snapshots abroad: Tulum: Chichen-Itzá Part II

Here are the rest of our pictures from Chichen-Itzá. Next up is the Great Ball Court, which is 225 feet wide and 545 feet long. The two parallel walls are 8 meters tall and the scoring rings on each side seem impossibly high. Players had to hit a 12-pound rubber ball through the rings using only their wrists, elbows, and hips (apparently they wore a lot of padding). Hans guessed that whoever scored first must have been the winner or else the games lasted a very long time. It's undecided whether the winners or losers were beheaded at the end of the match. But you know somebody was sacrificed!

The Sacred Cenote was a place of pilgrimage long after the decline of the city. The 300 meter well was used for, you guessed it, sacrifices. The god of rain was believed to live in its depths.

On the other side of the ruins is a large cluster of unique buildings, including a building called the High Priest's Temple (named by explorer Edward Thompson). No evidence of a tomb has ever been found, however.

"High Priest's Temple": A mini version of El Castillo

El Caracol, so named for its tower's conch shell shape. The two-tiered circular structure was used as an observatory. The window slits face south and west to align with the path of the moon during the spring equinox.

The Nunnery (named by Spanish Explorers) was probably a residential or administrative palace

Temple of Reliefs

Looking back towards El Caracol

That's all of the Chichen-Itzá photos we're posting here. If you want to see more I strongly recommend a street-level view on Google Maps that was achieved with their 360-degree cameras and bicycles. It's a free virtual tour, people!

Here is the part where I include the text from my travel journal:

The alarm went off at 5:30 am but we didn't get out of the room until around 6:20. We were tired and the hotel front door was locked. I felt bad as I had to wake up the night guard so she could let us out. She must have had a long night because we heard other hotel guests returning to their rooms at 2:30 am.

Most of the cafes and shops were closed so we bought the most food-like items we could find at the convenience store. Breakfast was sad bread in the shape of a croissant, some fruit juice, and peanuts.

After gassing up the car we drove for two hours to Chichen-Itzá (see above and Part I).

When we arrived the site had been open for about 30 minutes. After paying the admission we walked a short path through the trees and emerged onto a large field in front of the famous pyramid, El Castillo. The late morning sunlight cast interesting shadows across the nine platforms that make up the structure. We made our way around the grounds and enjoyed the relatively light crowd of other visitors. As we finished exploring the Ball Court we could see that the area in front of El Castillo was filling in.

We walked along the ancient road, now thronged with souvenir booths, to the Sacred Cenote. The water is now 6-12 meters deep but in ancient times nobody knew how deep it was so they chucked human sacrifices into the hole. Who knows if they were still alive for a bit afterwards?

On the opposite side of the city and through the jungle was a collection of diverse and interesting buildings.

Hans and I enjoyed this area the best because it was far less busy and you could see more of the building details up close.

By the time we were done it was almost 11 am and the visitor center was positively packed with tour groups. This was why we woke up so early on our first day of vacation!

It was pretty darn hot under the blazing sun and we were both extremely sweaty. When I was finished with the ladies' room I found Hans thinking of purchasing another Fresca at the concessions stand. "Buy me one too!" It was ridiculously refreshing, especially when we got back into the car in the shade with the AC on. For years and years Hans has been extolling the virtues of Mexican Fresca but I never believed him because the stuff in the USA has artificial sweeteners in it. In Mexico it's sweetened with real sugar and definitely great on a hot day.

We drove back to Tulum and regrouped at the hotel for a few hours.

I suggested a late afternoon beach dip and then dinner at one of the resorts. Getting to the "Hotel Zone" along the beach was easy, parking was a nightmare. The beach road is jampacked with hotels, narrow resorts, and beach clubs. There are only a couple of public beach access areas and parking is minimal so Hans an I had to walk about a kilometer to the beach (which was thankfully right next to our dinner destination). It was a little hairy walking along parked cars while traffic whizzed dangerously close by.

We took turns going for a swim in the warm water. I was enjoying it quite a lot until I had to back to shore. There was a section under the water that was full of seaweed bits and it felt kind of gross.

As I walked back up to Hans on the beach in my bikini feeling like Ursula Andress I noticed to my dismay a giant piece of kelp hanging from the middle of my top. Playing it cool, I slowly pulled it out and flung it off to the side as majestically as I could muster. LOL

When we had dried off we walked over to the tiny resort known as Mezzanine, sat at a table overlooking the ocean, and had a fantastic meal of Thai food and drinks to make up for the gas station food we'd been eating all day.

The cocktails were top-notch. I had a drink called "Smoky Dreams" that was made with tequilla, mezcal, cucumber, and lemongrass syrup. Hans really liked it too.

I had the mango/pineapple curry and it was absolutely delecious. I asked for the "Expatriate" level of heat over the "Tourist" level. Our server warned that the base level curry was already pretty spicy but I committed to my order. Hans asked for the same heat level. Hans then noted that we were in Mexico so things might be spicier than at home. Then again, we were at a resort so they might tone things down. Hans decided against their highest level, "Full Thai", and I began to regret my bravado. The food was definitely spicy (for me) but I enjoyed my curry all the same. Each of our meals was served in a hollowed out coconut.

After our meal we walked along the beach one more time and then headed back to the car. The road was definitely less crazy at this time and we didn't have to worry about walking with traffic.

Hotel, shower, earplugs, bed.