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Published: March 1st 2012
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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 on the coach since Cozumel and that is miles away from where we were staying. From our hotel is was roughly a 2 and a half hour drive to Chichen Itza, excluding
the brief stop at a cenote so everyone could go for a swim.
We also stopped off in Vallodalid for a bit of shopping to break up the long journey, it was funny as a waiter in the restaurant we were in the night before was talking to us and recommended we visit there as there was a huge catholic church. A few hours later and we were there lol. I’m glad we got to stop there as the church was beautiful, all of the locals were setting up the square in front of the church as carnival started on February 24
th, it’s a shame that we couldn’t go back for carnival but that was the night we were leaving to go home.
I’ve got to admit I was really excited about visiting Chichen Itza. When we walked through the gates and began to see the base of the iconic pyramid I was like a child and began to power walk to the front of our group so I was the first to see it (yes I am a nerd lol). It was huge, much bigger than I imagined.
Chichen Itza
was built around 600AD but was finished around 900AD, at the end of the classic period. It was after this period that the Mayan empire went in to decline. As you are stood in front of the pyramid you hear groups of people clapping, the way it was built it actually amplifies sound and echoes back at you. When every tour group gets to Chichen Itza they clap to hear the echo, which is actually quite loud, groups of people stood nowhere near us were clapping and I could hear the echo clearly.
We went to the ball court, which compared to Coba is huge. The hoops are really high and the hole is not very big, apparently the ball would weigh around 10lbs and you were not allowed to use your hands to get it through the hole, only your forearms, hips and knees. But the Mayans did have a wooden casing around their hands which made their arms look like giant hammers, they then used the hammer head to hit the ball through the holes. Apparently some games would last for 2-3 days.
As jaguars are carved into the rock and still
live in the jungle now, there are the usual people trying to sell souvenirs, the most annoying souvenirs are the ones that are sort of like an instrument but when you blow into them it sounds like a jaguar (not the car lol). Every time you walk past anyone they blow into it and then say “Good price, one dollar”. The people asking for money aren’t annoying but the noise the souvenirs make gets on everyone tits lol.
After an awesome day at an amazing place Nikki and I, competitive as ever, decided to make a game out of guessing how long it would take to get home. As we neared the final few minutes Nikki had clearly lost but we’d agreed that if it took a minute longer than my guess then we had both lost (even though I had won). With less than 5 minutes to go Nikki said “I hope we get a flat tyre”. My god, as competitive as I am I would never wish for a flat tyre just to win a bet about getting to the hotel lol.
My wife is loco.
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Great photos!
I've been without wifi for awhile, so I just now read your great blog--fab photos and a wonderful adventure in a place i love and hope to revisit as i slowly head home! You are such great travelers!