(Chicken Pizza)

The journey to visit the world famous Chichén Itza took us from Quintana Roo to Yucatán State.

We left the resort by bus in the very early morning hours and enjoyed a lovely ride through the lush jungle forest of inner Mexico – the same deep green areas we passed on our arrival flight.  The early ride to the site was full of energy and chatter – everyone excited and impatient to see this massive archaeological marvel of Mayan design.  The resort had made the arrangement privately for this tour and also provided us with a tasty bag breakfast and a variety of drink options including coffee, tea, juice and water.  We sat in our cushy seats and watched the countryside pass by while we listened to our tour guides in both English and Spanish as they educated us on the Mayan language, math, culture and some history.  

Chichén Itzá is one of the biggest Mayan cities.  The inner city itself is approximately two square miles with even more residential structures outside the city walls and well into the nearby jungle.  The ruins are managed by the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History).  According to our guide, this is one of the most visited places in Mexico.  The city itself hosts a huge variety of outdoor vendors and artisans, some bathrooms, restaurants, and a gift shop at the entrance.  It is a sprawling site filled with a huge number of ruins, structures, statues, pathways, platforms and temples surrounded by a massive stone wall and nestled in a jungle forest the perimeter of which is so thick with vegetation you can scarcely see through it.  

Our guides were both of Mayan descent.  They were able to explain the name Chichén Itzá as “mouth of the well Itzá” where Itzá refers to the people who lived in this area.  One of our guides was part of a team who explored the cenotes at Chichén and showed us underwater photos he had taken.  He also explained that in addition to the four cenotes visible at the site, there is also a hidden cenote under the massive Temple of Kukulkan.  

While at the site, we elected to tour with the Spanish-speaking group so that we could practice our lingual skills.  Further, we rationalized that the content of the tour might be different when given in their native tongue.  When we came back to the bus later in the evening, we discovered we were not mistaken in that assumption.  Our guide explained the various structures as we toured the massive ruined city: Temple of the Warriors, Temple of Xtoloc, Akab Dzib, Cacacol, the North Temple, the Temple of the Bearded Man, the Platform of Venus and many others. 

We learned about games played at the Great Ball Court where competitors found honor in death.  On each side of the massive court are walled platforms that stand nearly 30 feet high.  In the center of the walls are rings carved with the image of Kukulkan.  All around the inside of the court are benches with sculpted panels containing images of what may have occurred in these games. In one image, a player is decapitated and spewing from his bloody neck is streams of snakes.  Many of the images appear to be battle scenes. We learned about sacrifices at the Sacred Cenote and how those who were selected might have been forced to climb the 365 stairs to the very top of the Temple of Kukulkan, barefooted and knowing well their fate.  The Skull Platform is near the Great Ball Court. The skulls appear to be stacked in tall vertical columns.  Nearby is another platform called the Eagles and the Jaguars platform where sculpted images show eagles and jaguars eating human hearts. Yes, Chichén Itzá is a tad macabre. 

Rows of columns stretch along the front of the Temple of the Warriors and some of the columns even appear to be sculpted to resemble warriors.  These ruins offer some evidence of the grandiose ancient structures that once existed in this massive city.  The murals found inside the Temple of the Warriors were of great interest to Allita as our guide explained that many famous Mayan scholars believe they depict images showing the Mayans had contact with the Vikings.  Allita is, of course, a great fan of all things Viking.

The Mercado, or market, is a massive structure near another of the many temples inside the city walls. Las Monjas, Osorio and the Castillo temple (Temple of Kukulkan) all sit on leveled areas while the remainder of the city ebbs and flows over uneven hilly terrain. The many buildings on the site are all connected by a network of stone-paved roadways that criss-cross all over the city and, in some places, appear to vanish into the trees.  Some of the buildings appear to have been originally painted with faint glimpses of color still visible in some areas. Another interesting fact we learned was that Mayans had engineered structures for moving water across the ancient city – the same types of aqueducts that ancient Romans may have once used for that purpose. 

Finally, the massive Temple of Kulkulkan stands in the center of the Great North Platform.  We found it quite difficult to photograph as it stands nearly 100 feet tall and 180 feet wide. At the very top of the pyramid sits the 20 foot tall temple itself and inside that temple is the Jaguar Throne which is red and contains jade ornamentation.  Under the temple of Kulkulkan, Mexican archaeologists discovered a staircase that led to another temple underground.  According to our guide, at the time of the spring and fall equinox, the northwest corner of the temple pyramid casts shadows that give the appearance of a serpent slithering down the steps. Kulkulkan is the feathered serpent God the Mayans worshipped.  Fun Fact: The number of steps to the top of the temple is the same number of days in the Mayan calendar.

Believe it or not, we did not see all of Chichén Itzá during our all-day tour.  We tried to but there was just too much there to see, too much to learn, and too many other people, that navigating through it all in one day was just not possible.  After many hours, we left the federal park, cooled off in a cenote, ate dinner in a small town with a lovely old church and a wood-fired oven pizzeria, and finally relaxed on the return ride back to the resort.