Chichen Itza and Cenote Ik Kil

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Today we made the long drive to Chichen Itza. Luckily Jeff talked to some neighbors and they told him about a new toll road that would save us nearly an hour each way. The way we were going to go had 190 topes (speed bumps)! The toll road was a straight shot freeway across the Yucatan complete with monkey crossings above (cargo style netting run across the freeway from trees to trees. I faithfully looked for monkeys at every one but never saw any. 

We knew going into today that Chichen Itza would be pushing it with the younger kids. It's hot and probably boring to most kids but it's something I really wanted to take them to anyway. Jeff met an older gentlemen while walking the boys to the restrooms that we hired as a guide. His name was Henry and he'd been a guide here since 1972. He spoke English very well so we could all understand him easily. That was important especially since Isaac doesn't have his hearing aids. He took us all around Chichen Itza, explaining the history and interesting facts about each area. As long as we were mostly in the shade or the sun was behind a rare cloud, the kids were interested and pretty good. But when you were stuck listening in the blazing hot sun, they started to melt. It was so hot! I'd brought a little straw hat and the kids passed it around to try and get some relief. I told Isaac he looked like an old fashioned explorer. He liked that. 

The kids were mildly disturbed at the cenote when Henry told them how they would sacrifice young children to the gods to try to bring rain and good fortune. He told us all about the National Geographic team that came in the 40s to dive in the cenote and find artifacts. They found over 80 skeletons of young kids. They all were weighed down with gold, silver and copper bracelets and other jewelry around their necks and ankles. And they all had marks of being hit on the back of the head before being thrown off the sacrifice altar into the cenote semi-unconscious. Yikes!

We also saw the temple of the skulls. Every skull carved is unique. Henry told us how the Mayans would altar the heads of babies so their foreheads would be peaked like the end of a corn cob and how they thought being cross-eyed was beautiful. Sounds sort of like a SNL skit to me!

The acoustical planning of the entire site was pretty impressive. In the ball court you could direct your voice towards a chamber at the top of the wall and it would echo off of the rest of the court like a megaphone so you could address a crowd of cheering fans when it was time for the losing team captain to be beheaded. Or how when you clap in front of El Castillo (the main pyramid) it will echo off of other buildings hundreds of feet away and sound like a bird or an eagle.

I was impressed by the architecture of El Castillo. Looking at it at first glance it looks obviously symmetrical and proportional but as Henry explained, it isn't and it isn't on purpose. If it was built straight, it would diminish as it went higher because of perspective. But it appears to be even the whole way up to the top. The stairway lines don't come together because the top is actually further apart than the bottom so the lines stay straight. The terraces look even because each one is actually bigger than the one beneath so the terrace height won't diminish and it will look more impressive and intimidating. I'd never noticed that before.

Everyone was getting a bit tired because of the heat so we thanked Henry, got some ice cream on the way out and headed down the road to Ik Kil cenote to cool off. After changing bohemian style in the car we walked down to the cenote. The water was clear and cool and the cenote was incredible! It was over 150' deep. There were tons of people but we swam and jumped and dove off the platforms for over almost two hours. It was so fun!

When we got home, the kids had mac & cheese and watched "Hop" on the bed while Jeff and I walked 4 miles around Playa del Carmen and had that amazing falafel for dinner again.

After 2.5 hours walking around Chichen Itza in the HOT sun, a little Mexican ice cream makes it all better. 

The sleep "pile" on the way home.