Pick-up at 7am meant breakfast room service as the breakfast buffet only opens at 7am. Reception told me it would take 20min for the order to be ready and that I would only pay an extra US$5 for the room delivery. When I called at 6am for room service it was 45min and pay for all plus the delivery service. I couldn't be bothered to complain this early in the morning so I paid, ate and was ready by 7am.
Pick-up from several hotels took 1.5h.
Our tour guide, Carlos, explained a few interesting facts about the Mayan and that was possibly one of the best parts of the tour. His team took really good care of us and were always very courteous.
We all had a sticker with the number of our bus and the name of our guide in case we got lost in the crowd of tourists.
The tour had a lot of stops, majority of little interest.
First stop was at a 'Mayan village', aka 'come and spend your money, gringo'. The village shaman did a blessing for the group, tried to persuade us to get individual blessings (for a fee), to sell us our Mayan horoscope (for a fee) and there was a huge shop stocked with all you can get mementos from Mexico.
This was also our lunch stop and food was plentiful. Tacos with different fillings, salads, pastas and desserts. Drinks for an extra fee. Dancers livened up the meal with quite a bored face, politely requesting a tip at the end of the show.
The best part of this stop was the iced coffee which I suspect was only coffee ice-cream because I did not see them using the coffee machine.
Second stop was at Saalam Cenote.
A cenote is a natural sinkhole filed with freshwater. It is formed when the limestone bedrock collapses.
Since the Yucatán Peninsula has very few rivers and lakes, the cenotes represent the main source of water. Consequently, Mayan settlements were built next to a cenote.
There are over 3000 cenotes in Mexico, mostly in the area covered by the Chicxulub Crater, the crater that was formed by the meteorite impact that extinguished the dinosaurs.
This was a much better stop. You can swim in the cenote for the overall experience albeit you have to wear a life-jacket (MXN$50, £2, US$2.5) so swimming is more like floating. Stupid me, I packed my towel and snorkel equipment but completely forgot my bikini... in the end I don't think I lost much as there was little one could do in the water.
The cenote itself is indeed a good representation of a cenote. A circular hole, deep, filled with freshwater and with a small waterfall. As the sun rays shone on the waterfall, a rainbow formed. There isa platform for the non-swimmers to watch and I stayed for a while enjoying the view.
Finally, at 3.30pm, we stopped at Chichén Itzá.
The first impression of the site were the portallos at entry point. Yuck!
We had a local tour guide explaining the main ruins of the site, the Great North Platform group, and I would really recommend doing a guided tour because the written explanations at the site are poor and the guide provides a great service.
By the time we finished the guided tour it was 4.20pm and that meant I only had 40min to visit the other groups on a fairly big archaeological site. I managed to see the cenote sagrado but was stopped from going anywhere else. It seems that after 4.30pm no one is not allowed outside the central group. At this point I was furious! So I booked a Chichén Itzá tour to get 1.5h in Chichén Itzá and 30min out of those 90min I wasn't able to visit the other parts of the site?!? What the hell!!! This is not what I paid for!
The bonus of coming into the ruins late in the day and at the time of the Spring Equinox is that you get to see the serpent coming down Kukulcán temple. I appreciate that this was taken into consideration for us but in reality we could have arrived 1h earlier so we had time to see the ruins properly and still see the serpent.
The northwest corner of the pyramid casts a series of triangular shadows against the western balustrade on the north side that evokes the appearance of a serpent wriggling down the staircase, which some scholars have suggested is a representation of the deity Kukulcán. This phenomenon happens in both equinoxes and it is a widespread belief that this light-and-shadow effect was achieved on purpose to record the equinoxes, but the idea is highly unlikely as it has been shown that this phenomenon can be observed, without major change, during several weeks around the equinoxes, making it impossible to determine any date by observing this effect alone.
After all of this and exhausted by now, there was still one last stop: Valladolid. A 20min stop to see a square and an unimpressive cathedral. Again, a waste of time.
Overall it was a 15h day for an allegedly Chichén Itzá tour but as we only spent 10% of the time at the ruins (1.5h), I don't think this tour should be called Chichén Itzá tour. It is deceiving marketing at it's best. Extremely disappointing is my final say on this tour.
I was supposed to tip the guide and his team at the end but I did not. I was tired, very disappointed and angry. They got an earful from me about the alleged 'Chichén Itzá tour' and all the guide could reply was 'All companies are the same'. What kind of excuse is that?!?
Anyone wanting to see Chichén Itzá I would recommend taking the Ado bus from downtown Cancún at 8.45am and return on the 4.45pm bus. That would give you plenty of time to explore the ruins, have a picnic or eat at the on-site restaurant, sleep under a tree when it's hottest and shop. The roads of the ruins are lined with an unimaginable number of sellers so you can shop till you drop.
I paid MXN$1617 (£61, US$80) for the tour (includes a 5% card transaction fee).
An entrance fee to Chichén Itzá costs MXN$571 (£22, US$28) and it's open every day 8am-5pm.
It would have been cheaper to take the bus and pay the entrance fee, more enjoyable and much less tiresome.
Chichén Itzá - Historical details
The name means 'the city on the edge of the well of the Itzáes'. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988 and one of the New Wonders of the World since 2007.
Chichén Itzá was one of the largest Maya cities between 600-1200 AD. It had a relatively dense architecture, with the site core covering an area of at least 5km². Smaller scale residential architecture extends for an unknown distance beyond this.
The city was built upon broken terrain, which was artificially levelled in order to build the major architectural groups.
