First things first, unless you are referring to the language, apparently the word "Mayan" is not acceptable to use. Also, the plural of Maya is...Maya! Who knew? I'll try to follow these rules in my post.
The ride from Ik Kil to Chichen Itza took only 5 minutes or so, and before you know it, we had our tickets and were standing inside the gates of the magnificent Maya ruins. Chichen Itza is a Maya settlement formed in the late classical period. Its construction began around 600 AD and it was inhabited until 1500 AD. The site itself is huge (we didn't even get to see the whole thing). It has an observatory, temple, and other areas that were built using mathematical calculations from the Maya astronomical knowledge.
El Castillo
One of the most stunning and recognizable structures was the Temple of Kukulkan, also known as El Castillo (the castle). Named as one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World," this pyramid is magnificent and reveals so much about the accuracy of Maya astronomy. The Maya devised a 365-day calendar, and El Castillo reflected it. Each of the temple's four sides has 91 steps (91x4=364 steps), and the top platform counts as another step (365). So, there was one step for each day of the year. Unfortunately, a US tourist died in 2006 while trying to climb the pyramid, so we weren't able to actually climb any of these steps.
Interesting fact: On the spring and autumn equinox, Chichen Itza gets thousands of visitors. Why? During the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a snake along one side of the staircase. With the sun's movement, the shadows from the corner steps make it look like a snake is slithering down to the serpent's head at the base of the pyramid.
Unbeknownst to me, Mesoamerican cultures periodically built larger pyramids on top of older ones. El Castillo is an example of this. See all that grass around the pyramid in the picture above? It's filled in, and underneath is another pyramid! In the 30s, this grassy area was excavated, and they found another temple buried underneath the current one. Inside the temple was a statue and a throne in the shape of a jaguar. Jaguars (the animal not the car ;) ) are a symbol of a god in Maya culture. Pictured to the left is the actual ground level of the site. Crazy!
Great Ball Court
Chichen Itza contains several courts for playing the 'Mesoamerican ballgame'-the first proclaimed team sport in human history. Right next to El Castillo is the most impressive and the largest known court in the Americas, called the Great Ball Court. Ritual games were played here, where players tried to hit a 12-pound rubber ball through stone hoops set high on the court walls. It was an honor to be on the team or even in the audience at this game. The king sat at one of the court, and the high priest at the other. The audience crowded together to watch on top of the opposing walls.
The trick of the game was that you couldn't use your hands or feet to throw or kick the ball, but you could bump it with your hips and other body parts. Since it was so difficult to score, the game ended once someone got the ball through the hoop (reminds me of Quidditch in Harry Potter). Competition was fierce, because losers got put to death. The bottom left picture is a sculpted panel showing one of the players on the losing team being decapitated. Serpents are seen coming out of the wound. The bottom right picture shows all of the trophies, or decapitated heads, from the game. It was an honor to be sacrificed. This is one game where I wouldn't mind riding the bench...
Sacred Cenote
After learning about the history of a few other structures, we wanted to check out one of the cenotes at the ruins. It started raining, and of course we didn't bring rain jackets, so I had to wait for it to die down to prevent my camera from getting soaked. With little time to spare until the bus left, I finally made it down to check out the cenote. The northern Yucatán is very dry, and all of the rivers run underground. Chichen Itza had two cenotes that provided plentifiul water for the settlement. The one next to El Castillo was called the Sacred Cenote, because Maya would sacrifice objects and (live!) humans into the pool as a way of honoring the rain god. Archaeologists have since found human bones, jewelry, and other precious artifacts at the bottom of the cenote.
We rushed back to our tour's meeting point, fighting off vendor after vendor lined up along the path. They advertised all of their items as "almost free" and "cheaper for you." To the ladies, they would take a different tactic. "Hey, something for your boyfriend?" *short pause* "Something for your ex-boyfriend?" I had to laugh at that one.
We boarded the bus to head back to the resort. It was a perfect time for napping and soaking in all of the information from the trip. Most of my thoughts were centered around the downfall of Chichen Itza. During the 1400s, the site was completely abandoned, with no known record as to why. Guess it's left to be another Maya mystery. The rest of my thoughts were centered around food. Haha.
Our Mexican cultural experience was not over yet. Once back at the Iberostar, we grabbed burgers at a diner in the shopping center, where we were pleasantly surprised by a Maya street show. Men were dressed up doing acrobatics, playing with fire, and my favorite-playing the Mesoamerican ballgame! I caught this on the GoPro and will post later.
We then went to the nightly show, where the theme was none other than "Mexican culture." We enjoyed watching lovely renditions of many styles of Mexican dance from all different states. The night ended watching karaoke at the resort's Rock Cafe. There was no singing for us, but we had a blast listening to some amazing singers. One lady's first song was Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." If you start with that song, you've gotta be good. Some other entertainment was watching the Star Friends dance and provide commentary during the songs. During a "My Heart Will Go On" performance, two of the guys reenacted the Titanic scene where Jack and Rose were at the front of the boat. One of them was screaming "I'll never let go, Jack!" Sydne and I couldn't stop laughing!
