Chichen Itza

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Yesterday we took a day trip to Chichen Itza, a set of Mayan ruins from 500AD. The bus ride took us about 2 hours inland - fortunately, the weather was overcast and not too hot. The ruins are a major tourist destination so there were quite a few people there!

The main pyramid is amazing to see. The Mayans were a peaceful people and are best known for being 'sky watchers'. They understood the movement of the stars and were the first people to create a calendar based on 365 days. The pyramid has four sides (one for each season), each side has 91 stairsteps to the top (4 x 91=364, the uppermost top represents the 365th day).

The pictures showing stone columns are that of the marketplace. It's an amazingly large complex where the people would have booths for trading. There is also a game arena about the size of a football stadium where they played a ball sport that appears to be a combination of basketball and soccer.

It was an interesting tour and I wish we had more time to explore the ruins.

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Photos

Main Pyramid at Chichen Itza
Beyond the pyramid the front portion of the marketplace.

Ball Court
The ball court arena with two long sides each with a hoop that the ball was put through.

The Marketplace
On top of the stone columns would have been a thatched roof to cover the trading stalls.