Chichen Itza (Day 21 - 18/1/14)

The Pyramid at Chichen Itza

Duck has woken up with bite marks all over her. She's convinced she has contracted Dengue Fever and wont stop googling symptoms. The thing is, her body always reacts this way to mosquito bites.

I have decided that from this point on I will only wear thongs. My shoes currently have the most heinous of stinks... they haven't dried properly since Palenque and I refuse to wear them while they smell like jungle. I am not someone who usually has smelly feet so I take this blow to my footwear situation rather badly. I try to convince the Duck that I can climb pyramids in thongs or barefoot. After all, I'm sure the Mayas never wore runners.

Today is a day of meeting other travellers. At breakfast we meet an Australian expat and her retired Canadian husband. We chat with them for about half an hour and he gives us his card, inviting us to visit if we're ever in Canada. Is that weird? At the time it didn't feel weird, that this stranger (whose wife shared our nationality) would invite us to come stay at his cabin. But now, thinking about it, I don't even remember his name. Would he remember mine? I doubt it. Is this what travellers do?

Later, on a small bus en route to our next destination in the afternoon, we chat with Camilla and Josh, a newlywed couple from Massachusetts. It's like we're latching on to anyone who speaks English, eager for an easy conversation without hand signals. It's funny how language can be taken for granted. I have also noticed that there are a lot more white tourists around this part of Mexico, that the locals have also learned enough English to sell you their wares, that the entire Yucatan peninsula might just be the most touristy part of Mexico.  

We get to Chichen Itza today, a one-time capital city for the Mayas, and one of the 7 ancient wonders of the world. There are 7 buildings accessible to the public at Chichen Itza, but the actual city itself is much bigger. Only 6% has been restored for the public to visit, and the rest is still covered by dense jungle. Owing to its grand stature in the world, Chichen Itza is by far the busiest of the 9 archaeological sites we have visited so far. The place is absolutely thick with people, and this is the off season! The hawkers rim the outskirts of the site - all selling the same T-shirts, handmade masks, obsidian blades, weirdly erect penile sculptures, etc., with a combination of begging and aggressive selling. One of the more laidback hawkers greets us as we walk past, and decides on a different approach to his peers.

"The best thing about this stuff? It's not made in China!"

The Duck laughs politely and we make to move on, but he isn't finished.

"We don't sweat! We don't smell!" He laughs. It's very awkward. I guess appealing to the racism of white tourists is one way to make a buck...

The ruins are impressive but I guess it's the sheer size of the entire site that accords it such a high status. The main pyramid and the ball court are genuinely mesmerising feats of architectural acumen - unlike other American ruins we've seen, these are constructed with interlocking square blocks and even have some curved outer walls. Most surprising is the fact that the Chichen Itza pyramid is built over the top of a smaller pyramid. Actually, that's not the most surprising thing at all... our guide claims that Vikings were the first Europeans to visit Mexico and uses a Maya carving of a long-haired man with horns as proof.

I've known for a long time that the Vikings landed in Canada roughly 500 years before Columbus got to the Americas but have never heard of any such Nordic landing in Mexico. I'm sceptical because our guide tells us they landed on west coast Mexico, which makes zero geographical sense in terms of the direction the Vikings would come from or where we're currently standing. Besides, the Vikings never really wore horned helmets.

The hoop in the Maya ball game is incredibly high. The game was played by warriors, and the 'winner' won the right to be sacrificed.

 

So yeah, Chichen Itza is cool and all but I think I preferred Teotihuacan and Palenque. They're equally as amazing (heck, Teotihuacan is a bigger pyramid and you can climb it) yet nowhere as tourist-flooded or overpriced to visit.

Afterwards we visit a cenote; a sinkhole that opens onto an underground river. It's a strange sight, and apparently Yucatan is riddled with these instead of regular rivers - the majority of the area's water flows through caves under the surface. We watch as people more daring than ourselves jump ten metres into the unfathomably deep cavern of water.

Cenotes are dotted all over the Yucatan peninsula.

Our hotel tonight is in the coastal town of Tulum, on the other side of the Yucatan peninsula, in the state of Quintana Roo. It's a much smaller town and we begin to worry when our cab driver pulls over to ask locals for directions twice. After wending our way along some very dark, bumpy dirt backroads we finally arrive at a strangely-hidden but fresh and new hostel.

Our room in Tulum came with a towel-swan.

Tulum's answer to Flavor Flav