Chichen Itza

Here's a little bit about our recent trip to the ruins of Chichen Itza.

 As once said by someone, you can never go back. Although we adored this place and highly recommend going to it, it just didn't hold the same magic as it did the first time we went.

 Sometime in the early 80s and before Cancun and Cozemul were what they are today Mike and I rented a little VW Cabriolet and drove around the jungles of the Yucatan. One of the highlights of the trip was Chichen Itza. At the time it was fairly undiscovered and un-peopled. You could climb on and go inside the ruins. There also weren't vendors or those awful (Sorry, folks) busloads of people from the Mayan Riviera or cruise ships.

 Ah, almost the first people in the park. The trick is to get there just as the doors are opening up at 8am to beat the crowds and the heat that is guaranteed to come by late morning.

 The alarms didn't go off as planned. We got up at 5:55am for a 6:30 bus that we had to run 15 minutes away to get to. Made it with time to spare - not. ADO bus Merida - Chichen Itza's front entrance 1 3/4 ride $18. RT - Like most of the buses here it was very luxurious and comfortable. Sometimes over air conditioned but that's ok. Bring an extra long sleeve shirt.

 Kululcan's Pyramid. Fascinating stuff. This is built on top of 2 other temples. It's also depicts the genius of those who were the originators of the calender. What's most impressive is the depiction by shadows of the serpent going into and exiting the ground at equinox time.

 The outside of the ball court. one of the biggest and most important in it's day. Apparently wars were solved here.

                                      The basket for the ball. Losers lost their heads.

                                   Very large ball court with a place for spectators and royalty.

                                           Rumor - A nice place for a virgin sacrificing. Bones and other interesting things have been found in the bottom of this cenote. To the displeasure of many Mexicans, all the valuable stuff that was found in the bottom of this are now housed at Harvard.

                 Workers still after more than a century meticulously putting ruins back together

                                             These guys were everywhere

                           It's probable that these 1000+ columns were a market place, sauna and contained housing

                       Vendors were everywhere. Some had some nice things, others had reproduced caca. Having them between the ruins, using odd noise makers for attention, etc. sort of took the ambiance away from the ruins.

                                               The astronomy observatory

Despite some of my complaints this is a must see for all. The pictures barely give an idea of how immense and impressive the place really is. Put this place on your list.