On the second day, we all bundled into the car and made the 2 hour drive to the Chichen Itza Ruins. We decided against hiring a guide since these ruins were so much larger then Tulum so Cody bought a book for about $5 that gave us the history and explanation of each of the huge temples. We were able to walk around at our own pace without having to hurry from sight to sight.
This is the ball court where they would play games that would have religious significance and the winners would be sacrificed. This court was huge! The book said that because it was so big, they probably didn't use it for the games but rather as a place for the kings to show off their wealth.
The sides of the court were decorated with glyphs of men holding decapitated heads sprouting serpents like blood. We also learned that they built this wall of skulls from all the players that had been sacrificed. It was all pretty gruesome!
The Chichen Itza ruins were originally built by the Aztecs who were later conquered by the Tolmecs, a bloodythirsty group who had been run out of Mexico. These Tolecs were also into sacrificing people to their gods--besides the decapitation of the ball court winners, they would sacrifice children, virgins, and warriors into the cenotes (deep, natural water holes). This is called Cenote Sagrado o de los Sacrificios or the Well of Sacrifices, it's the largest in the area and was used exclusively for religious ceremonies to honor Chac, God of Rain.
There was so much fascinating history to the ruins. It would take forever to write about all of it but here are some of the pictures we took.
This is the observatory where the priests recorded the stars. Their knowledge of astromony was astonishing.
Temple of a Thousand Columns
Lisa and I peeking out of columns in what historians think may have been a market.
After we left Chichen Itza, we stopped at a smaller set of ruins called Ek Balam. These are more distant and less popular then Chichen Itza so we got to climb on them.
We all climbed up this tower. I only went to the 2nd level observation platform but everyone else went to the top.
By this point, we were all ruin-ed out and headed back to Cancun for dinner. We went to downtown Cancun and ate at Carlos and Charlies. The food was great and the waiters were funny. One of the waiters threw a fake cockroach on our table that was attached to a string so it wiggled. It freaked Lisa and I out pretty bad.
After dinner, we went across the street to one of the Flea Markets and shopped. Dan and I found the cutest little Mexican style shirts for the baby and Dan found decorative stone hatchet/dagger with the carving of a Mayan warrior on it. We also found a really cool Mayan calendar magnet that says Chichen Itza on it that we are going to turn into a Christmas tree decoration. We were happy with our purchases and Coy helped us barter for good prices on our items. It really helped that Cody spoke Spanish. It made finding things, bartering, and going other places so much easier!
This is the ball court where they would play games that would have religious significance and the winners would be sacrificed. This court was huge! The book said that because it was so big, they probably didn't use it for the games but rather as a place for the kings to show off their wealth.
The sides of the court were decorated with glyphs of men holding decapitated heads sprouting serpents like blood. We also learned that they built this wall of skulls from all the players that had been sacrificed. It was all pretty gruesome!
The Chichen Itza ruins were originally built by the Aztecs who were later conquered by the Tolmecs, a bloodythirsty group who had been run out of Mexico. These Tolecs were also into sacrificing people to their gods--besides the decapitation of the ball court winners, they would sacrifice children, virgins, and warriors into the cenotes (deep, natural water holes). This is called Cenote Sagrado o de los Sacrificios or the Well of Sacrifices, it's the largest in the area and was used exclusively for religious ceremonies to honor Chac, God of Rain.
There was so much fascinating history to the ruins. It would take forever to write about all of it but here are some of the pictures we took.
This is the observatory where the priests recorded the stars. Their knowledge of astromony was astonishing.
Temple of a Thousand Columns
Lisa and I peeking out of columns in what historians think may have been a market.
After we left Chichen Itza, we stopped at a smaller set of ruins called Ek Balam. These are more distant and less popular then Chichen Itza so we got to climb on them.
We all climbed up this tower. I only went to the 2nd level observation platform but everyone else went to the top. 
By this point, we were all ruin-ed out and headed back to Cancun for dinner. We went to downtown Cancun and ate at Carlos and Charlies. The food was great and the waiters were funny. One of the waiters threw a fake cockroach on our table that was attached to a string so it wiggled. It freaked Lisa and I out pretty bad.
After dinner, we went across the street to one of the Flea Markets and shopped. Dan and I found the cutest little Mexican style shirts for the baby and Dan found decorative stone hatchet/dagger with the carving of a Mayan warrior on it. We also found a really cool Mayan calendar magnet that says Chichen Itza on it that we are going to turn into a Christmas tree decoration. We were happy with our purchases and Coy helped us barter for good prices on our items. It really helped that Cody spoke Spanish. It made finding things, bartering, and going other places so much easier!
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