We had a few days off from work, so of course it's a good time to get in a little travel around the Yucatan. There is so much here to see and explore, but we decided to go see the most well-known artifact, the ruins of Chichen Itza. Yes, it's a marvelous place to see! Seen above is the most famous of the temples..the Temple of Kukulcan. There is apparently a lot of debate about which Mayan tribes may have lived here and when, but it's very old, possibly built somewhere around the year 700. The city "collapsed" around 950, and no further buildings were erected after 1000, according to my Cadogan Guide.
 |
| A Chac-mool figure, where sacrifices were placed on the flat belly section. |
 |
| Chac-mool is at the top of this building, the Temple of the Warriors, in between the two spires. | | |
|
|
We spent several hours wandering around the architectural park, admiring the structures, such as the Ball Court, the Temples of the Jaguars, and the Sacred Cenote, which was considered an opening into the sacred underworld to the Mayans and home of the rain god Chac.
There was one thing about Chichen Itza we did not like, and that was that there were far too many vendors allowed to be selling inside the park. There was a large vendor's area outside the entrance which had many items to choose from, but inside the park the vendors were lining just about every pathway. This ruined the effect of seeing the structures in the park, as you could not walk without someone approaching you to buy some trinket or other, many of which were made of resin. We did not experience this at the other ruin we visited last summer, Uxmal.
 |
| The Sacred Cenote. | | | | | | |
|
|
 |
| One of the many vendors inside the park selling carved face masks and other figurines. | | | | | | | | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
