I had always taken the foot thing as a metaphor. :0
I still think the tragedy was the children dying.
Four glassy orbs fixed upon a point in heaven... I guess Mandus reconstructed them and only a few people were in on that. There was Cook who kept the children out of the trophy room (since they might find the passage to the "product"-line). There was also the priest, although he was eventually taken down below to be made a pig-person as well...
Also, really cool stuff on the pyramids! I haven't read much into Aztec to Mayan culture outside a little mythology. Although, I have been to Cozumel and seen some of the ruins and temples there.