The 3 hour drive was broken up with a stop for a swim at one of the many Cenotes, natural sinkholes dotted all around the area created by the limestone bedrock collapsing, and revered by the Mayans in their time. I look forward to diving in some tomorrow and the next day to explore the depths of them.
When we arrived at the star attraction we met our tour guide, who started with "My name is Caesar Augustus. What was my mother thinking?!", and I knew it would be a good tour. Chichen Itza was apparently the centre of the northern Maya lowlands empire from 750-1200 AD. Caesar Augustus told us about how the pyramid itself is a calendar with 91 steps on each side representing a day each, and the temple at the top represents the 365th day.
We heard about how incredible the Maya were as mathematicians and engineers, and that they built the pyramid in exactly the right spot so that on the 2 days a year of the Equinox, shadows cast on the pyramid appear as Kukulcan, the feathered serpent god worshipped by the Mayan people. At sunset the serpent appears to slither down the pyramid and joins one of the stone snake heads at the base.
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| Temple of Kukulcan, or El Castillo with serpent heads at the bottom |
The Maya practised human sacrifice on those 2 days per year, and if you were really lucky you were born between 20 and 24 June and might be chosen for such an honour 🤔. The most beautiful girls born in that timeframe were sacrificed at one of two cenotes in Chichen Itza (most beautiful apparently constituting being cross eyed - in fact girls born in that window who weren't cross eyed apparently were subject to a painful procedure to cross their eyes in order to make them beautiful!).
The boys born in that timeframe were groomed to be ball players. The game is played at the Equinox, 7 men to each team who can only use knees, hips and a wooden bat to get a 3kg ball through the hoop below in the ball court. 1st team to score wins, and is promptly dealt the honour of being decapitated by the opposing team to release their souls and send them to immortality, to the beaming pride of their families, who also get the benefit of loads of respect and special treatment forthwith.
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| Ball court |
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| Hoop at the top of the ball court |
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| Mural on ball court wall depicting beheaded captain |
The losing team and their unfortunate families are doomed to a life of shame, and are sold into slavery for their valiant efforts (actual team) or downright misfortune to be related somehow to these guys (family).
So back to how mathematically awesome the Maya were, when you're at the site you hear groups walking around clapping. Not like applause, but slowly, and it happens on and off all the time. We did it too, at the behest of Caesar Augustus. The guides exhort you to do this to demonstrate the genius of the Maya, because their placement of the various structures means that at several places on the site if you clap you can hear a sound something like a bird call come back at you from El Castillo (the pyramid). This was believed to be the voice of God (the feathered serpent one).
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| Some of the Warriors guarding the Temple of Warriors |
It's a pretty amazing place and altogether the day was really good one, although long - starting with 7am ferry and finishing with the return ferry dropping me at Cozumel at about 10pm. Just a note, I've read some things about Chichen Itza which are contrary to the information we received. Eg. National geographic article claims the losers of the ball game were the dead ones and the ball was 5.4 kg not 3. I don't know which account is true but the one by Caesar Augustus was the one I got on the day, and it was fun, so that's what you get too.
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