 |
| A huge temple at Chichen Itza |
Yesterday was our last day in Mexico after five weeks of traveling around. It was mostly a travel day from Merida to Cancun, but we did make a stop in Chichen Itza for a few hours.
Merida was where we spent the last 6 days of our trip and is a big city with tons of plazas and shows almost every day, and great food stands. We stayed in a little house several blocks away from a big plaza where we saw Noche Mexicana and ate delicious tacos. It is a really flat city but unlike Tulum you can’t bike because the drivers go too fast, although on Sundays they block off part of the city so we got to rent bikes and ride around. There were a lot of places selling hammocks in Merida so we went to a small shop and got a couple to bring home. The reason why there are so many hammocks around here is because Mayan women traditionally made them from the henequen fiber which was grown around Merida (now they are usually nylon or cotton). We really liked our small house in Merida and are glad we can hang out in our hammocks when we get home.
 |
| Me writing a blog in one of the hammocks |
 |
| Riding around Merida |
 |
| Lunch in Merida |
Chichen Itza are old ruins from the Mayans and Tultecs, who came after the Mayans. The ruins at Chichen Itza are really big and have a lot of stairs but you can’t climb them. There were two giant cenotes that they used to sacrifice people in, but you can’t go swimming. There was also a skull platform where they put the heads of their sacrificed victims—they did a lot of sacrificing when they first built the ruins. The way they would sacrifice is by ripping the heart out of the sacrificed body and eating it. They also built temples on top of smaller temples. The temples were built with lots of rubble covered with stone bricks and lots of designs and statues. Walking through the ruins there were a lot of jaguar growls because there were vendors selling little carved jaguar heads that you could blow into to make a sound. I tried one out and it was really hard.
 |
| A close up of the decapitated head stand |
 |
| A sacrificial cenote, for people who want to swim eternally |
See you all later…adios.
Thank you for the great post and photos. I have been to chichen itza too, about 20 years ago. Your photos brought back great memories. I climbed the large pyramid even though it was a very hot day, over 100. There were no handrails, just a large, heavy chain on the stairs to hold on to. We were warned that someone was killed by lightning after climbing to the top. It was a very memorable day for me. Probably you will remember details of your adventures for many many years to come.
ReplyDelete