Photos - visiting Chichen Itza!

[robint]

Got the photos done from our morning at Chichen Itza:
Mayan Ruins - Chichen Itza

video is in the works........ maybe later in the week.

Our basic information - we drove to Piste, the town next to Chichen on Monday night. Stayed at hotel there, then got up early and hit the ruins before the hords of buses and tourists arrived. We left around lunchtime and drove back to Playa to return rental car and hop ferry back to Cozumel.

Get a guide - it is worth the 600 pesos, and that price is for your group, not per person. There is no way you can really enjoy the whole experience without one. You will miss 90% of it. We had a great guide, Filipe Perez. I have his e-mail if anyone wants it so you can schedule with him.

Next time we will fly into Cancun and spend several days in the area - there is so much to see, tons of other ruins which aren't as famous, lots of little villages with cenotes to visit and snorkel, etc.
If you plan to do this trip - buy the map!
Can-Do Travel Guides
Mayan Adventures map made this trip so easy, though very tiring. We barely scratched the surface of all we wanted to see. We will be back!

 

[Drewpy]

Robin-Thanks for posting those,some great shots!I spent a week in Merida touring the ruins around there as a little boy of ten, when we moved from Puerto Rico to No California. The Choc Mol looks a little worse for wear, but it certainly brings back some wonderful memories! Such an amazing culture and astounding feats of architecture.The observatory blew my mind as a little boy..as did the ball court..heck it all did! I would love to go back and see them again, but have only been able to make it to Tulum while in Coz..someday!

Look forward to the video!

Diving in So Cal this summer for the kelp forests?

Cheers!
Drew

 

[robint]

Robin-Thanks for posting those,some great shots!I spent a week in Merida touring the ruins around there as a little boy of ten, when we moved from Puerto Rico to No California. The Choc Mol looks a little worse for wear, but it certainly brings back some wonderful memories! Such an amazing culture and astounding feats of architecture.The observatory blew my mind as a little boy..as did the ball court..heck it all did! I would love to go back and see them again, but have only been able to make it to Tulum while in Coz..someday!

Look forward to the video!

Diving in So Cal this summer for the kelp forests?

Cheers!
Drew

Thanks! YOu really should get back to Chichen Itza.
yes, if all goes well we will be out in Calif diving several days but I don't have dates yet.

 

[Diver Lori]

Robin, if you make it back, you must spend more time in Valladolid and take in Ek Balaam. There's a great old colonial hotel in Valladolid that is really splendid, El Meson del Marquis. It's right on the village square facing the northside of the city park.

 

[driftwood]

Try staying in Valladolid. Here is the hotel we like, http://www.mesondelmarques.com/.

Also be sure to visit Ek Balam. Loved CI, but Ek Balam is the only site I would spend the time to visit again. Ek Balam has literally rewritten the books on post classic Mayan art. What they have found there is incredible.

We absolutely love the maps and have been using them for the past 8 years. The area changes so much that it is worth while to get the latest edition before you start your trip planning.

Edit, I was looking up the link for the hotel and Lori beat me to the punch! But you have 2 votes for Valladolid, the hotel and Ek Balam.

 

[driftwood]

Robin, if you make it back, you must spend more time in Valladolid and take in Ek Balaam. There's a great old colonial hotel in Valladolid that is really splendid, El Meson del Marquis. It's right on the village square facing the northside of the city park.

El Meson del Marquis was actually a residence that was converted into a hotel. The Spanish used to keep a house in town and a second house at the ranch or plantation. Great hotel and a very good restaurant.

 

[robint]

thanks Lori and Driftwood! If we go back to CI, I hope it will be with our daughter who is in college right now and is as crazy about archeology and history as I am. Also, we didn't get to spend as much time looking around because we had to rush to get back to Playa and get that F%$#@ ferry back to Coz.

Ek Balam is HIGH on our list of must do sites. I hate that we couldn't get to see it this time. The maps also show some other smaller sites in the area that look interesting. Plus the daughter and I have been discussing going over to Uxmal someday together... but that would be another overnight and add a couple of days to the trip. :shocked2: We also hope to head down to Belize to see some of those Mayan ruins and hop over to Tikal for a day. Its one of those things we have talked about for years and just haven't done it yet - time and money!

