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7th MAY 2009 - CHICHEN ITZA RUINS!! NOW I KNOW WHERE QUIDDITCH COMES FROM!!
I woke up at around 7am and went straight to the net for an hour whilst it was free. Nat must have got up at the crack of dawn as she was already on when I got there. We searched for details of a hostel in Cancun for when we arrived later that day. Trying to be prepared and not get caught short like in recent days. At around 8ish we had some breakfast, packed up our bags and checked out. The walk to the 1st class bus station was not a good one…so damn hot even at 8.30am and when we got there we were absolutely dripping in sweat that we need not have bothered to shower! The sweatiest part of my body was my eyelids…I didn’t even know eyelids could sweat!!! You learn something new everyday! I was pleased to get on the bus for the aircon! The man (or woman) who invented it really should be knighted!!
We arrived at Chichen Itza ruins at around 10.45am. It was pretty quiet due to the pig flu…everyone seemed to be running scared and tourism had
really dropped off! We put our bags into storage, bought our entrance ticket and joined an American couple in paying for an English speaking guide to show us what was what! Well worth having a guide as we didn’t have a clue what was important and would have ended up taking photos of a random pile of rubble rather than anything of significant importance. Mexico is such a big mix of cultures and has been influenced by so many tribes/leaders. The guide never stopped talking for a whole 2 hours and gave us information overload. It was cool and I actually learnt a few things!
The main feature was a big pyramid structure in the middle of the area. It was so impressive and grand. Not quite like the pyramids we saw at Teotihuacan Village but of greater significant importance to the Mexican people. All the brickwork is original and the structures are reconstructed exactly as they were as far as possible. (Big qualification there)! Each year, parts of it get destroyed by cyclones and all the Mayan people from the area get together to rebuild it. Every year….can you imagine?!! If something of mine breaks more than once
it goes and I get replacement. They rebuild the same structure each year from the same bricks knowing that it is likely to be destroyed again. Really rely on tourism!!
The guide spoke to us about the Mayans and the Aztecs. He told us how the snake god was a big factor in history and when the ruins were first re-discovered, many feared that they would be attacked by snakes and dragons. All legend of course!! At 4pm each evening as the sun sets, the way it shines through the corners of the main pyramid causes a projection of a snake on the rock. It is formed by 7 triangles of light meeting up with the snake head on the west face. He explained how that links with 7 being a significant lucky number in Mayan history and linking to there being 7 colours in the rainbow. All highly coincidental and really interesting!! The pyramid was pretty big…each of the 4 sides have 91 steps and then there is one step at the top. Each step represents one day of the year, 4 sides equals 4 seasons an so on. I didn’t ask him to explain how a leap
year fits in…!! One of my favourite parts was when he clapped his hands together. An echo came from within the pyramid as a kind of answer to the clap. So weird yet so cool. My clap did not quite cut it and I got a half squark like sound back. If I am honest it was probably a bird in a nearby tree! Nat managed it though…she must have had the gift!!
I was a bit disappointed that you weren’t allowed to climb it. Up to one year previous you could but some idiot fell down from top to bottom and from then onwards it was considered a hazard. Fair enough it was pretty steep but can’t believe one guy ruined it for all. I don’t think it can have been an American or an English guy because the whole place would have been closed due to health and safety and someone’s ass would have been sued for sure!! Half of the bricks were missing from the South and East side too. They now stand on a catholic church…thieves!! I thought the sides with some stones missing had more character and I liked it as it showed how
it was formed.
From the big pyramid we moved onto the human sacrifice temple. Not as fully reconstructed as the big pyramid but still pretty cool to see. A 1km path of pillars stood at the front…good place for a game of hide and seek!! I think I would have tried to hide, especially if I was chosen to be sacrificed! Sacrifice was an honour rather than a punishment. I could think of other things I would rather be honoured with. Having your heart ripped out and losing your head is not exactly your average merit badge or letters after your name is it? So glad times have moved on!!
After the temple he took us to show us the ball court. It was a big court with viewing platforms at either end. 2 giant walls and a hoop really high up on each wall. 7 players to each team and the object was to get the balls through the hoop. There was no way someone like Michael Jordan could jump that high and considering that the Mayans are short, things didn’t quite add up. Then it hit me…it was just like quidditch from Harry Potter!! It
all made sense and I loved it! The guide even agreed that it would have been a very similar game and legend even spoke of brooms being used. JK Rowling had to get her ideas from somewhere I suppose. So cool!! Apparently, human sacrifices were often decided upon the results of the game. Not as you would expect though. It was someone from the winning team, not the losers that were chosen to be sacrificed!! The gods should be rewarded with the strongest and best people…hence the winners!! Can you imagine...playing to win knowing that winning could mean dying!! I doubt that I would have been as competitive and hungry to win in those days…in fact I think I would have been happy to have been called a loser week in and week out!!
Following the Quidditch pitch, the guide walked us back to the start and left us to it. Our bus to Cancun was not until 4.30pm and so we had a few hours to kill. We wandered around again looking at some other stuff along our way and taking photos. We saw another sinkhole though this one was dirty and I would certainly not have paid
to swim in it!! A few market sellers inside too and Nat bartered well for a new ring. At 3pm we were ruined out and we were so dusty we decided to call it a day. We headed back to the entrance to sit and have some late lunch/early tea and a cold drink. We seem to be treating ourselves way too often and eating out every day in Mexico. I think I need to look up the definition of a treat as I am sure it should be occasionally rather than daily!! It’s a good job its fairly cheap!!
Bellies full and almost 4.30pm, we headed outside to catch the bus. Next stop……Cancun!!!
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