I was very lucky to be able to visit Mexico numerous times while I was working. Even though I had business things to deal with, I always made a point to spend any free time learning about Mexican culture. I was also lucky to have a fabulous client who shared so much of their history, foods, and culture with me.
I used what I learned to craft two of my stories — Aztec Gold and The Fifth Kingdom.
In Aztec Gold I worked in various aspects of Mexica culture, things like the games they played, food they ate, and the Aztec gods. The villain in the story is a demon demigoddess Eztli Etalpalli, Blood Wing. In the story, the demigoddess is descended from Izpapalotl, the Clawed Butterfly.
The research for The Fifth Kingdom took me to Chapultepec Park and the nearby National Museum of Anthropology. I was like a kid in a candy shop as I strolled around, looking at so many fascinating items but the highlight was when I got to stand right in front of the sun stone!
The sun stone, or should I say a copy of it made of black obsidian, plays a major part in the romantic suspense plot in The Fifth Kingdom. The sun stone is probably the most famous piece of Mexica culture. Scholars believe that the four segments of the stone’s artfully carved surface represent the four eras of their history. Each era was ended by some calamity, but the Earth and humans came again for the next era. The Aztecs believed that when the last kingdom arrived – The Fifth Kingdom – all life on Earth would cease and not be resurrected. It’s possible the Aztecs believed that the arrival of the Conquistadors signaled the beginning of the Fifth Kingdom.
I took lots of photos as I strolled around Chapultepec Park, much like the heroine’s mom in The Fifth Kingdom. I also took photos in the museum, including one of the sun stone, and I’m sharing those with you today!