The Yucatan is so rich is history, I wish more people would take a day off of diving and go see some of it. Tulum is okay but nothing like the real Mayan cities like Coba, Chichen Itza, etc. And too many people don't get a qualified guide to teach them the history which is a shame.

One thing we chatted with our guide about at CI was the movie Apocalypto. I love the movie for its visual accuracy (people, costumes, scenery, cities) but recognized so many things about it that weren't really accurate. The tour guide said he didn't like the movie at all as it made the Mayans into crazy warriors which they weren't - I think the Aztecs in N Mexico were the warriors. Our guide says that he believes the sacrifices were done, but only occasionally when things were bad and to make offerings to the gods to make crops better or end famine or such things. It wasn't a daily activity like in the movie as they wouldn't be able to build such huge cities if they were constantly killing off the workforces! Very true. The Mayans most likely spent most of their time tending crops and hunting and building temples.... not fighting with each other. But it did make for a very exciting movie! If you do buy the movie, watch the "making of..." part. It really shows all the costuming and makeup effects and temple sets they had to build. Very interesting stuff and well researched.

robin

 

[Diver Lori]

Robin,

Our guide at Ek Balaam mentioned that "Mel Gibson movie" too. Tho, he did not metion it by name, only as "that Mel Gibson movie". But he said the Mayans were peaceable farmers who were over taken, so to speak, by the Aztecs, Toltecs and Incas, who were the blood thirsty bunch. No way to know for sure, but I would be inclined to think the sacrifices were by the infiltrators to the Mayans....but just my own personal theory. There are still excavations taking place at Ek Balaam and our guide was participating in those.

Lori

 

[robint]

Robin,

Our guide at Ek Balaam mentioned that "Mel Gibson movie" too. Tho, he did not metion it by name, only as "that Mel Gibson movie". But he said the Mayans were peaceable farmers who were over taken, so to speak, by the Aztecs, Toltecs and Incas, who were the blood thirsty bunch. No way to know for sure, but I would be inclined to think the sacrifices were by the infiltrators to the Mayans....but just my own personal theory. There are still excavations taking place at Ek Balaam and our guide was participating in those.

Lori

There is a great book I read a few years ago and just pulled out since this trip to start reading again.... "The Maya" by Michael D. Coe. It is very readable and full of great information. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.... they were primarily farmers and hunters but did do some bloody sacrifices when needed to influence the masses into believing the Spiritual Leader could solve the famine or bad crops or whatever. I don't think it was a common occurance. It seems like, according to the book, most of the Mayans got along well and the various city centers weren't where everyone lived on the mostpart. Anyhow, you would enjoy the book. It has lots of maps and photos in addition to drawings, too. Now that I have visited some of the places mentioned in the book I hope to read it again completely this summer.

 

[driftwood]

Hi Robin,

There is a stella at the base of the big temple in Coba that has the king on the throne, the nobles surrounding him and the peasants supporting the throne. Our guide interpreted the stellar as saying the king lived on the backs of the people. The truth is that the figures under the throne were the sacrifices made to the king. The Mayan used to tie prisoners in the fetal position and roll them down the steps of the temple. The bodies were then placed under the King's throne to represent his absolute power. The stella was a reminder. Ritual sacrifice was a more common event in the Mayan world than most people think, but nothing close to the Toltecs or Aztecs.

In my opinion, the ruins that we visit are the 'shopping malls' for the Mayans. They would go there to 'buy' the advise of priests who specialized in various aspects of daily life. On the door frame of one of the little cubby holes in Ek Balam there is a carving of what is obviously a penis in a vagina. My best guess is that this was the office of the local fertility specialist that was occupied on 'festival' days. I suspect that all the other little rooms in the temples served a similar function.

Spend some time and try to find a good guide for your visit to Ek Balam. The site is all about the little details while CI is all about the majesty of the buildings.