Day 3: Tour Chichen Itza ruins, tour Ek Balam ruins, swim in a Cenote (sinkhole), and stop for night in City of Merida.
CHICHEN ITZA RUINS
This was one of the largest Mayan cities and was occupied between 600-900 AD. It's easy to see why this is one of the seven wonders of the world. It is very impressive. Not only is the main temple very large, there are plenty of other buildings. They all have detailed carvings and are purposely designed to coincide with celestial patterns.
Can you imagine living here back in the day?
Look closely and you'll see skulls. This was a large sacraficial structure.
The HUGE ball court.
EK BALAM RUINS
Each ruin site had things about it that I loved. Overall I think I liked Ek Balam best. It felt more community-minded and positive. I came away feeling like I knew what it might be like living there.
One question we had for our tour guide was this: since only the leaders got to live inside the walls/city area, why did "regular" people in huts choose to live right outside the city? His answer: bigger numbers equals protection.
Cistern thingy.
So many structures still uncovered! See how the jungle just eats it up?
The main religious temple. Way steeper than it looks. The "hut" type coverings are there to protect the relgious relics. I really really hate heights, but I anxiously cralwed halfway up and to the left for some cool stuff.
The cool stuff to look at. Our tour guide told us about the original meanings, and then how the city was overtaken so they covered up or removed some of it because it was so sacred. Imagine this with lots of different colors.
They read bottom to top, right to left. The bottom left square says, "And it came to pass...."
If you turn around and look (this is halfway up) it looks like this.
The brave soul who climbed to the top.
Lots of the steps had shells in them.
We exploered other parts of Ek Balam, including smaller structures, all for different purposes.
This was the doctor's office. Sick people would lay here. Across the room was a fireplace and they'd get the sickness "heated" out of them. So when white people brought sickness with fevers, this method didn't make people well.
My cute mom.
A replica rubber ball for the ball game. It's like 8 pounds.
A replica hut where the regular folk would live.
CENOTE
Cenotes (sinkholes) can be found all over the Yukatan. Here's the one we swam in.
You park in the parking lot, walk a ways, enter the Cenote area, then walk by this! The bathrooms and showers are above. After you shower, you walk down some stairs (built underground) and hop in for a swim.
A view from underground. Don't you love the vines?
The water is a little chilly, and it's DEEP. Werid fish swim around. People from all over the world visit the area. Some even jump from the cliff area. It was great fun.
CITY OF MERIDA
One great thing about having a tour guide is that he drives while we rest in the van. After a long day, we needed it.
Our hotel in Merida.
Dinner at the hotel.
Horse-drawn carriage ride around town.
One of the wheels kind got off track, but they fixed it.
Afterwards we walked around Merida to look around, including this government/art building.
No comments:
Post a Comment