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Chichen Itza
One of the existing wonders of the world
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Somewhere in the selva of the Yucatan jungle.
We have passionately wanted to see the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza with our own eyes for many years. And after the new seven wonders of the world were chosen on the day of three sevens on 07.07.07, including Chichen Itza, we were sure that we would get there someday. And now, after 10 years, on a hot January morning in 2017, we got into a long line of people who wanted to touch the miracle. If anyone needs it, we post the opening hours and the cost of visiting the ruins.
These were the second ruins of the ancient Maya that we visited after San Hervasio on the island of Cozumel , so we are used to going through 2 lines. At the first cordon, there are turnstiles and register the number of incoming ones, and a few meters further on the second cordon of turnstiles, where your ticket gets through to pay the visiting tax - this is the Mexican approach. Having passed both cordons, we hastened to see the desired city of Chichen Itza. And the first place where the gaze rushes is, of course, El Castillo or, in a simple way, the pyramid of Kukulkan :-) Well, hello, Chichen Itza !!!
We did not frantically run straight to the pyramid, but as in the old joke "we decided to slowly go down the mountain" and go around the entire city around the perimeter, but started from the field for playing ball (pelota). Chichen Itza is home to the largest known ball court. Players spent their entire lives in training to hit the ball without the help of palms and feet (hips, elbows, stomach). The goal of the game between the two teams was to keep the ball in the air for as long as possible - since it symbolized the sun and they wanted the sun to not interrupt its movement across the sky for as long as possible. If it was possible to throw the ball into the side ring, then the Golden Ball rule came into play, and the victory was immediately awarded. After the game, the captain of the winning team was sacrificed. It is believed that he was very happy about this, since having won in the pelote, he could immediately ascend directly to the gods.
This is the story of this field, let's go take a closer look.
And now, live hack - souvenirs should be bought in Chichen Itza. We changed 6 locations in Mexico, but nowhere was there such a variety of souvenirs, and nowhere were the sellers as flexible in price as here!
A little away from the main city there is a sacred cenote, a well 60 meters in diameter and 60 meters deep. When droughts happened, there was only one recipe for calling rain - to throw young girls and jewelry into this well. We could not find out how effective the method was.
The main inhabitants of Chichen Itza today are iguanas. There are a lot of them here. Here and there, on the rocks and in the grass, we saw these formidable-looking animals. Admire their majesty:
And, of course, every time we saw another iguana, we ran and filmed it.
A few more photos of Chichen Itza and we will move on. The photos below are clickable.
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After completing the tour of the city (it took us about 4 hours), we went on foot to the neighboring town of Piste. Our hotel was located in the jungle and therefore had to stock up on provisions. We spanked barefoot on a hot road, discussing how to properly name the inhabitants of this city? Pistyans, pistenyans, pistechi? Having reached the town, we met the most important statue in Pista. It was already familiar to us Katrina - the favorite of the Mexicans.
From Piste to our hotel in the jungle, we took a taxi, because it is quite far away, and it gets dark very early in this part of Mexico, and we didn't want to climb in the jungle in pitch darkness. Surprisingly, the heat does not end even after dark.
Our hotel had 2 swimming pools, and the Wi-Fi was only near the first one, so all residents gathered around that pool and surfed the Internet. And we went to the second, and in the evening darkness listened to the noise of the jungle, heard there cicadas, creeping jaguars, and the distant singing of Mayan shamans. It was an unimaginable sensation to be in the depths of the jungle and feel the light touch of a completely different, some ancient world. We imagined that it was possible right on this place, several hundred years ago a shaman gathered the entire tribe and talked about the structure of the world: how the sun moves, why the gods can get angry, and what the spirits with whom he communicated told him that day.
Two evenings spent in this jungle became one of the most memorable for us ... And this is how "our pool" looked in the early morning.
We chose this hotel because it is very close to another Chichen Itza attraction. This attraction is the most famous cenote in Mexico called Ik Kil, and the next day we went there for a swim! Impressions are incredible - a large breach in the ground, from the edges of which hang long vines, many people swimming and very fresh water.
A visit to a cenote costs 70 pesos. The area around it is very beautiful and well-groomed. There are many beautiful plants and Mayan Indians who are persuaded to be photographed with them for a few dollars , but the most important thing here is the very natural miracle named Ik-Kil. A great place that we definitely recommend to visit.
On this pleasant note, we have completed our acquaintance with the ancient Mayan city of Chichen Itza. After that we continued our journey through Mexico. Ahead of us was the Isla Mujeres , where the pirates left their women when they made their aggressive campaigns. Mexico continues!
We would be glad to receive your comments on this article. If you have been to Chichen Itza or are going to visit this city - share your impressions in the comments. Reposts and likes will be greatly appreciated.
Vitaly & Nataly
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