Chichen Itza, Mexico

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No Photos?!

Ok here's the deal: Internet here is slow. Not quite dialup, but slow. However, the good side is that an Internet Cafe down here consists of unrestricted access to any computer sitting on a desk or two. So... we have no problems plugging our camera in and loading pictures on to the computer, but it takes 8 years to upload them... and sometimes it just times out.

So to keep everyone up to date, we're going to continue to publish blog entries, but pictures will only go up when we find a place with the bandwidth to do so. If and when we find such a place, we will do our best to go back and post pictures associated with entries that we've already published.

Here's the link to all of our blog entries: Joe and Lila's Blog

Intro to Chichen Itza

Grand temples with carvings of decapitated heads and heart-eating eagles, Chichen Itza gets a "wow" from even ruined-out tourists. Unsuprisingly, the inland site 205 kilometers west of Cancun, does see a lot of tourists. Chichen Itza was a modest late-Classic town before war-torn Toltecs from Tula, in central Mexico, conquered it in AD 987. An unlikely harmony followed, with experienced Mayan architects masterfully adhering to imagery of the Toltec feathered-serpent cult of Quetzalcoatl (Kukulcan in Mayan). Their work, some of the finest in Mesoamerica, includes reclining chacmool statues and much of the Great Plaza. These sites saw a lot of human sacrafices. The city was abandoned around AD 1224.

Our Experience

So after we left Isla Mujeres, we made our way back to the Cancun bus station, took a few buses, and found ourselves at Chichen Itza - the Disney World of Mayan ruins. It was amazing. Much bigger than I expected. Everyone has seen pictures of the big pyramid in the middle, but there is so much more to it. The ball court, the palace, the market, the observatory, and many other small structures - some excavated, some not. After walking ourselves in a circle, we made our way further into the ruins and found the observatory (the only circular building that I remember seeing the in whole place, so it definitely stood out). As we were leaving, it started to pour which made things really inconvienent for getting out of there. However, using my newly discovered (thanks to Lila) Spanish skills, I got us on a bus from Chichen Itza to Playa del Carmen.

Not that we actually made it to Playa...

Up Next...

Tulum... accidentally.

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Comments

[Jane]

peace of mind...
your projects are turned in - so now you can have TOTAL peace of mind. Glad you are having a great time - sometimes the OOOOOPS's can be the most fun!!!Stay safe.