5/17/10 - The Ruins of Chichen Itza, and Cenote Ik Kil

As I guess I should have expected, Chichen Itza was a bit on the touristy side, and I was a little turned off by the big complex at the entrance; it took away from the sense of adventure I have come to associate with ruins. Aside from that, though, the ruins themselves were absolutely wonderful, my only regret being that most of the buildings are off limits to go into, for preservation and safety purposes.

Here's some background:

"Chich'en Itza" in the Mayan language means "Mouth of the Well of the Itza." The "well" part probably has something to do with the sacred Cenote at the sight. The Itza were/are a Mayan tribe from the northern part of the Yucatan Peninsula. Chichen was very much a "melting pot," in that there you find architectural syles from all over the Mayan empire, even reminiscence of the Puuc style of the southern lowlands more commonly associated with Uxmal. There has been a lot of debate over how all these influences came together here, and the most common theories were of war or conquest. Recently, though, there is more evidence to suggest it's a result of cultural diffusion, through either trade or perhaps immigration during the late classic period, when people may have fled to Chichen when other Mayan cities were falling into collapse.

The city is built in the vicinity of the Cenote Sagrado. Cenotes are a cave-like opening to an undergound river system. Cenotes were immensely important to the Maya of this area, as they are the only natural source of water, besides rainfall. They also had tremendous religious value, as the Maya believe caves to be the entrance to the underworld, where the gods reside. The fact that the cenotes give water makes them the source of life as well. Many people entertain the idea that humans were sacrificed into this cenote. There have been attempts to dredge the bottom, but it's so deep it's virtually impossible to lower the proper equipment down the sheer rock walls to do so. Some pottery and animal bones (probably food offerings) have been recovered, though. The rumor of human sacrifices comes from, well aside from the blatently misleading National Geographic spread, the blue pigmentation found in the sediment at the bottom, the kind that sacrifice "victims" were painted with. If you've seen the movie "Apocalypto" you know this to be true. . . ;D

Chichen Itza's most well known feature is the Temple of Kukulcan (this is the Mayan name for the Aztec god Quetzecoatl), also known as El Castillo (it was called this by the Spanish invaders, who clung to the idea that a true city must have a castle. For this reason, there is a building called "El Castillo" at almost every Mayan sight, as well as "the nunnery," "the governor's palace," etc). Visitors to the site used to be able to climb it, a daring feat if you can imagine. Unfortunately, climbing was made off limits in 2006 when a poor tourist accidentally sacrificed herself. The temple is a humongous step pyramid, with four sides oriented to the four cardinal directions. Each side has a staircase of 91 steps, adding up to 364, 365 if you count the top level, to represent the days of the year. The pyramid itself has nine levels, representing the nine levels of the underworld according to Mayan belief. At the base of each staircase are two feathered serpent heads. On the spring and autumn equinoxes, the shadows of the stairs create the body of the serpent and it descends down the stairs over the course of the day. Chichen Itza, as you could imagine, is PACKED with spectators on these days, and I can imagine it's probably been that way for thousands of years. Inside the pyramid is a staircase going down to a subterranean level with 13 levels, representing the levels of the upper worlds, according to Mayan belief. This staircase leads to a room where a Chaac Mool figure was found, as well as a throne in the shape of a jaguar.

My jaw literally dropped when I first caught sight of the pyramid. It's HUGE.

Another distinctive and well known feature is the Great Ball Court. The game played here, according to ethnographic studies and murals found at the sight, involved a heavy rubber ball representing the world that needed to be kept in motion by the players of two opposing teems hitting it using only their hips and possibly forearms and shins. There are small rings at the tops of the walls, which most people believe the ball was meant to pass through. According to Professor Tromans, this is more or less a myth, and he believes it's highly unlikely. The rings are about fifty feet up in the air, the ball is heavy, and the rings are just about the exact circumference as the ball itself. It would be basically impossible to get it through there. More likely it is intended for some sort of planetary alignment, like most of the buildings at the sight.

There is also the theory that the losing team, or maybe the winning team, was sacrificed at the end of the game. This is solely based on the relief carving in the wall of the ball court of a player with snakes extending out of his severed neck.

The site was full of amazing buildings, but it would take a novel to go through and describe all of them for you, so instead here's a link to my facebook album.

