Chichen Itza and a wonderful Cenote

Beautiful day for a tour. Clear skies and gloriously hot. First Chichen Itza and then the Cenote - 80 ft from top to the water - 160 ft deep - where Red Bull holds the cliff diving competition. 

Obsidian- black stone that shines gold in sunshine - very precious to the Mayans as they considered it blood of Mother Earth - the lava cooled to obsidian rock. Excellent quality obsidian shines gold in the sunlight and it is thought that Conquistadors mistook the obsidian on buildings for gold. 

Valladolid, Yucatan - small town in the way to Chichen Itza

Obsidian pieces - beautifully carved and crafted

The Tequila bar where you could sample the really good stuff!

Carving with obsidian stone and chakra stones - all about the love!

And thenwe got to Chichen Itza...and the ancient city didn't disappoint! Unfortunately, you can no longer climb the pyramid...too many silly vain people writing their names on the stone carvings...but there were great vantage spots for good snaps. Will get to the temple proper in the next post.

Tony first took us on a quick walk about and told us some of the history and our first 'stop' was the ball court. Archeologists figure that two teams of 7 played - some of the players were on the main field and some ran the runway/platform. They played with a very hard rubber ball about 3-4" in diameter. Those on the field had heavy leather wrist and elbow bands, knee bands and waist bands and they would try to get the ball up to one of their players on the upper runway. Those on the upper deck had the protective bands as well as a heavy/ strong racket. They would try to hit the ball up and through the stone ring in the wall midway on the field/runway.

The ball court

Vantage point for some lucky spectators

One of the stone rings in the wall

Long shot of the field, the runways and the 2 stone rings

A 'cartoon' of a player using his waist belt to propel the ball toward the stone ring. 

One player was sacrificed at the end of the game...the best player? Sent to play with the gods - notice the kneeling player with no head and blood rushing up like snakes from his neck

The player or official who sacrificed the player...he has a knife in one hand and the players head in the other. 

Pyramid is a huge calendar. Each step is one day. 91 steps on each of the 4 sides = 364 + 1 step for the top platform is 365 days. No leap year...each moon cycle in each year contained extra seconds so that the calendar was perfectly balanced. 

Check the next post for more on the other buildings/temples at Chichen Itza