On Thursday, we decided to go on an excursion to Chichen Itza, which I was very excited to visit ever since learning about it in Spanish class years ago. I also was very excited to learn about the Mayans since ancient cultures are really interesting to me.
We left the resort early in the morning and got on the tour bus. We were actually very lucky to be on a pretty empty bus, so had plenty of space to spread out. To Chichen Itza, it took about 2.5 hours, but we also stopped along the way at a cenote, which is a large sinkhole in the limestone bedrock that exposes the groundwater below. There are several around the Yucatan peninsula, and the Mayans used certain cenotes for rituals and even sacrifices.
At the cenote, Lindsey and I were able to swim for a bit, which was very refreshing since it was pretty hot out. The water was very clear, but the cenote goes down about 40 meters, and is surrounded by tall limestone walls, so it was still pretty dark where the sunlight didn’t hit. There were even some sizeable fish that swam around us!
After swimming, we went into the restaurant there for lunch and then were back on the bus to go the rest of the way to Chichen Itza. All throughout the ride there, the tour guide told us about the Mayans, their culture, and the history of the civilization. This was pretty interesting and a good way to practice some Spanish comprehension since she said everything in both Spanish and English.
Once we arrived at Chichen Itza, our bus got separated into groups for the English and Spanish tour. We had a tour guide who was American but had been living in Mexico for quite awhile, and he was able to share a lot of information as we walked around the entire site.
Not only did we see the famous main Temple of Kulkulcan, but we also walked around to several other ruins and learned about what they were used for. The many columns were a covered area for spectators when there were large ceremonies and I found it interesting that that was actually one of the largest covered structures in the Americas at the time.
We also learned about the Great Ball Court, which was where the ancient ballgame was played. This is the largest one in ancient Mesoamerica, and we learned that the way it was played was by hitting a large rubber ball without hands or feet and trying to get it through the high hoop on the wall. It seems like that would be almost impossible and very painful, so I’m glad we don’t play that game anymore. There were carvings along the walls that showed the game being played and other scenes that were important to the Mayans.
After the guided tour, we had some time to ourselves to walk around and take pictures. Our tour guide was very nice and showed everyone how to take fun photos with the ruins.
After our time at Chichen Itza, we got back on the bus to head back to Cancun. Along the way we stopped at Valladolid, a historic colonial Mexican town with a cute square and one of the oldest churches in Mexico. We only were able to stop for a short time, but we walked around a bit and got ice cream and (of course) churros.
After this stop, we headed back towards Cancun and were dropped off back at our resort. After a long day of travel and sightseeing the three of us were tired and hungry, so we had dinner, showered, and went to bed. It was definitely my favorite day of the week, and a nice addition to our overall very laid back and relaxed vacation!
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