Chichén-Itzá

What an amazing ancient place this is!! To learn about the Mayans, how they created the calendar, lived, died, celebrated and worshiped.

I took the ADO bus from Merida on Friday the 13th of December, 2024. This bus is considered first class. There are curtains in the window, roomy reclining seats with plenty of legroom and a bathroom. It took two hours to get to Chichen-Itzá and it was all highway driving. The bus cost $274mx ($13.61 USD). The station had stores, food, waiting areas, bathrooms, and good free WiFi. There are two waiting areas, one for the ADO bus and one for the regular bus. The station is located at C. 69 554 Centro, Merida.

You get dropped off at the main entrance to Chichen-Itza and have to make your way past lots of vendors and tour guides. Inside are stores for snacks, locker rental ($50 pesos and leave your ID), bathrooms (ladies, be prepared to squat, there are no lids and all tp goes in the trash bin in the stall), ATM machines and it’s very busy. Since I needed to go to my hotel on the back side of the site, I grabbed a taxi for $100 pesos ($5).

He dropped me off 10 minutes later at a side gate and said you’re here (in Spanish). I thought, really? It seemed weird to me, but they know, so I got out and went in. It was so nice inside! Very open and light. I was there a couple hours early but they checked me right in. My room was so cute and across from the pool! It had 2 beds (1 full, 1 twin), a desk, bathroom (again, no TP in the toilet) and a window to the garden. Fabreezio and I went to the pool for a bit. It was cold but refreshing and after a few minutes it was fine. He sat by the edge or lounged under the cabana while I swam.

At 5pm, I went to dinner at the hotel restaurant. Pork chops with salad and fries and bananas foster for dessert, Yucatan style with lime in the caramel. Very different but good. I was planning on going to the light show at the temple and chose this hotel because it’s a 5 minute walk to the back entrance which the Chichen-Itza website said was open, but it’s not. 😕 Besides, walking that road at night, even only 5 minutes is scary because it’s pitch black in the jungle and who knows what animals are there, so I stayed in. Fabreezio settled into the twin bed and fell fast asleep.

Breakfast (included) the next morning at 7:15 was fresh fruit, eggs with bacon (scrambled into the eggs), warm rolls, juice, coffee or tea. I checked out, they called a taxi for me and by 8:15 I was at the main gate. Grabbed a tour guide and my entry ticket for $100 USD.

Manuel, my guide, was part Mayan and taught me some words, that I don’t remember now 😄. Sadly Fabreezio wasn’t allowed in (no toys), so he sat in a locker with my other stuff. You are allowed to bring food and water. The tour was an hour and highlighted the main buildings: the pyramid of El Castillo (which is really 2 pyramids, one inside the other), the Temple de los Guerrero’s, where they did their sacrifices to the rain god, and the arena where the Mayan sport was played.

The Mayan game could last weeks or months depending on how well people scored. They had a rubber ball, about the size of a small soccer ball but heavier. There were 7 players and a Captain on each team. The goal was to get the ball through the hole in the wall (see above photo). Difficult as the ball wasn’t much smaller and they could only use their hips, knees or shoulders. The High priest sat on one side of the field (above photo far end) and the King at the other.

In the arena, if you cup your hands and clap, you’ll hear an echo 14 times. That meant the King and High Priest could talk at normal voice levels, even across the field.

There were also five referees at the corners of the two side viewing platforms. The winning team’s captain was honored by being beheaded and sacrificed to the rain god.

Sacrifices were done twice a year, March and September. There were three each time but only if they didn’t get rain, but it was always the winner of the game. The next was a woman who had her heart carefully cut out while she was alive, then a prisoner who had his chest brutally cut open and his heart ripped out. *Yes, I know, of course I was very interested in this*. A sacrifice was done every 15 days (total of 45) if no rain.

The wall of skulls represented the winners of the games, there are thousands on this wall.

The pyramid: Impressive! Two sides are restored and the corners have snake heads at the bottom with feathers going up. Twice a year at the equinox, thousands gather to see the sun when it rises or sets (depending on time of year) to see the serpent on the pyramid.

When you stand in front of the castle and clap your hands, the sound travels up then down the stairs and sounds like a bird. That was fun to do. But on the non restored side, the sound only goes up and sounds like a clap.

Seven years ago they discovered a hidden foundation all around the pyramid to help keep it stable.

The temple where they did the sacrifices, represented both the jaguar and eagle. It’s surrounded by square pillars representing the eagles and next to it are the round columns for the jaguars (the warriors). It’s known as the temple of 1000 columns, but only has 875.

Walk past the columns and there’s a large area that was used for a variety of things, market, gatherings, etc. I took a few minutes to sit on a fallen column in the shade and imagine what it must have been like in 600 AD.

Wandering further into the woods, there was a gate, place of worship and a sacred cenote.

Apparently there were other buildings, but I didn’t find them.

Overall, this was fascinating!! I’ve always been interested in ancient cultures and this was my first up close experience! 😁

For the ride back to my Airbnb, I took the regular bus for $150 pesos ($7.50 USD). It was almost three hours and stopped in many small pueblos (towns) on the way which was nice to see. Many homes were left unfinished. Here are some pictures from the bus.