Tulum: Chichen-Itzá Part I

Despite the name which means Mouth of the Well of the Itzá, this ancient city on the Yucatán Peninsula was originally occupied by the Maya.  The city collapsed in the late 900s (part of the end of the Classic Maya Period).  It and surrounding regions were overtaken by the Toltecs from northern Mexico.  The Toltecs built upon existing structures and added several of their own.  As centuries passed the city fell under control of its namesake Itzá, then the Mayapán.  The city was abandoned altogether by the early 1200s.  When the Spanish arrived in this part of the world they were for the most part completely unaware of the many city ruins which dotted the peninsula.  They were largely ignored until American explorer Edward Thompson began excavating sites such as Chichen Itzá in the 1800s.  Today it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and receives over 1.4 million visitors every year.  In 2007 it was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

El Castillo, or the Temple of Kukulcan (pictured above), is 79 feet tall.  Dating to about AD 850, it was built with astrological alignment in mind.  Each of the four sides has 91 steps.  These plus the top platform equals 365 days of the year.  Fifty-two inset panels equal the number of years in each Mayan Calendar Round.  Visitors were allowed to climb it until 2005 when an elderly tourist tumbled to their death.  Archaeologists have determined that today's visible structure is actually built over a pre-existing one (a common practice in Mayan cities).

Across the main plaza is the Group of a Thousand Columns, which once supported some kind of roof which obviously collapsed long ago.  On some of the pillars and fallen ones you can see remnants of carvings.

Behind the Group of a Thousand Columns is the remarkable Temple of Warriors.  The monoliths at the front of the building feature intricately carved images of warriors in various types of dress.  The sides of the building itself has impressive details worked into the masonry including human faces emerging out of serpents' mouths.  We couldn't see it from our position on the ground but on the top of the temple is a well-preserved chac-mool.  More about that later.

Temple of Warriors Front

Warrior carvings

Temple details

Temple of Tables in foreground, Temple of Warriors in background

Example of a chac-mool, carved to imitate a reclining person with a plate across its lap.  

It is thought that the plate was used to hold sacrificial offerings of human hearts or heads.

Here is the Platform of Eagles and Jaguars, dedicated to the fiercest of warriors.  The Eagle Knights (archers, pew-pew) would attack armies to weaken their forces before the elite Jaguar Knights (stabby-stabby) joined the battle.

Decorative jaguar and eagle carvings, all eating the hearts of enemies

El Castillo looms not too far away

Detail carving on the temple

More detail carving

Tzompantli (Wall of Skulls)

Heads were stacked here.

Far-away view of the Platform of Eagles and Jaguars, ball court on the left

The Lower Temple of the Jaguar, with depictions of the Maya creation story

Hans and I took so many pictures that I have to break this post into two parts.  This is the end of Part I.  I even skipped the journal entry text so that we could get straight to the photos!  For the rest of Chichen-Itzá and other highlights of this day, proceed to Part II in the next post.

Tulum: Travel Day

We just got back from Tulum, Mexico!  Photo editing is still in progress and I have some more writing to do.  Here's a teaser photo expressing my overall feelings about the trip and below are the notes I jotted down for on our first night there.

As our plane descended, the pilot banked a little to the right and we could see Cancun's white sand beaches and turqoise water.  As the plane returned to level  we observed a rainbow within the clouds.  

Awww.....

Acquiring a rental car took about an hour so our arrival in Tulum was a little delayed.  We parked the car along the main road next to our 3-star hotel.  The receptionist did not speak English and we didn't speak much Spanish but we all used Google Translate until we (mostly) figured things out.  Technology!  

Hans and I got our room key and then collapsed on the bed.  The room was cute.  Very simple.  The only amenity was A/C.  No TV.

We found a convenience store one block away and stocked up on water.  Hans bought a Fresca.

Dinner at Il Bacaro.  Very good octopus potato "salad".  Hans had pizza with bratwurst on it and I had the ravioli.  All of their pasta was home made.  The bill was much lower than expected especially since we both had beer.  I was a little worried about the ice in our bottled water but nobody got sick on this trip.

On the way back to the hotel we enountered a political rally.  Drum line, camera crew, guy talking to business owners and then later a speech in the streets.  Hans noticed there had been many election signs posted around the area.

Discovered that the travel-sized shampoo I purchased for vacation was actually conditioner.  Showered and passed out.  

Overnight sounds from outside were quite loud.  We think there was a dance club next door.  Both of us needed earplugs to fall asleep.

Scotland 2009: Remastered

I just completed a pet project that I've been thinking about for a long time.  I've gone back through the thousand or so pictures that Hans and I took during our two-week vacation in Scotland and edited them to a better standard and re-uploaded them on their corresponding blog posts.  All of the broken photo links have been fixed (something that had been bothering me ever since we got back from Scotland!).  I also made Hans' Skye photo-of-the-trip available for high-res download and added some never-before posted pictures that were lacking from the original publication.  Keeping an up-to-date accounting of travel takes a lot of effort and time and sometimes my writing goes haywire when I'm exhausted from a day of exploring.  It feels good to have finally made some corrections.

You can find the link to the first day of this trip on the archives page or you can use the link below.  I hope you enjoy taking a little trip back to almost ten years ago when I first learned how to drive on the left-hand side of the road and when we figured out how to truly be budget-minded travelers.  In hindsight it would have been nicer to pay a little extra money to have private rooms in the various hostels we stayed in but then again we saved a ton of money by making compromises here and there.

Start at the beginning!