Mexico Vacation 2010: Day 5

In February my wife and I took a week-long vacation to the Riviera Maya- the Caribbean Coast of Mexico. We stayed at the Bahia Principe Akumal Resort about an hour south of Cancun. Through this past week I have been blogging about the trip and our experiences.
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New Seven Wonders of the World was a project that attempted to update the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World concept with a modern list of wonders. A popularity poll was led by Canadian-Swiss Bernard Weber and organized by the Swiss-based, government-controlled New7Wonders Foundation, with winners announced on July 7, 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal. -Wikipedia

 These Seven New Wonders are, (in alphabetical order):

* Chichen Itza, Mexico
* The Great Wall, China
* Petra, Jordan
* Christ Redeemer, Brazil
* Machu Picchu, Peru
* The Roman Colosseum, Italy
* The Taj Mahal, India

The amazing ruins of Chichén Itzá on the Yucatán is the destination for our trip today. We join a group tour run by Apple Vacations leaving our resort before 8:00 for the 2 hour ride.

The first thing we discover is that we are very fortunate to have quite a guide. Pepe is a history major who is working on his Ph.D. with an emphasis on Maya history. He is able to bring a great deal of awareness and information along with an ability to make it very interesting.

Chichén Itzá means "at the mouth of the Itzá well" and predates Columbus by 1000 years. It collapsed about 500 years before Columbus from a number of causes.

As we arrive and enter the ruins through the Mayaland Hotel and, walking out we see El Caracol, the observatory.


A short walks brings us to the centerpiece of the ruins- El Castillo.

Dominating the center of Chichén is the Temple of Kukulkan (the Maya name for Quetzalcoatl), often referred to as "El Castillo" (the castle). This step pyramid has a ground plan of square terraces with stairways up each of the four sides to the temple on top. On the Spring and Autumn equinox, at the rising and setting of the sun, the corner of the structure casts a shadow in the shape of a plumed serpent - Kukulcan, or Quetzalcoatl - along the west side of the north staircase. On these two annual occasions, the shadows from the corner tiers slither down the northern side of the pyramid with the sun's movement to the serpent's head at the base. -Wikipedia

When the pyramid was excavated there was not enough stones available to reconstruct the whole structure. Above is a section that has not been reconstructed. Below is the reconstructed section.

To be in the midst of this amazing place can only be described as awesome. I am amazed by all the incredible knowledge it took- knowledge of architecture, astronomy, and who knows what else. It is not as old as things I have seen in Israel or Rome, but consider that this was built in the middle of the Yucatán- an arid region where all rivers are underground. Yet this was an economic center and a form of early democracy. Wow.

On the right above is the section that catches just the right angle of the sun at the spring and fall equinoxes so that it looks like the body of the serpent above the head. That they could manage that feat before all our modern technologies boggles the imagination.

Then there's the equally incredible ball court.

On the right below is a general overview.

On the left is part of the left-hand wall depicting the great ball game that was played here.

It seems that the ball court

is the largest ball court in ancient Mesoamerica. It measures 545 ft × 223 ft. The imposing walls are 39 ft high, and in the center, high up on each of the long walls, are rings carved with intertwining serpents. [Note: An American football field is 360 ft x 160 ft.]

At the base of the high interior walls are slanted benches with sculpted panels of teams of ball players. In one panel, one of the players has been decapitated and from the wound emits seven streams of blood; six become wriggling serpents and the center becomes a winding plant.

The game itself is debated but it would appear to have some great significance in the Maya cosmology.

Below is one of the rings through which the ball was to be hit in some way or another.


What may be most odd is that some people think that the winner is the one who is decapitated- sacrificed- since they have helped the gods be successful. (It is admittedly difficult to keep from making any comments about how that would have changed the NY Yankees dominance of the American League all these years. But I will refrain.)

In one part of the ruins are rows of columns, each of which appears to be dedicated to a warrior who gave his life in some battles. I was struck by how a "war memorial-" type of structure may be a basic part of our human civilizations. Even to including the equivalent of names as we do on the Vietnam War Memorial.

Then we headed out toward the sacred cenote. There were vendors everywhere all selling variations on the same things for the same "one dollar." It had rained on our trip, the sun had come out and it was hot. As we walked along, without warning, my wife fell. At first I thought she had just tripped on a stone or something but she fell flat on her face.

I called her name and she didn't respond. It may not have been more than a couple seconds but it was incredibly long. All kinds of thoughts went through my mind in that time. Until she finally moved.


But she was hurting. She had fallen flat on her hands and the gravel and stone had done quite a job on both palms. I helped her up and we managed to get back to the shade at the other side of El Castillo. Our guide saw us and went to call the ambulance on the property for just such occurrences. We waited 20 minutes or so as they took another person back to the hotel.




Fortunately it just took some cleaning and gauze to get her feeling a little better. Some ibuprofen helped. Even though she doesn't drink a lot of jokes went around about the Mexican answer to all medicinal needs- tequila.

We managed to make it slowly back to the hotel where lunch was waiting and some cool shade. We also were entertained during lunch with dancing - and beer bottles.



After lunch I went back and took some more pictures, and I, too, fell- tripped- as I was walking up a slight rise. I was not hurt as badly as my wife, but I was shaken. I pushed away the feelings, went on taking pictures but admittedly did wonder what the Mayan gods might be up to. (I was surprised the next morning when my wife made a similar comment.)

Soon it was time to get back on the bus and head back to the coast. We passed through the town of Valladolid where this wondrous looking church sat right on the square.



And I even managed to find a RR crossing sign
to take a picture of.


Later, back at the resort we were entertained by a roving Mariachi band. The trumpet player was quite good. I was impressed. From a trumpet player that's quite a compliment.




I had difficulty writing that night. Perhaps what I wrote at the end of the night in my journal would explain how I was feeling:

• Tomorrow- I must rest and reflect. The soul has been shaken today. It needs some reflection and recuperation time.
• So for tonight, that's all. May it be a calm, restful night with a beauty of life and hope reborn when day begins.