Chichen Itza

Chichen Itza has become a tourist mecca for several years now  It is the best restored archeological site of the Mayans culture and for that reason, one that cannot be missed.

Originally, all these buildings were painted in bright colours, mainly in red and blue and adorned with yellow trimmings.

The size of this site is overwhelming and we spent several hours wandering from El Castillo to the Observatory while admiring the immense "ball game site" referred to as Gran Juego de Pelota to finally get to the Sacred Cenote or Cenote Sagrado, where objects of sacrifices (people, animals and objects) were found at its bottom . 

El Caracol, so named because of its spiral staircase is one of the most inspiring building of Chichen Itza.  From its towering structure, Mayan priests decreed the times for celebrations, rituals, corn planting and harvest depending on star configurations.

The immense ball court was very impressive, as well by its size (it is the LARGEST  in Mexico!) as with the rituals associated with the games. 

The soccer-like game was played by well equipped players trying to get a hard rubber ball through a stone ring...without using their hands. Some carvings suggested that at some points the use of bats might have been permitted. Anyhow, carvings depicting decapitated people suggest that the losing captin and may be his team mates may have been sacrificed! No "negociations of contracts" here...You loose, you die!

And speaking of sacrifices, we finished the visit by a slow walk - it was very hot -to the Sacred Cenote, a huge 60 meters in diameter and 35 meters deep natural sunken well.  This sacred well appears to have been a place of pilgrimage for ancient Maya people. Archaeological investigations support this as thousands of objects have been removed from the bottom of the Sacred Cenote, including material such as shell, gold, jade, wood, obsidian, cloth, as well as skeletons of men and children. Today, it is overgrown with wines and is a rather calm and serene place after the crowds of the main architectural site.

Along with the sites of Machu Pichu, the Taj Mahal, and the Roman Colosseum , Chichen Itza has been declared one of the 7 new wonders of the world.