Here are some more Chichen Itza pictures (click to enlarge):
The ride from Ik Kil to Chichen Itza took only 5 minutes or so, and before you know it, we had our tickets and were standing inside the gates of the magnificent Maya ruins. Chichen Itza is a Maya settlement formed in the late classical period. Its construction began around 600 AD and it was inhabited until 1500 AD. The site itself is huge (we didn't even get to see the whole thing). It has an observatory, temple, and other areas that were built using mathematical calculations from the Maya astronomical knowledge.
El Castillo
One of the most stunning and recognizable structures was the Temple of Kukulkan, also known as El Castillo (the castle). Named as one of the "New Seven Wonders of the World," this pyramid is magnificent and reveals so much about the accuracy of Maya astronomy. The Maya devised a 365-day calendar, and El Castillo reflected it. Each of the temple's four sides has 91 steps (91x4=364 steps), and the top platform counts as another step (365). So, there was one step for each day of the year. Unfortunately, a US tourist died in 2006 while trying to climb the pyramid, so we weren't able to actually climb any of these steps.
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| Serpent head |
Interesting fact: On the spring and autumn equinox, Chichen Itza gets thousands of visitors. Why? During the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a snake along one side of the staircase. With the sun's movement, the shadows from the corner steps make it look like a snake is slithering down to the serpent's head at the base of the pyramid.
Unbeknownst to me, Mesoamerican cultures periodically built larger pyramids on top of older ones. El Castillo is an example of this. See all that grass around the pyramid in the picture above? It's filled in, and underneath is another pyramid! In the 30s, this grassy area was excavated, and they found another temple buried underneath the current one. Inside the temple was a statue and a throne in the shape of a jaguar. Jaguars (the animal not the car ;) ) are a symbol of a god in Maya culture. Pictured to the left is the actual ground level of the site. Crazy!Great Ball Court
Chichen Itza contains several courts for playing the 'Mesoamerican ballgame'-the first proclaimed team sport in human history. Right next to El Castillo is the most impressive and the largest known court in the Americas, called the Great Ball Court. Ritual games were played here, where players tried to hit a 12-pound rubber ball through stone hoops set high on the court walls. It was an honor to be on the team or even in the audience at this game. The king sat at one of the court, and the high priest at the other. The audience crowded together to watch on top of the opposing walls.
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Sacred Cenote
After learning about the history of a few other structures, we wanted to check out one of the cenotes at the ruins. It started raining, and of course we didn't bring rain jackets, so I had to wait for it to die down to prevent my camera from getting soaked. With little time to spare until the bus left, I finally made it down to check out the cenote. The northern Yucatán is very dry, and all of the rivers run underground. Chichen Itza had two cenotes that provided plentifiul water for the settlement. The one next to El Castillo was called the Sacred Cenote, because Maya would sacrifice objects and (live!) humans into the pool as a way of honoring the rain god. Archaeologists have since found human bones, jewelry, and other precious artifacts at the bottom of the cenote.
We rushed back to our tour's meeting point, fighting off vendor after vendor lined up along the path. They advertised all of their items as "almost free" and "cheaper for you." To the ladies, they would take a different tactic. "Hey, something for your boyfriend?" *short pause* "Something for your ex-boyfriend?" I had to laugh at that one.
We boarded the bus to head back to the resort. It was a perfect time for napping and soaking in all of the information from the trip. Most of my thoughts were centered around the downfall of Chichen Itza. During the 1400s, the site was completely abandoned, with no known record as to why. Guess it's left to be another Maya mystery. The rest of my thoughts were centered around food. Haha.Our Mexican cultural experience was not over yet. Once back at the Iberostar, we grabbed burgers at a diner in the shopping center, where we were pleasantly surprised by a Maya street show. Men were dressed up doing acrobatics, playing with fire, and my favorite-playing the Mesoamerican ballgame! I caught this on the GoPro and will post later.
We then went to the nightly show, where the theme was none other than "Mexican culture." We enjoyed watching lovely renditions of many styles of Mexican dance from all different states. The night ended watching karaoke at the resort's Rock Cafe. There was no singing for us, but we had a blast listening to some amazing singers. One lady's first song was Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." If you start with that song, you've gotta be good. Some other entertainment was watching the Star Friends dance and provide commentary during the songs. During a "My Heart Will Go On" performance, two of the guys reenacted the Titanic scene where Jack and Rose were at the front of the boat. One of them was screaming "I'll never let go, Jack!" Sydne and I couldn't stop laughing!
Here are some more Chichen Itza pictures (click to enlarge):
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| The Group of a Thousand Columns |
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