We wake up at 5:30 to visit Chichen Itza, one of Mexico’s most visited sites, and one of the 7 New Wonders of the World. Chichen Itza was one of the largest Maya cities from 600-1100 AD, and had a mythical status afterwards. We expect it to be one of the highlights of our trip.
The road to Chichen Itza is quiet, and it’s a Thursday outside of the holiday period, which brings our hopes up that it will not be too crowded today. But when we arrive at the parking 15 minutes before opening time at 7:45, we already count 5 tour busses and dozens of cars. We run to the entrance to buy all the state and federal tickets that we need to enter the site, and unfortunately the security sends us back to our car to leave our tripod behind. We run again to the entrance to still be one of the first to see the famous step-pyramid of Chichin Itza: the temple of Kulkulcan also known as El Castillo. The structure looks completely intact and gives a nice insight into the appearance of the other more ruined buildings. It also puts the Coba pyramid we visited yesterday into perspective since Kulkulcan is only half the size of that one.
Around the pyramid, there are several other temples and platforms, one with dozens of rows with hundreds of stone skulls around. On an information board we learn that this is where they kept all the skulls, hundreds of them stacked on high sticks, as a gruesome proof of killed prisoners.
We also see another ball game structure, this one is much grander than the one at Coba and has many inscripted pictures in the stones, of people, balls, and animals like snakes and chickens (?). Here, we learn that their play had something to do with the seasons and harvest periods.
Next to all the footpaths, salesmen are setting up their stalls, with beautiful ceramics, cloths and wooden masks. The site is huge, so the many tourists spread out nicely. We take a little walk to a cenote, it used to be a pelgrim place and also here, they offered people.
There are many other buildings around, a palace with hundred pillars, the Osario, a pyramid which housed skeletons and artifacts and the observatory which the Mayans used for their calendar. At the far end of the site is the so called Nunnery which has the best preserved inscriptions so far. On our way out as it slowly becomes more crowded and hot, we cool down with a water icecream that turns our hands and mouths so red, that we’re afraid it’s made of heavy chemicals.
When we leave, the parking space is so packed that a bus even blocks our car. It takes a little while before we find the bus driver, but then we set course to the Chichin Itza museum. Here, the parking is completely empty, the building seems to be still under construction, the only people we see are workers. We park our car next to what seems to be the future entrance, where the concrete is still drying. We check to see if it is open.
It is. We are the only visitors in the brand-new and modern building, although the museum had been open for over a year. We found out by accident that this museum exist, it’s not well advertised and the guidbooks we read to prepare for our trip are older than one year and therefore did not mention the museum.
In the museum, we learn that the pyramid used to be painted red, white and blue. The minature temple in the museum has a completely different look than the grey stone pyramid we saw. We also see some sculptures, such as lying warriors (Chacmool) where the hearts of offered people were put on.
We end our morning with a dive in a cenote, which is only a 5 minute drive from the museum. We put on our swimming suits, and get a life jacket. The cenote is 26 metres below ground level. It is about 60 metres in diameter and about 48 metres deep. Black cat fish swim in the cold water, and the children first have to adjust to the new concept of swimming before they join us in the water. Of course, Zeno goes first, and then also Cleo dares to go. Olga even takes a jump from the high platform.
The cenote was considered sacred by the Maya who used the site as a location for human sacrifice to their rain god, Chaac. Overall, we get a quite violent impression of the Maya’s and their offerings and murders…
The advantage of waking up early: it’s only noon after our visit to the big Chichen Itza site, museum and a dive in the cenote. Time for lunch. We bought the expensive entrance tickets to the cenote, so lunch is included. It’s a basic warm buffet, but the fresh pineapple and melons taste sweet and good. It’s also nice to be in a restaurant for the first time this trip, as we don’t dare to go out in the evening yet because of the mosquitos and the fact that we go to bed around 20.00.
On the way back, we stop at a colorful Spanish church before we head back to Valladolid. Here, we visit an old monastery, build in 1560 and walk through the surrounding colonial area. We end the afternoon by doing hand laundry as we find out that none of our next (and current) apartments will have a washing machine (we were too focused on pools when booking our stays). Bringing big spiders to the garden of our neighboors, enjoy the pool, and cooking and eating wraps (again). Today was a great day!