Mayan ruins.

 

On the second day we woke up early and started our guided tour at 8:00, and the sun was blazing hot already. We spent the whole day wandering, strolling amidst the Mayan ruins, accompanied by  our guide and his magical stories.

Chichen Itza is one of the most dramatically beautiful of the ancient Mayan cites. This ancient city draws in some 3,000 visitors each day from all over the world. The high season is in March; summer is the very low season because of the heat. In the the spring and fall equinoxes, the afternoon light strikes the trapezoidal structure so that the shadow of the snake-god appears to undulate down the side of the pyramid to bless the fertile earth.

The main pyramid is “El Castillo,” rising gracefully and honoring priest-king Kukucan, an incarnation of the of the feathered serpent god.  In three years an existing palace will be opened which is under restoration right now.

From all what I had  heard,  I  understood clearly  that Mayan culture and its beliefs were very different than any other ancient cultures. They built a celestial observatory and were very prominent in reading the sky and in astrology, just to mentioned a few a their accomplishments.

One of the peculiar things that I learned about was the Maya’s ancient ball game. It was something like soccer, although you could not touch the ball with your hands and had to shoot through high stone loops. The captan of the winning team, from an upper class family, was sacrificed to the gods after the game. The ritual was performed in front of the whole crowd that had been watching the game.