlōpilli and cuāuhpipiltin, —also known as jaguar and eagle warriors, respectively—. However my mind was somewhere else as I was filming don Marcos description of the site's fresco murals... ![jaguar](https://image.nostr.build/e686f27378700fc65986669d74f27d6087fd7e64c3ac888568acd10bd25825c0.gif) ![aguila](https://image.nostr.build/ab7e859382f62b32bd9ea77521fa00554c8fbcc99172081e06fad6c680b8c424.gif) The culmination of don Marcos touring would be skipped in this chronic so for respect to his work and as a suspense cliff on which to hang you, dear reader, if by now you could be thinking on visiting this place. Before leaving, we insisted a little-bit-hard for him to receive bitcoin from us as a thank-you-tip for his time, work and dedication. "But kids, no government is going to allow this!", —he said to us whilst we smirk and wink back to him—, "Ohhh...! I see, I see now!" he replied back to our corporal language as if promptly realizing that bitcoin was already along the cosmos, or simply put, as part now of the quotidian day-to-day run of things. ![orange-pilling](https://image.nostr.build/aa75df64be9eb57be7ec93e709d01902f0883fe82ccbe4730fa860315569b464.jpg) ## Place for coincidences 間 the coincidence of place "I keep thinking about the coincidences, fren...", —"what do you mean?", SF replied to me as we were rushing towards the nearest pyramid, Xochitecatl site, as is a 12 minute drive away from Cacaxtla that I had to do in 9 and 37 seconds due to closing hour—, "I was chatting with these guys at nostr's that are into theories, right?, the other day I read at wiki's about the Egyptian deities anubis and thoth... you see how they were each a jackal and a birdy-thing, right?, so is funny how we have the jaguar and the eagle... idk, coincidences are often ought to be annoying, however coincidences are seen only for those that know, have seen, or have heard or read stuff, otherwise coincidences would pass unnoticed...",— along those sentences we were transiting whilst a group of kids were chilling freely at the road beginning of the climb towards the cusp of the pyramid; despite its dangerous-look-alike playground, they replied that they were just fine as we slowly passed by and asked them if they needed help. ![xochitecatl](https://image.nostr.build/ab1531d5a9e5b6512ea93b5aebee3077176270322cc98e8c84fdc9d152764e08.gif) Besides our rush for arriving at time, the staff were gentle enough to allow us to romp freely at Xochitecatl's Teocalli even though we were the last visitors at the site. Curious as he is, I may by now adopted SF's fidget of be turning rocks and boulders to take a look at what it is to discover; so a cold surprise and a shock I took after I tried move a small boulder and recognized immediately a little serpent below it. After shouting SF and gently filming the serpent we could only offer a naughty yet humbly "sorry to annoy, Quetzalcoatl, ser, but we're happy to see you". After fooling and finding around I could only manage to sentence SF the following, "I think we were not supposed to come here on our own, dude", —fresh and cool as he is, he replied something to me that I don't remember what it was but that I take as a word that depicts just simple yet sublime coincidence. ![xochitecatl](https://image.nostr.build/7aa14a8cf88045e8cbae4c058807daf8e432a68ca40de5b1afa3c9bdb61eae73.jpg) --- ## Discussion and sauces As I mentioned before, this chronic is meant to be a word of shilling for don Marco's work, and so as well for this place of yours and mine, Mexico, and particularly for the state of Tlaxcala. The topics around architecture, philosophy and bitcoin are proposed to be located at the *bashō* of the visiting of SF's to my place of born, or stated as follows, this chronic essays the idea of "to *put place*" to the experience of getting to know the World since our own's flesh, but also since the best efforts of each for seeing it by the perspective of the others. So now that I had chance to double check the sources about my most recent research work about architecture and the urban, I could share with you, dear reader, the big place that the idea of having a Teocalli at each top of a pyramid has been claimed at the land of my mind. On the first hand there is this that what it seems to be a coincidence that the concept of "the house of God" appears in cultures so different apart, —at first at first glances—. At Wikipedia's is written that the Japanese kanji *ma* (間) is nowadays used to grant the sense of 'in-between' within the vocabulary of theirs; however at Eguiarte's work, he enunciates that *ma* is the "Kami's Place", or "The Place of Kami"... ![ma-lugar-del-kami](https://image.nostr.build/b4f9411f3a1a453ca19d03093b24d9d04e7a0d2645b922241575533193f5e3de.jpg) On the other hand, why the insistence of bitcoin even at the doors of the Teocalli, —the *Ma* itself—, that is, it is not ever annoying to receive spam, advertisers, or door-to-door vendors at the house of each's not only at that of God's?, of course it is!, but sometimes, —by invitation, by necessity, or even by coincidence ;)— it takes both and each, dweller and wanderer, to knock the door and to attend it. For this discussion I would like to point the arguable significance of *the house* as the very objectification of God, —Kami, or Quetzalcoatl—, on Earth; that is, not to think about God *Himself* but about *His* place. This is of course, disclosing upfront a personal bias favorable towards Rainer's theory of oikology. If God has a place on Earth, —that is, *His house*—, does *that Place* resembles mine's? If it is said that the human's appearance is God's look-alike, could so as well the same be told after the looks of *His house* and mine's; and what about *His way* of inhabit, does He listens music loudly, takes naps with the open doors, workouts near the window with the curtains wide opened, or rather is secretive and answers the door for nobody's, does the police would have to go in un-invited to go check after His wellness...? Here I have to concede that for these questions to be plausible then the problematic translates towards validating if, precisely, the pre-Columbian cultures of America were akin to *a certain* way of the looks-alike and the quotidian day-to-day of the *house of God*. If something, it seems that as with Catholic tradition as with pre-Columbian tradition, there was a clear distinction between *the house* of each and *that* of God's, —named Church at our nowadays, or Teocalli back at those other times; either with weekly, seasonal, or coincidental visitors—. In each of those cases it could be happening however that neither God nor ourselves are alone and rather we are ought to be always neighbors. --- > ⛩oizen > > V epoch. 868004. 20241029 --- ### References - Sepp, H. R. (2018). Teotihuacán: la fragilidad del nosotros. Un capítulo para una antropología filosófica disciplinar (N. Expósito Ropero, Trad.). En J. M. Díaz álvarez y J. Lasaga Medina (Eds.), La Razón y la Vida. Escritos en homenaje a Javier San Martín (1.a ed., 436-459). Trota. México. - Kubler, George. (2016). Arquitectura mexicana del siglo XVI. (2.a ed.). Fondo de Cultura Económica. México. - Eguiarte, Guillermo. (1983). El concepto de espacio y tiempo en Japón. (Master theses. Ballina, Jorge, Dir.). Universidad Iberoamericana, A.C.. México.