The Ancient Mayan city Of Chitchen Itza

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  Piste, Mexico
Tuesday, October 9, 2007

We trundled around for an hour in the dark as the City woke up trying to find the bus terminal. Grabbed a coffee (we´ve gone to black coffee cause we are not sure what animal the milk here is from).

We then hightailed it to Chitzen Itza (Mayan for ¨Mouth of The Well¨)where we shared the ruins with only a couple of people. Magnificent! I got in trouble for taking a photo of my pet monkey with the temple. oops! not sure why. We returned to the front gate to source an English speaking guide. They were 600 pesos (US$60) so we waited for some more people to join us and share a guide. No English speakers for an hour an a half so we hooked up with a cute little man named Arnesto to be our guide for $40. He was 78 years old and fit as a fiddle. He had 11 grand children and 4 great grand children. What a gem he turned out to be. The guides know alot about the Mayan culture, calendar and various structures on the site. We hammered him for information about the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012.

Chitchen Itza was very impressive and surreal. There were many carvings. It´s history and it´s chronology are the subjects of debates and the fate of its people a puzzle that archaeologists continue to theorize about as excavations continue. The whole site used to be covered in thick jungle and we could just imagine the work it would take to painstakingly uncover the temples. The people who lived here were the Itzaes who settled here in the IX Century a.c believed to be chontol Mayas, they forged a wide empire with one culture centered on Chitzen Itza. It seemed to be very much a ceremonial site. Around 1250 a.c the city was abandoned for reasons not understood.
The castle of Kulkulan (a temple) rising 30 metres from the earth is the most impressive building. There is another pyramid built inside of this one which i am sure holds many secrets. We could not access this one or climb the steps of it due to a death of a visitor recently. It is believed to have been built between 650 and 800a.c. The numbers of its different measurements relate to digits in the maya solar calendar; foe example, 91 steps on 4 sides, or 364; plus the platform, 365, the number of days in a year. The five adornments on each side of the temple are 5x4, or 20, the number of days in a maya month. This building, revealing the profound knowledge of the mayas, every year during the equinox demonstrates the descending of the god Kukulkan, ¨the feathered serpent¨, to earth, in a light and shadow phenomenon in which the serpent appears to slither down the steps. How did they build this temple in the exact right place using the heavy stones and getting the dimensions mathematically correct? No-one knows.

The most interesting structure for me was the music podium where the Mayas had limestone pillars standing on end that they would hit with a stick to create different tones. This was on top of a stage which also looked like where the head honcho would speak to the people.

There was a ball court which has a cosmic meaning. It had warlike symbols and almost perfect accoustics. Our guide told us about a game they played here similar to a mix between soccer and basketball which was played using the knee, shoulder and hip and played only 5 times a year. There were massive spectator podiums where the commoners would watch and throne type areas where the noble ones sat. There was even an umpire box. There were two tiny hoops which it looked impossible to score a goal through. The winner only had to score one goal and then he got the honour of having his head cut off as the ultimate praise and sacrifice. Not a very nice trophy. His soul would be immortal though and the body, mortal.Other human sacrifices were made at the temple of the warriors where the heart was ripped from the body while still beating and taken to a high platform to be offered to the gods.

It was a walled city. The guide told us the wall was for rain purposes however i suspect it was there to keep the Aztecs out in times of civil war.

There were superficial Mayan people selling there wares on site.

There were also carvings of serpents, aquatic animals and jaguars. The serpent means wisdom and the jaguar means power and fear. The mayas believed that their whole city used to be under water hence the aquatic animals or maybe they just liked fishing.

Our guide told us the Mayas would purify cross-eyed virgins (what´s the chance of that) with incense and dose them up with magic mushrooms before sacrificing them to the gods by covering them with heavy jewels and gems and throwing them into a large cenote (underground limestone sinkhole) near the temple. Not sure?? When scuba divers explored the water of the cenote they found many jewels and bones of women and mutilated children. The water in all the cenotes in the area is receding and no-one knows why, 2012??

It appears the Mayans were fairly savage as they kept slaves which had their own area.
The rain god was king. We also saw a sauna steam room area with a fire area used for purification, fertility statues and a mass grave marked with skull heads carved into the walls where the Maya were buried in layers on top of each other.

It was interesting to note that there is a whole network of roads linking the ruins all over the country and many sites yet to be excavated.

We cabbed it to Balankenche caves which was an important Mayan place found in 1959. The cave network is 6km long. Our cab driver waited for us as we had missed the tour and were allowed to explore the caves alone, mayan relics and all. There were lots of tiny bats flying and hanging from the ceiling, many formations made from stalagmites and stalactites which were lit extensively and artifacts of ceramic pots shaped as warrior masks and little instrument type things. There was beautiful music of drumming being played through little speakers. This was an excellent experience to have without all the tourists. At the end of the walk was a large "Ceiba", a sacred tree which resembled the tree of life and had formed from the stalagmites and tites in a circular room. There were many pots around its base that were left where they were found. The energy in here was amazing and this was one of the best things we have witnessed. I managed to record some of the music on the ipod.

We cabbed it back to the Chitchen Itza site where we had stored our luggage and caught a second class bus to Valladolid, a colonial town of many churches.

We stayed at a hostel which we think we were the first ever guests at. It didn't have a name. It was being renovated and we scored a large rooftop room with nothing in it. At least we could look down on the street and the owner waited up all night until we came home. We ate at a tourist restaurant which served the local cuisine of yucatan. We had longaniza al carbon which was a charcoal broiled venison sausage with a rich aroma and comitos de pueroso, a pork dish and vegetable soup. We prefer the street stalls because they are busier, cheaper and tastier. They are fast, clean and safe and the vendors are appreciative and don't expect a tip.


 

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