Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza is probably the best known Mayan site. It's not far out of Cancun, so it's almost a mandatory stop for all the tourists. It is dominated by El Castillo, a huge pyramid dedicated to Kukulcan, the Feathered Serpent. Two sides of the pyramid have been restored and two are stablised, but not restored. Each side has a large stone staircase with the northern side staircase flanked by feathered serpents.

El Castillo is the first thing you see when you walk in, so everyone stops and gawks and takes photos. At the right time of the year, the sun casts a shadow down one of the serpents which makes it look as if the serpent is moving, unfortunately we were there two days too early. Which might have been a blessing, since they had thousands of people queue up to see it.

One of the other things Chichen Itza is known for is the ball court, this one is huge, its like a soccer pitch. Other ball courts are a fraction of the size. This one also has six identical carvings on the side showing the two teams of seven, the ball and the captain of one team cutting off the head of the other.

As an intersting aside, the natural assumption is the captain of the loosing team is the one that gets their head cut off, but our guide was telling us it was a seen as a privlege to be sacrified, so there is the possibility it was the winner. Were they fighting for life or fighting to be the god's chosen? Something to think about.

Chichen Itza also has the sacred cenote which they use to throw offerings into. Pottery, jewelry, people. Anything you wanted to send to the gods. Almost ironically it was the worse looking cenote I saw on the trip. A rather revolting fetid green colour.

The site itself is nice and spread out, but there are people selling stuff everywhere. It is like walking around a giant market, everywhere you look someone will be offering you a mask, tea towel, calendar, statue or t-shirt. For me, that really detracted from the experience. I also wasn't keen on the setting, it's a very dry, almost desert environment, it wasn't somewhere I could get enthusiastic about.

A great place to stop on the way to somewhere, or if you have some time in Cancun, worth dropping by. The shop by the main entrance does do an amazing slushie though. A wonderful thing.