Project 365: Day 64

Naturally, on the 4th of July, what could be more patriotic than visiting ancient Mayan ruins? We sojourned from Merida to Chichen Itza on a second class bus, which was amazing (in hindsight, if not so much when we were on it). Eventually, we made our way back to Cancun to stay the night there.

 

Here we are standing in front of El Castillo, or more properly, the temple of Kukulkan. 

  

And the neat structure at the end of the ball court at Chichen Itza. The court is the largest so far discovered, and it is indeed huge! I have absolutely no idea how anyone could manage to play anything, let alone anything like the descriptions thus far offered for the ancient Mayan game, on a field that huge, especially without shade and in the heat. 

  

We also visited (but alas, did not swim in) the sacred cenote, or sinkhole. The huge sinkholes in the local limestone often hold a lot of fresh water. The Mayans threw offerings to the gods into this one, though not into all cenotes. 

 

This picture was taken before the others, but I felt it belonged down here. I took it from our second class bus between Merida and Chichen Itza. The bus was cheap, but it took forever since we stopped in every village, crossroad, and plenty of times where we saw only scrubby trees. I really liked this one, though, because it combines several of my favorite aspects: the gorgeous trees with bright red flowers, the great colors of the houses, and the well-made shrine to the Virgin outside.