Made it to Mexico
Trip Start
Dec 17, 2007
1
5
20
Trip End
Jan 26, 2008
Cancun,
Mexico
Saturday, December 22, 2007
My hotel, the Kin Mayeb ended up being in a good location, close to the bars and clubs I wanted to visit, as well as being close to all the relative action.
Today, I toured Chicen Itza... some information attached at the bottom of this entry from Wikipedia for those people interested.
I am so glad I followed through on Pablo´s suggestion because the site was simply awesome..
A Mayan Masterpiece
. a huge array of Mayan temples and pyramids that instantly fulfilled my image of Central America. I did an organised tour for $US45... can probably do it for cheaper but I was informed that getting public transport to the site, whilst giving me flexibility, would cost around $US15 each way. This tour also gave me a guided Mayan tour who was passionate in preserving and expanding Mayan culture, and a buffet meal where I met Victor. It is rather special that I´ve now visited the Inca and Mayan ruins.Victor is a doctor from Guatemala City, on holidays with his buddy who speaks little English. They´ve come to Cancun for the beaches and 5 star pampering... there are no white sand beaches in Guatemla... they are all wolcanic rock or something! It´s a shame that I didn´t meet Victor earlier in the tour because he´s an interesting guy and very keen to learn about where I come from (it would of been great to have a photo buddy for the sight) until the relative end of the tour but he did give me his email and phone details for when I arrive Guatemala, day 8 of the tour... he wants to show me a volcano near Antigua which is close to his city - I just hope we can work out something. Let´s hope I can catch up with him, because there is nothing better than visiting places with locals. He expressed concern that I was travelling alone, and found it to be quite different... this just goes to show that lone travellers are more accessible to locals if you show some form of interest
Closer up of Mayan
. I find meeting all these different people the best thing about travelling internationally... I find it a huge blast to meet people from around the world, an opportunity which staying back in Aus would never give me.After the tour, I went to a bar near my hotel, called the Kamiba... was fairly quiet until midnight where the floor rocked with great music. Met a few locals who all attach the land of Australia to jumping kangaroos.
I met my tour guide who is from Mexico City. The tour starts tomorrow. He seems to be ok, but I doubt that anyone I have will ever be as good as Julio in Peru.
Chichen Itza At the mouth of the well of the Itza") is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, present-day Mexico.
Chichen Itza was a major regional center in the northern Maya lowlands from the Late Classic through the Terminal Classic and into the early portion of the Early Postclassic period. The site exhibits a multitude of architectural styles, from what is called "Mexicanized" and reminiscent of styles seen in central Mexico to the Puuc style found among the Puuc Maya of the northern lowlands
Local Dancers 1
. The presence of central Mexican styles was once thought to have been representative of direct migration or even conquest from central Mexico, but most contemporary interpretations view the presence of these non-Maya styles more as the result of cultural diffusion.Archaeological data, such as evidence of burning at a number of important structures and architectural complexes, suggest that Chichen Itza's collapse was violent. Following the decline of Chichen Itza's hegemony, regional power in the Yucatán shifted to a new center at Mayapan.
The ruins of Chichen Itza are federal property, and the site's stewardship is maintained by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, INAH). The land under the monuments, however, is privately-owned by the Barbachano family.[2]
