Visit Chichén Itzá But It’s Not What You Think
When you visit Chichén Itzá it’s not what you think. Most people think it’s the name of the building in the picture above. But Chichén Itzá is way more than one building. It’s actually a whole complex of structures created primarily by the Mayan people in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico.
Visit Chichén Itzá Because It’s A Wonder!
In 2007 Chichén Itzá was voted in a global survey as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. In addition to being named a New Wonder of The World, Chichén Itzá was also named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988.
Cenote What You Think
Another wonderful reason to visit Chichén Itzá is to explore cenotes. A cenote is an open air large sinkhole.
A visit to a cenote is often part of a packaged tour deal to Chichén Itzá. It was absolutely one of my favorite parts of the trip to visit Chichén Itzá.
Cenote Side Trip
Whether you visit Chichén Itzá or other parts of Mexico, make sure to visit one of the many cenotes. According to Mayan tradition, cenotes have great healing properties. One of them is said to be a fountain of youth. I sure hope they’re right!
We’ve been fortunate enough to visit 3 cenotes on our different trips to Cancun. On this trip we had a chance to explore a new cenote. This one was Cenote Saamal. It’s a large open-aired cenote or sinkhole. .
I’ll have to do a whole other post on our visits to cenotes. In the meantime, here’s a preview of how much fun we had.
Chicken Pizza?
That’s what some people jokingly call Chichén Itzá. The name Chichen Itza is a Mayan language term for “at the mouth of the well of the Itza.” The Itza were an ethnic group of Mayans who had risen to power in the northern part of the Yucatan peninsula, where the city is located.
El Castillo
That building is El Castillo. It’s the largest and most famous pyramid at Chichén Itzá. It’s 98 feet tall! But it isn’t the only tall building on the complex.
El Castillo is also known as Pyramid of Kukulcan. On top of it is a carving of a feathered serpent. This represents Quetzalcóatl, known to the Maya as Kukulcán.
Another wonderful reason to visit Chichén Itzá is because something incredible happens during the spring and autumn equinox.
On these dates, the light of the sun hits the earth directly on the equator. When this happens the shadows cast by the setting sun give the appearance of Quetzalcóatl/Kukulcán slithering down the steps. Thousands of visitors come every year to watch this phenomenon.
You can check it out in this video.
The Great Ball Court
Another notably large structure is the Great Ball Court. It’s an ancient sports arena with stone platforms measuring 95 feet in length and 25 feet in height. The Mayans played a game called Pok-A-Tok.
Pok-A-Tok is like a cross between soccer and basketball but a much higher level of difficulty and higher level of risk! The object of the game was for the two opposing side to try and hit the hard rubber ball into a stone hoop placed at both ends of the playing field. I found a video that shows how the game was played.
