Tue 17 Nov 2015 15.04 GMT Last modified on Mon 3 Feb 2020 12.53 GMT
In addition to taking people on balloon rides above the Teotohuacán pyramids, Sean Byrne of Flying Pictures de México works closely with film, television and commercial production companies – including on the most recent Bond film, which opens in Mexico City.Though tourism is generally a growing industry in Mexico, many of Byrne’s customers are Mexicans who come for a new perspective on the ancient pyramids of Teotihuacán.
The ancient city of Teotihuacán and its pyramids are a Unesco World Heritage Site dating back to between 100 and 700 AD. The ceremonial center, which includes the Pyramid of the Sun and Moon, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Calzada de los Muertos (Avenue of the Dead), represents only about 10% of the surface area of the ancient city; only about 5% has been scientifically excavated.
The US investigation into the allegations against Walmart in Mexico has yet to yield any proof of what the Wall Street Journal called ‘major offenses’. The store remains visible from the top of the Pyramid of the Sun.
The ancient road running between the pyramids and the palaces, Calzada de los Muertos, is open to tourists on foot several days a week. On other days, the only accessible method for viewing the site is via air balloons, which are operated by several tour companies in the area. The balloon companies can have an environmental impact: in addition to burning gasoline, some less reputable companies land in the farmland around Teotihuacán without permission, and even drive their trucks onto private property to retrieve balloons, all without compensation.
Companies like Flying Pictures de México use ground-based crews to seek permission to land, and minimize their impact by picking landing fields with adjacent roads.Many farmers in the area cultivate nopal cactus, which is used in traditional Mexican cuisine. It can make for an unfortunate landing site for hot air balloons plying their trade around Teotihuacán.
Because hot air balloons cannot be steered in the traditional sense – pilots change altitude to take advantage of different wind streams to push their balloons where they want to go – each trip and each landing is slightly different.
