In our attempt to avoid the masses of tourists descending on the Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza from Cancun, we stayed in the small colonial town, Valladolid, located only 1 hour from the ruins. We spent a day cruising around the city, only to end up in a local bar to grab a refreshing Corona in the +35 degree heat. The bar was owned by a local guy who'd been working there for 50 years and was complete with wooden swing doors wild west style and local drunks. Pure class.
We arrived early in Chichen Itza, but this place is hot hot hot - 35 degrees with little breeze and intense skin-scorching skin.
The ruins are considered to be one of the new 7 wonders of the world and have a fascinating history. At the height of the Mayan empire it is believed that over 80,000 people lived in the surrounds of the ancient city of Chichen Itza. The main pyramid structure is El Castillo and is made up of 4 sides which each contain 91 steps. If the steps are then totalled and the platform is also included, you get the number of days in the year. Un-coincidentally of course. The Mayans had a highly accurate calendar - calculating every solar and lunar eclipse since 3000BC until 21 Dec 2012! Clever clever peoples. The Spring and Autumn equinoxes are particularly special in Chichen Itza as shadows on the steps of west wall form a holy feathered serpent. We unfortunately missed this spectacle but the photos that we saw were incredible.
Among the grand pyramid structures is a sports arena where a pre-columbian ball game called Pok-a-Tok was played between enemy teams. The unusual thing about the game is that the hoops were not horizontal like most net games, but in fact vertical and incedibly high. The game was played with elbows, knees or hips so it is no surprise that each game lasted a few days, finishing dramatically with the sacrifice of the captain of the winning team - an honour to receive the route to heaven. This beheading was usually held on top of the main pyramid. Apocalypto eat your heart out!
To cool down from the furnace-like heat, we headed to a Cenote (a freshwater pool in a cave) close to Valladolid. These Cenotes are dotted all over the Yucatan area, but many of them are very touristy and costly! We visited one that was recommended to us by a local and only a short bike ride away. Some Cenotes are almost completely covered, however this one had a fair amount of light seaping through and to our surprise it was completely deserted. Cenotes are magical places. The water is crystal clear and inhabited by multiple varieties of fish. Hanging down from this Cenote's edge were tree roots that reached down into the pool. In tarzan style, we made the most of the rope swing and cooled off before cycling back to our hostel.
The place where we stayed in the jungle was incredibly basic and writhing with insects, in particular scorpions. I think that our room was infested. After having an enormous black scorpion walk on my leg in bed I was only accutely aware of their presence, only to find another one crawling above our bed the following night. They don't die quickly either. After several attempts of tredding on them, Tom had to use all his weight using a squishing motion to properly kill these mini beasts.
The Palenque jungle village is a strange place. It is ridicuously hot and humid. Even sitting still, you sweat profusely. It's a place full of tripped-out US and European hippies getting high on the psychadelic mushrooms in the area. Some have been living there for 20 years or so. One American lady owned a bookshop in the middle of the jungle and sold all types of things other than books!
