A G: Cancun - Day 4 Chichen-Itza, Tulum, Coba in Mexico by Gordon

Mayan Cities

* Gordon

Chichen-Itza

Have you ever been to a Mayan city before? I have, and more than one! I've gone to three! Have you ever seen a really big city with a ball court that has held championships? I have, at Chichen-Itza where a huge ball court was found. Have you ever seen a giant Temple of the Warriors? I have, at Chichen-Itza where a Temple of Warriors is found. Have you ever climbed a Mayan temple before? I have, just visit Coba, the center of all the Mayan cities made by ancient Mayan people. Coba has the most ball courts (at least 2 ball courts)! The largest temple in the city of Coba can be climbed. People also call it the Mayan Pyramid. Have you ever visited a temple sitting on top of a cliff? Visit Tulum, and have lots of fun walking and exercises. Enjoy a bright day at all three ancient Mayan cities.

Among the three Mayan cities, Chichen-Itza seems to be the most famous one. The tour bus picked us up at 7:00 am from our hotel. It was a long way drive, about 4 hours.

Chichen-Itza

Temple of Kukulkan, Chichen-Itza

Chichen-Itza entrance

behind the wall is

the whole city of Chichen-Itza

City of Chichen-Itza
Right: Temple of Kukulcan

Left: Temple of Warriors

City of Chichen-Itza

Front: Temple of Kukulcan

Back: Temple of Warriors

Temple of Warriors

from far

Temple of Warriors closer look

The ball court of

Chichen-Itza

The ball court of

Chichen-Itza

Did you know that Chichen-Itza's ball court held the championships in ancient Mayan era? The rings (the goal) were 52 cm wide, hanging on the top of both side's of the court. The ball was 51 cm wide, and this is a cool fact about it. There was a human sacrifice after each championship game. Take a guess, do you think the loser will get killed for sacrifice or the winner will die for sacrifice? The answer is that the winner gets sacrificed because Mayan people believed in reincarnation. The winner's head will be cut off so the next season's harvest will be better. The blood will present the blooming of the world.

Kukulkan Temple

Chichen-Itza

The main temple, Kukulcan Temple, is located at the center of the Chichen-Itza. The Mayans called the feathered serpent god "Kukulcan". The name Kukulcan means "feathered snake" in Mayan language. It was the name of a bird. It was called feathered snake because of its tail. Mayan people thought that it was a feathered snake chasing the bird. The tail is huge and it sways as it moves. That is why the Mayans thought of it as a feathered serpent flying across the sky, chasing a tailless bird. Stand in front of the temple and clap hard. Listen carefully to see what happen? Do you hear the chirping sounds? It sound like Kukulcan bird is calling.

The sun goes down, the snake of the Kukulcan comes out of the temple

Do you see a snake at the left side of the temple?

The snake shadow on

the Temple of Kukulkan

Can you believe that you can see a snake shadow is right on Kukulcan Temple in Chichen Itza? It is hidden but you can see it! The snake head statue at bottom corner of the temple is acting as the snake head. You can see the patterns of dark, light, dark, light all the way to the bottom.

Snake head at

Temple of

Kukulkan

Temple of Kukulkan's third temple

Proof of Temple of Kukulkan

was built on top of another temple

The 75 feet tall temple looks very big, and has one big secret not everyone knows. When you look outside, you see one temple. You may be wondering, what's inside of this temple? There is a doorway. Inside, the answer is two more temples! The Mayan people liked to build a temple on top of another. This way, the work they did years ago was not wasted.

Mayan calendar

system

Did you know that Mayans are masters on astrology? The Temple of Kukulcan was built to act as a physical calendar, one that perfectly aligns with the sun. Each side of the temple has 91 steps which represents the 91 days in the season. So, if you multiply 91 by 4 (there are 4 sides of the temple, also known as 4 seasons), you will get 364, and if you add the top of the temple, the total becomes 365, which indicates the 365 days in a year. What a precise calendar it is! I was amazed by how smart the ancient Mayans were!

North side of Temple of Kukulkan

North side of

Temple of Kukulkan

The east side of

Temple of Kukulkan

The east side of

Temple of Kukulkan

The south side

of Temple of Kukulkan

The south side

of Temple of Kukulkan

not been restored yet

The southwest corner of the Temple of Kukulkan

The warriors columns

of the Temple of Warriors

The warriors columns

of the Temple of Warriors

Are you hungry by then? We can have our lunch now! The first thing I got was a nice and warm bowl of soup. There were chips inside. Yummy! I went out for some more things but I like warm food so I got a little warm bowl plus a little bit of spaghetti. I love spaghetti very much and I looked again for more. I love this lunch!

