Mexico day 4 - Chichen Itza

My kindle has been found!! Hooray! David had picked it up when we were packing up the other room and put it in his bag thinking it was his. He only discovered it this morning when we opened his bag to find two kindles. I am so happy. I can read again!!

But not today. Today we are heading to Chichen Itza! The drive is 2 and a half hours long so we woke up early and set off around 8am. It was my turn to drive and getting out of our city was a little bit crazy. There are so many one way roads and getting through many intersections or trying to turn left can be a bit nerve-wracking. But one benefit of the many speed bumps is that they slow traffic enough for me to get onto busy main roads. 

Kukulkan Pyramid - by Will

Wall art - by Xander

After the city the second part of our drive was a long straight road through the jungle, finally a road with high speeds and no speed bumps! It also had many rope bridges over the road but sadly we didn't see any monkeys, or any animals. The third, and much longer, part of our trip was on the road from Cancun to Chichen Itza. The entire 150 km was under construction and most of it had a 40km/hr speed limit. It was so awful to drive!

In front of the pyramid at Chichen Itza

It was 11ish when we arrived and then we spent another 45 minutes waiting in multiple lines so they would accept the tickets we'd purchased the night before. Once we got in we found ourselves on a walk through the woods lined with booths selling souvenirs. David had bought a hat from a stall on the drive in and I also purchased one in the hopes of avoiding sunburn. But I didn't keep it long before Will stole it from me and I think he looks better in it anyway. 

My new hat

My Will's new hat

Me and David at the Kukulkan pyramid

The boys all had their own pesos to spend and they spent them all here, most of it before we even got to the first ruin. Christian found a jaguar whistle and haggled very nicely for a good price. But half an hour later he was practically throwing his money at another vendor so he could buy a bird whistle, for twice what the same whistle was at the first place! Money makes him so anxious but he was happy with his purchases so it is all right. The whistles are very cool although it didn't take me long to get tired of the constant sound.

Masks sold at one of the booths

                                                        Christian's new panther whistle

Jon was very proud of buying a wooden snake for only 350 pesos instead of the 1,000 initial asking price. Xander did well haggling for a super cool ring and a gift for someone. And I kept losing Will only to find him later with a new bag. I don't know how we are going to fit it all in our suitcases on the way back! Interestingly, while they had some obsidian and wooden knives, we haven't found any knives for sale anywhere. 

David exploring - by Jon

The hoop is so high that it is thought this ball court was ceremonial 

The giant ball court

It was so hot Jon took off his sweatshirt!

Christian and Will shopping

Eventually the kids ran out of money but the vendors still tried. One man tried to get Jon to buy something and but Jon had spent almost everything. Instead of walking away Jon told him he'd give 15 for it. "15 dollars?" the vendor said eagerly. "15 pesos" Jon replied. The man's face just fell as he turned away. 

Grass covered ruins

A lizard on the ruin - by Will

Snake decoration at the ball court

Wall of skulls - by Xander

After getting through the first round of souvenir booths we found ourselves at the huge pyramid. It was amazing and very impressive. The ruins were really great but there was very little information posted about them. We'd done some reading about Mayan history before our trip but it would have been nice to know a little bit more about each particular building and ruin there, without going on a tour. 

David in front of the pyramid

The steps of Kukulkan

Kukulkan pyramid

Endless booths

It feels weird but a lot of what I have to say about Chichen Itza has more to do with the vendor booths than it does with the history or the actual ruins. But that is because there are hundreds of booths lining every single path. It was impossible to get away! The path to the cenote was especially bad, the vendors there were very aggressive and I was bombarded from both sides as we hurried past. Their sales pressure and continual cries made it impossible to reflect on the history of the cenote and the lives that were sacrificed there. 

They found lots of blue dye at the bottom of this cenote,
along with the bones of many victims. 

Resting at the cenote 

Walking the gauntlet back from the cenote

That same pressure cast a pall over our viewing of all the ruins. You couldn't walk past a booth without the vendor calling out to offer you something "practically for free" and since they lined every path there was never a break. Only in the field by the pyramid was it quiet but the sun kept us from staying out there too long. 

Four hot boys

Shaded ruins

Os win!

Near the end though we did find a quiet little grove that was our favorite part of the whole place. It was set in the back, down a short path through the ruins of a temple. There were only 20 booths here and all the vendors were quiet, only speaking to you if you stopped to look at their wares. Here it was quiet and shady and quite beautiful. We wandered peacefully for a while but by the time we found this area we'd already been here for hours and had drunk all of our water. Of all the hundreds of souvenir booths none of them sold water! 

Ruins in our peaceful grove

Resting in the grove

Ruins in the grove - by Xander

Snake in the grass - by Xander

On the way home James drove, taking a different route to avoid all the construction, while the rest of us promptly fell asleep. We got back to Playa del Carmen around 5 so we decided to try and find somewhere to eat. Finding something good but cheap enough for a party of 7 can be tricky. But we did find a nice restaurant on 5th avenue which had some really good food. 

Dinner

After dinner we took a walk down 5th avenue which is the main tourist street. Bars and clubs were blaring their music as people ate, shopped, and wandered. We found a man with a monkey and Christian got to take a picture with him. Jon also wanted to take a picture holding the monkey but there was some confusion over how much the man was charging for it so he didn't get the opportunity. However we did manage to find some ice cream before we got to the car. 

He has a monkey on his head!

Christian with a monkey

Ice cream break

Waffle cone

The pool was closed early tonight so the boys didn't get to swim. Tomorrow though should be a quiet day since we need to do some housekeeping anyway. Hopefully I'll get a chance to swim and to read my books! 

Will's purchases

This isn't my usual thing but I've written a short post with tips for visiting Chichen Itza if anyone is interested.