Chichen Itza - One of the famous 7 new world wonders

Chichen Itza is located in the middle of the jungle right in the heart of Yucatan. 

The name "Chichen Itza" means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza" and its Mayan.  But what a lot of people don´t know is that there is evidence in the Chilam Balam books of an earlier name. This earlier name is difficult to define but it could mean Uuc Yabnal ("Seven Great House"), ("Seven Great Rulers") , Uc Abnal ("Seven Lines of Abnal") or Uuc Hab Nal ("Seven Bushy Places").

Today I would call it one of the 7 world wonders ;)

When you get there you can feel a mystic vibe even if its a really touristy day. You buy your ticket at the entrance and definitely should get a guide! 

Most of the guides are Mayan and know a lot about the place because their ancestors lived there and the Mayan culture is still existent. They know all about the different gods and habits.

Once you enter you will get a tour seeing the most important buildings of one of the largest mayan cities of all with at least 5 square kilometers. It is really hot and humid, so make sure you have a hat with you and put some sunscreen on.

Walking from one building to another you will see a lot of souvenir stands with Mayas selling masks, sculptures, hammocks, t-shirts, jewelry, etc. - They have to be Mayan to get a permission to sell. 

The prices are even less expensive than here in Playa del Carmen so I recommend to support them right there knowing that it gets directly to the people who produce.

As you do the tour you will see a lot of different buildings so I will just tell you about a few of them.

El castillo: Temple of Kukulkan.

This step pyramid is about 30 metres  high. The sides of the pyramid  rise at an angle of 53°  and are approximately 55.3 metres long. All four faces of the pyramid have stairways that rise at an angle of exactly 45°. 

Every 21 of March and 21 September (when for us spring and autumn begins) in the late afternoon the sun is just in the perfect angle. 

On this dates and only on this dates, the northwest corner of the pyramid shows a series of triangular shadows against the western balustrade on the north side. 

This looks exactly like the appearance of a serpent wriggling down the staircase- for Mayan people it is the representation of the feathered-serpent god Kukulkan.

Also if you stand just in front of the stairs and clap in your hands you get an echo which sounds just like the Quezal bird. - It is really amazing and a bit scary to be honest how detailed and exact this culture was already thousands of years ago.

The Great Ball Court

The Great Ball court next to the Castillo is by far the most impressive. It is the largest and best preserved ball court in ancient Mesoamerica and also one of the biggest. 

It is 168 meters long and 70 meters wide. Mayan people would play for special occasions with a ball made of rubber - from the rubber plant. It was really difficult to get the ball in one of the rings without using their feet or hands. This particular ball court also has an impressive architecture regarding the sound.

Sacred Cenote

Almost every Mayan place had a one of these sinkholes nearby to get fresh water but it seems like this one was mostly used to conduct sacrifices. Thousands of objects have been found on the bottom of this cenote. Most of it was gold, jade, copal, flint, pottery, obsidian, shell, rubber, wood and cloth.

Temple of the Warriors

This is a temple made for the rain god Chac Mool, which statue is just on top of it. As Chichen Itza is one of the ancient cities with more than one architecture people believe that not only mayas lived here. This particular temple for example is a typical architecture of  the Tolteken which lived there afterwards. 

Most of the ruins had all kinds of temples for their gods. In Chichen Itza you can also find a lot of them. They not only have one for Kukulkan and Chac Mool but also an Jaguar Temple, one for Nature, plants and birds, the deer etc.

The "El Caracol" observatory temple.

This one is my favorite. Mayan astronomers knew from naked-eye observations that Venus appeared on the western and disappeared on the eastern horizons at different times in the year, and that it took 584 days to complete one cycle.

They also knew that five of these Venus cycles equaled eight solar years. 

But they not just used it for watching the stars. The observatory was really important for architecture, too. With dates from different mayan cities they where able to build streets going straight from one city to another without any curves or hills. This streets are called white streets because the were build with white stones so people would see it at night with moon reflection. They were used for commerce and communication between them.

Chichen Itza is a really interesting place, with a extraordinary vibe and a lot of interesting people (as guides). Maybe it is a lot more touristy these days than it used to be but it is still worth it to go!

If you want to stay longer you should know that they just started to do a light night show at Chichen Itza. They tell you the story of Chichen Itza and put the pyramid in light. The entrances are limited tough but often for free.