Lunch at Mayan village

local dance

Tulum

Tulum government (Tulum Pyramid) temple behind me

Beautiful view of the Caribbean at Tulum

Beautiful view of

the Caribbean at Tulum

Beautiful view of the Caribbean at Tulum

Temple of Wind God

standing by

the Caribbean Sea

Tulum, the walled city

Tulum, in Mayan language means the "wall". Its other name was "Zama", which means sunrise, since by its geographical location can be seen daily sunrise dramatically. Tulum, Mayan ruins, stand on a cliff, facing the Caribbean Sea. That is a good spot to see the whole sea in case for any invaders attack. The whole city is walled in. In Tulum, rich people, priests, astronomers, mathematicians, architects and engineers lived, but the common people lived outside the walls.

At the back

of Tulum Pyramid

View Tulum Pyramid

from far away

The Mayan Pyramid at Tulum

There is a main sacrifice temple at Tulum, the Tulum Pyramid. Do you know how many people they sacrificed? They sacrificed 4 people once a year. I think that it is because there are 4 seasons in a year. Their main god was Venus. There were so many statues at Tulum about Venus. The god would tell the Mayan people when to start planting, when to end planting and start harvesting. There is a small square. If it is harvest time, the sunlight strikes through the square. If it is the end, the sunlight will not strike through the square, daily. Winter Solstice when sunlight strikes through the top of the temple. Venus is coming down from the sky during harvest time.

Temple of Frescoes at Tulum

There are hand prints on the Temple of Frescoes! They belong to the Mayan people. They were really small in sizes. I wonder how they can fit into those small doorways. When you look at them, you might think that they are for kids. Actually, they are for adults! That would even make me bump into my head when passing the doorway. Imagine how small people were at that time.

The Mayan ruins at Tulum

The Mayan ruins

at Tulum

Mayan Pyramid

temple top

God Venus on temple top
Temple of Descending God

The Tulum city

Now, are you ready to act like a Mayan person? Come over to eat some Mayan food. The Mayan people are vegetarians. Only later did they actually start hunting for warthogs and pigs. There are special food like chicken wrapped in banana leaves, just for the tourists. It is so flavorful! The spaghetti is still really good. The desserts were definitely something the Mayan people would never eat. Their diet is definitely unlike mine. I love sweets!

Palace of The Great Lord at Tulum

Temple of Wind God

at Tulum

Temple of Wind God at Tulum

Tulum

Coba

The biggest pyramid of Coba

Climbing the biggest

pyramid of Coba

Jungle view at the top of the temple

Do you want to climb a pyramid? Just come along and visit Coba, the one and the only pyramid I know that you can climb. Did you know that Coba was crushed down a little? It used to be higher than Chichen-Itza by twenty feet. It also used to have 100 steps. Did you know that now it is only 100 feet tall and 60 steps? No one knows why the pyramid is falling down. The steps are steep. My brother and I climbed all the way up to the top. This Mayan pyramid provided me a beautiful view of the jungle. There were many cities built around Coba. It is considered to be the center of all the Mayan cities. I don't know why there are 48 Mayan cities around Coba. And Coba is the center of them all the center of them all, including the world famous Chichen-Itza. Mayans spent 1000 years to build their Mayan cities.

Climbing down from Coba, Mayan Pyramid

Can you find me on the top of the pyramid?

At the ball court of Coba

The ball court of Coba

The Mayan ruins

A Mayan temple at

Coba entrance

Beautiful lagoon around Coba

The cenote

A sinkhole of the cenote

The crystal clear blue

cenote water

Do you know what a cenote is? The word cenote is in Mayan language, meaning fresh water cave. Our tour bus took us to a cenote, 30 minutes driving from Coba. 77 steps of stairs took us down to the underground cave. The water is crystal blue. It tasted sweet though. I wanted to swim in this one. But we cannot find my swimming pants. The only person in my family that got to swim was my brother. Maybe I will try next time.

An underground cenote

30 minutes driving from Coba

Do you like my adventure through the history of the Mayan? Come here and do something cool. Go to Coba and discover more paths to other undiscovered cities! Maybe you can go to Chichen-Itza. You might discover a fourth temple! Want to go check out ruins and find out more information than the scientists? Who knows, maybe you can. Do you want to swim in a Cenote? It is all possible. All of these things is something you can accomplish that no one else can. Come on and go to Mexico. The Mayan cities are waiting for you to explore!