Chichen Itza and Izamal (Day 3)

From Merida, we drove about 1.5hr to one of the larger Mayan ruins called Chichen Itza, which means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza" in Yucatec Maya. Chichen Itza is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the structure called El Castillo was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The site is only about two hours from Cancun so there are a ton of tourist buses that arrive hourly. Because of this, we decided to check out the site on Christmas day and as early as we could get there.

As we understand things (from Wikipedia and our tourbook), Chichen Itza grew to prominance in 600 AD and a revolt and civil war broke out in 1221 beginning the decline of the area. The site was not completely abandoned but the population declined and in 1531 claimed Chichén Itzá and intended to make it the capital of Spanish Yucatán. After a few months a native Maya revolt drove Montejo and his forces from the area.

This is El Castillo, also called the Temple of Kukulcan, which dominates the site:
Of great interest to us was the Great Ball Court. This court is the largest ball court in ancient Mesoamerica - 166 by 68 meters. High up on the 12 meter-high walls are rings carved with serpents. It's thought that the captain of the team which loses the 'futbol-like game' is decapitated.




Another ruin:

All of us in front of El caracol which was an observatory with doors that align to view the vernal equinox, and other astronomical events:



another serpent with it's tongue sticking out

Some neato skull carvings:

After several hours of visiting the ruin, we drove to a town called Izamal, "The Yellow City". There are several Mayan structures here. But, most interesting is the Franciscan Monastary that was built atop a Mayan ruin in the 1500s. Stones were cut from the Mayan city to build Spanish churches, the monastery, and surrounding buildings. This photo is of the monastery and the horse-drawn taxis we have seen all over the yucatan