The Mouth of the Well!

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LOCATION: Valladolid to Chichen Itza

STAYING Chichen Itza

PLACES TO VISIT/SEE
Chichen Itza

Night show at Chichen Itza
WEB SITES Chichen_Itza
Mysteriousplaces

After a pleasant breakfast at Valladolid, we drove to Dzitnup Cenote. This underground pool is a bit off the beaten track but worth a stop. This cave has stalactites and stalagmites, bats, and other creepy crawly things, but the water is a nice blue/green color and people were swimming in it.
The Hacienda Chichen Resort is plush and a bit of a splurge, but it is within walking distance to Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is a grand Mayan archaeological site. To view it requires hours of walking in the hot Mexican sun. So armed with water, walking shoes, hats and cool weather clothing, we begin. Bob downloaded a walking tour of Chichen Itza for our ipods. The tour guides charge $69.00 for a few hours, their English is not so good and the accuracy is questionable. So we were delighted with our info.
Chichen Itza was not only a ceremonial center, but a commercial one as well. The Maya Civilization was quite advanced in the areas of astronomy, mathematics, the calendar, written language, etc, etc. From the most breath-taking structure-El Castillo, to the Thousand Columns, to the Great Ball Court to the Sacred Cenote—the emphasize is religion. They attempted to please the god of rain, the god of stone, the god of nature, etc., etc., so human sacrifice was common. Was the sacrifice the loser or the winner of the ball game, was it the prisoner of war or the brave warrior, was it the wise old folks or the innocent children----we simply don’t know. Since the Spanish burned all the Codices (written history) scientists can only guess about the physical human remains.
After several hours I was ready for a swim—not Bob he plowed on. I found the pool delicious and Bob enjoyed his rocks! Dinner at the hotel was tasty, then we went back for the night light show at Chichen Itza. It was impressive but long. (It was only by accident we saw a German couple renting earphones. When we inquired, we found that the light show was all in Spanish. If we hadn’t rented the earphones the long show would have been even longer.)

Chichen Itza was developed by the Maya around 500 AD. To pursuer a quest for religious and scientific understanding at one time there were over 60,000 people living in Chichen Itza As you look at these structures represent over 1000 years of construction

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Photos

The Castle
Several years ago you could climb to the top. Not now!