We had seen plenty of photos of the largest pyramid called "El Castillo" at Chichen Itza, but to see it in the flesh was truly an amazing moment. After walking through the gauntlet of vendors, our guide Felipe and we came to the base of the huge and intricate structure. It´s made of stones, set in specific places and in sequence determined by the calendar. In short, it is set up to parallel 18 months (of 20 weeks each) with a 5 day month at the end and an extra step at the very top to equal 365 days in their calendar year. This, one of the seven wonders of the world, has 9 levels, divided into two sections by an enormous and very steep set of 91 stairs. We stayed for the light show in the evening which showed how the pyramid looks during the equinoxes in March and Sept. The sides of the stairs on the north side have large snake heads at the bottom, and when the sun hits them on the days mentioned, the light and shadow forms the tail of the snake (looking like triangles set side to side) which reaches the top of the pyramid. It´s really hard to imagine; I had trouble with it at first, until I saw how it worked with the lights. It´s a fantastic work, for sure, especially considering how much planning went into the design, and all this in the years around 900 AD.
But El Castillo isn´t the only beautiful structure; there are many, many others including an enormous ball court, an observatory, a throne room, a place where sacrifices were made, and a temple of 1000 columns. And, added to this, archaeologists aren´t even finished with it. They have uncovered only about 10%. Our guide was excellent and took us around every inch of the area. By the end of the day, we were exhausted but had to wait for the evening light show.
When that ended, we then had to find a taxi to take us to a little town called Piste where we, fortunately, arrived just in time to catch a bus the hour back to where we were staying in Valladolid.
Today we are in Tulum, but it is raining, so, rather than be on the beach in the rain, we are going to continue south and return to Tulum at the end of our trip at the end of Feb. I hope we can shake the rain!
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2 comments:
Hi Terry & Gloria
Enjoying your adventures, we are in Palm Desert/Indio, California living in a house on a golf course watching the cold winters of Canada on TV. No exciting stories here>
Enjoy all, will catch up when we are both home.
Your travelling buddies
Ken and Sherry
Hey Drifters-Looks like you are doing well. Nice travel log.We still have 10-12"hard snow in open areas,but clear under the conifer forests along the river and s.facing slopes.Some folks would not agree,but this is the best winter that I have spent in Wa.I mean,2 straight weeks of real powder snow and dry cold-what could better-maybe 3 months.But the again,I really don't have to travel the rds.I just wander the woods,read and enjoy the good feelings of my fireplace.Salmonberries are starting to open in places and the local geese arrived three days ago to a snow covered field.They walk around in a daze.Off to th Amazon 12 March.Safe travels.Fred
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