chichen itza

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Claire:
Sat 4th Nov
We left super sunny Cancún to begin an adventure out to Chichen Itza. After some confusion at the bus station (this Spanish malarkey is a lot of hard work), the 12pm bus got us into the little town of Piste a few minutes from Chichen Itza around half 4 in the afternoon. The ruins shut at 6 so we decided to stay in Piste for the night and get an early start on the ruins in the morning.
Piste is a pretty small town on the main highway through the area but the guy on the bus showed us to a reasonable (and cheap) place to stay for the night (I hope he enjoyed his commission!) and we found a nice little restraint to have dinner at.

Sun 5th Nov
The restraint from last night was so good that we went back for breakfast in the morning and discovered huevos Mexican style (fried eggs on a fried tortilla with refried beans topped with salsa, ham, peas and cheese - super tasty).
A taxi to Chichen Itza got us there at around 9am, which was fab as the site was still really quiet with hardly anyone around to spoil our photos. Also it was still pretty cool (a mere 22C). we wandered around slowly on our own as a guide was about 10 dollars and hustled you round in under 2 hours; our wandering lasted around 4 hours and we didn’t go very slowly so I think we would have felt very rushed by a guide.
The weather got so bloody hot we had to keep resting in the shade, I'm sure it was at least 27C by lunchtime. El Castillo, the main pyramid, was huge and very impressive but we weren’t allowed to climb it (there was talk of people falling off pyramids and being killed - spoiling it for the rest of us I say!). In fact we were only allowed to climb some very small and unexciting bits of the site.
The ball court was very cool, with pictures of big skulls and game players all around it. The acoustics were amazing too; a clap was louder at the other end of the court than where it was made.
The crowds of tourists got really bad after 12, making us extra glad we got there early. There were groups of 60 odd people wandering around with guides and generally being annoying and getting in the way of everyone’s pictures.
We left Chichen Itza around 2pm and got a bus back to Cancun and civilisation. Apparently back into a massive thunder storm too which was kinda cool. It was absolutely pissing it down, there’s no other way to put it really. We hid (with all the locals) under a shop awning for 15 mins or so until it went off slightly and then made a dash for a hostel nearby. We came across a fancy little place that’s all bright colours with a huge kitchen and living room and really nice rooms so we’ve set up shop here for a couple days until we decide where to go next.
Hope you enjoy the millions of pics of Chichen Itza.

Ross:
As Claire says we headed off for Chichen Itza on Saturday. An adventure in itself; the bus takes 5 ½ hours to go 150Km, first couple of hours are fantastic you get a comfy set with great air con to chase away the boiling heat from outside. But after 2 hours you’re frozen to the bone and desperate to get outside again. Add to this Claire freaking out about where to get off even when the bus stops right outside the ruins. She needs to get into the Latin American frame of mind and be a bit more laid back. Piste was cool little place and Chichen Itza was great, there’s about 3x the number off photos that we posted in our cameras, you got the best selection. Having a great time, and we are now the proud owners of a massive tartan umbrella to protect us from the tropical storms.
Mum: you’ll be happy to see I now have a hat. (Claire: Ross’ haggling skills still leave much to be desired..)

Also, can someone let us know if this sites working ok and if the update emails are ok, etc. thanks!

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Photos

el castillo 1
el castillo is a representation of the mayan calendar. each of the 9 levels is divided in 2 making 18 terraces to represent the 18 months in the 'vague year'. each of the 4 stairsways on the pyramid have 91 steps, and if you add these together and count the top platform as one extra this give 365 representing the number of days in the year. each side has 52 flat panels to remind of the 52 years in the 'calendar round'... or so the guide book says anyway. apparently at sping and autumn equinoxes, light and shadows combine to form what looks like a snake creeping up (spring) or down (autumn) the north staircase. like magic!

Piste
the small town near Chichen Itza where we stayed. note the domino's pizza van passing through town.. very bizarre in such a small town.

mini-Chichen Itza
a little model of the whole site that we found at the entrance. El castillo is the huge pyramid, the square is the bit to the right and toward the camera and the ball courtis behind el castillo. what we think is el osario is at the left of the model.

the ball court with claire
this ball court is the largest in mexico. there are carving of the players around the walls. the game played here was thought to be similar to football but with a hard rubber ball though rules and ways of playing seemed to change throughout the long use of the court. some carvings show play with feet, some with bats and some with hips. the aim seemed to be to get the ball through the hoops high on either side of the court. during some periods of use the losing team was thought to be sacrificed.. some carving showed players being decapitated (dont think we found these but some of the carvings were very worn and hard to see). also, like i said the acoustics were amazing which was fun to play with but made the whole experience a bit much when several large tour groups were running around in here clapping.

skull head
Carving of a decapitated player, maybe's?

ball court down
a view back down the ball court

ball game player
one of the many carvings of the players

Claire with serpent friend
claire posing with a serpent head th an entrance to the ball court

fancy podium
looks like the place where fancy folk would have sat to watch the game

red panel carvings
these were inside the fancy podium

ross at the platform of skulls
this platform was used to hold the decapitated heads of sacrificial victims. hote the skulls on spikes on the wall. lovely.

jaguar and eagle eating mens hearts
this is a carving from the platform of the eagles and jaguars. it shows a jaguar (on the left panel) and an eagle (on the right) eating the hearts of sacrificial victims.

el osario 1
a serpent head at the base of a staricase on el ossario, with the entwined body of the serpent running up the side of the staircase.

el osario 2
ross riding a serpent head at the side of el osario

el osario 3
claire at the base of el osario

Comments

[Big Col]

Tryin it out again
I will make an attempt to post again, prolly wont work though but here goes. Ross bring me back one of those there Lizards, They look quite cool. You should grab a tail of one to see if it falls off.