The buildings, in various states of preservation, were connected by a dense network of paved causeways (sacbeob). Many of the stone buildings were originally painted in red, green, blue and purple. Pigments were chosen according to what was most easily available in the area.
There are several architectural groups in Chichén Itzá but I was only able to see the Great North Platform group so will only mention the buildings of this group below.
The Mayan people are the indigenous people to Central America. They are noted for having one of the most sophisticated writing systems for their time, and practised subjects we still use today, such as mathematics, art, architecture, astronomy and calendar systems.
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| Map of Chichén Itzá (credits: www.chichenitzatour.com) |
Temple of Kukulcán (El Castillo)
The temple was identified by the first Spaniards to see it as El Castillo and it is regularly referred to as such.
Kukulcán is a feathered serpent deity that was worshipped by the Yucatec Maya people of the Yucatán Peninsula and it was closely related to the Aztec & Toltec Quetzalcóatl. The God is associated with rulership, agriculture, language, the sky and earthquakes.
The step pyramid stands at 30m high and consists of a series of 9 square terraces, each approximately 2.57m (8.4ft) high with a 6m (19.6ft) high temple on the summit. The 4 sides of the pyramid have protruding stairways that rise at an angle of 45⁰. The temple has a step for every day of the year - 365!
If you clap your hands hard in front of the northern stairway, the noise produced makes a serpent-like sound.
In the past one was able to go up the steep stairs of the temple, but not anymore. I was a bit disappointed but understand that it is for preservation reasons.
Temple of the Warriors and Group of a Thousand Columns
The Temple of the Warriors complex consists of a large stepped pyramid fronted and flanked by rows of carved columns depicting warriors. At the top of the stairway on the pyramid's summit is a Chac Mool, aligned beautifully within the 2 front columns.
This temple encases a former structure called Temple of the Chac Mool. Murals depicting battle scenes adorned the walls.
Chac Mool is a sculpture depicting a reclining man with its head turned 90⁰ to the front, legs drawn up and bent at the knees, holding a tray or bowl on his belly or chest. The purpose of Chac Mools was generally as a place for sacrificial offerings to the Gods. These offerings could consist of anything from foodstuff like tamales or tortillas to colourful feathers, tobacco or flowers.
The Chac Mool altars also served for human sacrifices: some had cuauhxicallis (special recipients for the blood of sacrificial victims), while others had special téhcatl (altars where humans were ritualistically sacrificed).
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| Temple of the Warriors' Chac Mool. (courtesy of www.thoughtco.com) |
Platform of the Eagles and the Jaguars
This platform is built in a combination of Maya and Toltec styles, with a staircase ascending each of the 4 sides. The sides are decorated with panels depicting eagles and jaguars consuming human hearts.
This platform is dedicated to the planet Venus. In its interior archaeologists discovered a collection of large cones carved out of stone, the purpose of which is unknown.
Great Ball Court
Archaeologists have identified 13 ball courts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame in Chichén Itzá, but the Great Ball Court is by far the most impressive. It is the largest and best preserved ball court in ancient Mesoamerica, measuring 168x70m (551x230ft).
The parallel platforms flanking the main playing area are 95m (312ft) long and 8m (26ft) high. Set high up in the centre of these walls are rings carved with intertwined feathered snakes.
At the base of the high interior walls are slanted benches with sculpted panels of teams of ball players. In one panel, one of the players has been decapitated, his wounds emitting streams of blood in the form of wriggling snakes.
The exact rules of the game are not know for certain and variations were likely across the various Mesoamerican cultures. However, the main aim was to get a solid rubber (latex) ball through one of the rings. The ball could measure 10-30cm (4-12in) in diameter and weigh 0.5-3.5kg (1-8lbs). Hands couldn't be used so players directed the ball using their padded elbows, knees, thighs and shoulders.
As games often had a religious significance, the captain of the losing team, or even sometimes the entire team, were sacrificed to the Gods. Our guide however seems to dispute this information and stated that it was actually the winning team that was sacrificed. It would be seen as an honour to be sacrificed to the Gods. Really? Hum...
Built into the east wall are the Temples of the Jaguar. The Upper Temple of the Jaguar overlooks the ball court and has an entrance guarded by 2 large columns carved in the familiar feathered serpent motif. Inside there is a large mural, much destroyed, which depicts a battle scene.
At one end of the ball court is the North Temple, also known as the Temple of the Bearded Man. This small masonry building has detailed bas relief carving on the inner walls, including a centre figure that has carving under his chin that resembles facial hair.
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| Outside view of the ball court with the Temple of the Jaguar. |
Sacred Cenote (Cenote Sagrado)
The cenote is 60m (197ft) in diameter and surrounded by sheer cliffs that drop to the water table some 27m (810ft) below.
This was a place of pilgrimage for ancient Mayan people who, according to ethnohistoric sources, would conduct sacrifices during times of drought. Archaeological evidence supports this as thousands of objects have been removed from the bottom of the cenote, including materials such as gold, carved jade, copal (aromatic tree resin used as ceremonial burned incense), pottery, flint, obsidian, shell, wood, rubber, cloth, as well as skeletons of children and men. Sacred Cenote is also called 'Well of Sacrifice'.
It's difficult to see the cenote properly as there are barriers stopping you to get close to it's edge. Vegetation further impairs visibility.
The ceremonial causeway that leads to the Sacred Cenote (Sacbeob Number One) is the largest and most elaborated at Chichén Itzá. This road is 270m (886ft) long with an average width of 9m (30ft).
Today, it's a road lined with stalls and busy with tourists at peak times. It is difficult to feel it's greatness when it is so crammed.
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