Trip to Cancun Mexico #2

Posted by Jenny

Continued....

Every night there was a show you could attend. We saw people lipsync to Grease, dance to popular music, a really good Magician show and also a Michael Jackson impersonator. He could dance! That one was quite fun.

Then we paid to take a tour bus to see Chichen Itza! The Mayan ruins, and one of the largest in the area we were in. The Temple of Kukulkan (not pyramid as we were often told by our guide) is famous for having a snake appear on the solstice, which we missed by one day! So at the end our our day you could see it a little bit. Too bad we couldn't have stayed longer. The temple is named for a feathered serpent god similar to the sacred quetzal bird, and when you gather at one of the bottom stairs and clap it makes the sound of the bird. That is truly amazing!

You can see here the outline of the snake, its really just a shadow that happens when the sun hits these steps and puts a shadow on the stair behind them with the snakes head at the bottom.

The buildings were so detailed, with stone carved into animal heads and interesting styles.

Each had reliefs (?) carved into them, here an eagle is heading a man's heart and a jaguar is too.

The ball courts had amazing images on all the walls. Our guide had us stand and clap at a corner and you could hear it echo all over the ball field. Behind me is a scene where the winning or losing team captain is sacrificed while his team watches.

This picture of mine looks amazing! The Temple of Warriors had hundreds of columns.

Of course outside they had someone dressed as a traditional Mayan ceremonial garb to take pictures. Too bad we had to run back to our bus or I would have taken them up on the offer.

Afterward we drove to the town of Valladolid and saw the Cenote Zaci. Cenotes are huge sink holes filled with water. It was really lovely! You could hike down into it and walk along the sides. There was even people swimming in it. Too bad I didn't have a swim suit.

Then we ate at a good restaurant, had some authentic Mayan food (which none I liked) and enjoyed the colonial downtown area.

Lime soup - actually pretty good!

A small shrine to the Virgin Mary.

My souvenirs, my name is Mayan letters on a pendant.

And my wedding date in Mayan long count.

After that long day we spent the others back at the resort. I got brave and sat in a bed/lounger near the beach even though I wasn't in the elite club.