Blogs from Chichén Itzá, Yucatán, Mexico, North America

I don’t claim to pronounce foreign names correctly all of the time but I at least say them how they are spelt. Chichen Itza, pronounced ‘Chi-Chen It-Za’ Coba pronounced ‘Co-Ba’ Not that hard is it? Or is it? Before a trip one day we heard a group of people talking. Person 1-“Where are you going today?” Person 2-“We’re going to Cobo” Person 1-“Oh really, I hear it’s really nice” Person 2-“How about you, where are you going today?” Person 1-“We’re going to Chitzen Itzen. Well, see you later guys, have fun at Cabo” How many times can 2 people mispronounce 2 names that sound EXACTLY how they are spelt lol. We were the last people to be picked up from our hotel before making our way to Chichen Itza, some of the other people had been ... read more

So ive been to mexico many times, but through-out my travels to the eastern and western shores of the country; nothing compaires to the ancient temple deep in the Yucatan Peninsula. Chichen Itza, which has been around since ancient times as a Mayan temple used for worhsip, sacrifice and a place of mass gathering. While walking up the roadside into the lost temple, i was surprised to see how beautiful all the carvings in the walls of the material made to build such a beautiful monument. as I walked up to the botton of the stone steps, i heard a strange sound that resembled a bird calling out to the wild, yet i saw no animals around. Later on in my tour the guide told us to stand at the base of the step pyramid; he ... read more

Isla Mujeres, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.... read more

We arrive at The Mayan ruin (this is the one you see in all the advertisements, postcards, history books, etc.) promptly at 8:05 AM. And good thing too, the humidity is ramping up. The site is not directly adjacent to any village anymore but the place is already moving with vendors, ticket-sellers, guides, and a handful of tourists. We are immediately approached by an older, squat guide who calls himself Willy and speaks English with a discernible but indistinct accent. Though it is a solid chunk of change (about $40US) to hire a guide, we go for it since this is our first ruins site and it is the biggest. And we are uncertain how good the interpretative signage will be (we gambled correctly, the signs were almost humorously uninformative). Willy talks almost constantly but in ... read more

Don't look if you tire quickly of pictures of ruins....... read more

Howdy! Its been a while since my last entry so there is a bit to write about! So we went to Merida and checked into a nice hostle with a very nice pool where we spent most of our time. It was absolutely roasting hot for the first couple of days with temperatures hitting 37 degrees poolside so that was great but I was still horrendously white leading to the not so flattering name of moby dick, 'Call me Ishmael'. So the first day we were there we went out in the evening for some food and watched the Mexico - America final which was a great game then of out for some drinks, ended up in the only club we could find which was clearly a locals place, we were the only tourists in there, ... read more

Heute um 9 Uhr ging der Bus nach Chichen Itza und die Fahrt dauert etwa 3 Stunden. Es waren etwa 5 Personen im Bus, so daß ich mich ausbreiten konnte. Dort angekommen, war der Ticketkauf etwas komisch. Ich hatte an einem Schalter eine Eintrittskarte gekauft, doch am Eingang wollte man von mir noch eine andere grüne Karte sehen. Die gab es an einem anderen Schalter. Wozu man an zwei verschiedenen Orten ein Ticket kaufen soll leuchtet mir nicht ein. Der Eintritt kostet etwa 10 €. Das erste was man sieht, ist die Pyramide. Diese hat an allen vier Seiten Treppen mit jeweils 91 Stufen. Nimmt man die oberste Platform hinzu, ergibt sich 365, die Anzahl der Tage im Jahr. Zweimal im Jahr, zur Tagundnachtgleiche und einige Zeit davor und danach, versinkt eine Seite der Pyramide fast ... read more