Lining the streets of this "ruined" city were stands set up where many of the local people come to sell souvenirs, such as woven blankets, scarves, paintings, jewelry, masks, you name it. Some had their handmade wares laid out on blankets in the lawn. I was a little taken aback at first by the sellers shouting, "Special price for you, my friend!" "Cheaper than K-Mart!" . . . Or my favorite, "Almost free for you today! Only one dollar to look!" There were young kids walking around, just like in Merida and Progreso, selling little things like beaded bracelets or carved wood or stone replicas of El Castillo, their sales pitch some of the only English they know: "One dollar! One dollar!" To me, all these things marketed for tourists, and the fact that people were speaking English, was really taking away from the authenticity of the site. I was walking near Professor Tromans, and he must have seen my facial expression, because he tapped my shoulder and said, "I like to think that in this respect the city is not all that different than it would have been when it was thriving. This was a huge city, where people from the smaller villages would come to sell their goods, just like this. Instead of souvenirs, picture them selling household items, food, fabrics, things people would have needed or liked to buy. Similar to the market in Merida." As I looked around, I realized he was absolutely right.

Later on I went, with the help of Martin's Spanish, and bargained for a little Chaac Mool carved out of limestone. Professor Tromans saw it and said, "how appropriate." :D

We spent the whole morning at the sight, sweating under the blazing Yucatecan sun (glad I had extra sunscreen), and as soon as the busloads of tourists from Cancun began to swarm in, we headed off to Cenote Ik Kil.

Cenote Ik Kil is one of the most amazing places I've ever been to. A staircase, carved into the bedrock itself, curved down into the cave. About halfway down, a window-like opening in the wall to the left revealed sunlight streaming down from the top of the cenote, the trees above extending vines all the way down to touch the clear, deep water more than a hundred feet below. The descent, in bare feet no less, was slippery and precarious, but when we finally made it down it was a truly ethereal sight. The water was blue, and sparkling from the sunlight streaming in from above. Swallows swirled around the vines at the opening above us. The rock walls were sheer and offered no means of climbing out were there no staircase - I can imagine how frustrating it must have been for the ancient people, constantly threatened with drought, who looked down from the top at the water, knowing that reaching it would mean never coming out. It was believed that Chaac lived at the bottom of this cenote.

A staircase on one side, carved from the cave wall, leads to a platform from which you can jump into the water. Yoshi and I excitedly climbed up the slippery steps and stood on the edge of the platform, looking down the 45 foot drop into the water. My stomach was in my throat and my fear of heights was beginning to cause me to shiver uncontrollably just when Yoshi said, "Ok ready? 1..2...3!!!" and she jumped. I hesitated for about three seconds, looked over once more, then backed up and took a running, screaming, leap off the edge. I hit the water with an immense slap and dunked deep into the cold water. It was heavenly. I looked down into the clear water below my dangling feet and saw little fish swirling past. It was so deep I couldn't see the bottom, just a gradual fade into deep blue. I imagined Chaac looking up from the dark depths. . . It was exhilarating, liberating, and refreshing after the sweaty heat of the site.

I jumped four more times, and only stopped because it was starting to hurt. . . We all came out with bruises on our legs and arms -- badges of honor, if you ask us :)

After swimming our hearts out (haha - get it?) at the cenote, we met a buffet-style restaurant located inside the Ik Kil Nature Reserve. We all sat down at a long table, and while we were waiting to eat, a woman came up to our table, speaking English with what I thought was an Australian accent. She was wondering if any of us had any pesos to trade for American dollars. Howie, being the only one of us that actually carried cash to the cenote, gladly traded her two hundred pesos (I think?) for twenty American dollars. Anyway, turns out she was originally from New Zealand, and has been biking across the American continent. . . she started waaay up in Canada over ten years ago! Here is her blog which she's using to document her amazing journey... check it out!

On the way back to Merida it began to rain, and it was beginning to seem that Chaac Mool was getting a little carried away. . . the entire city was flooded! It took nearly an hour from once we got into town for the bus to get through the streets, fighting for space with aggressive vehicles trying to push their way through the waterlogged traffic jam at anyone's expense who dared get in the way, and safely to the Caribe. Once we got there, we found that even the top floor of the Caribe was flooded by pooling rainwater, our room included!