Mexico 2020:
Chichen Itza
As I mentioned in the previous post, I was waiting for Chichen Itza to open up before booking a trip to Mexico. We headed there at the beginning of November and checked another one off our "100 Places" wall.
We worked backwards on this trip. I booked the tour to Chichen Itza first and then the travel and lodging, etc., afterwards. We booked a private tour guide for the day through a company called My Quest Concierge. They were great and on the day of our tour our driver/guide Joel was waiting for us in the lobby of our resort. We stuck Kate in the back with coffee and a bag of ice. It's a solid drive from Playa to Chichen Itza and there's not much to see along the way, but it passed fairly quickly once we got out of town.
When we got there Joel went to take care of the entry and we meandered around for a few minutes. They're only allowing in 3000 people per day currently (supposedly - it's Mexico so I have serious doubts they're actually counting and capping the amount).
Once you get past the entrance buildings, which are the usual combination of ticket booths, snack shops, bathrooms, and souvenir shops, the rest of the site is carved out of the jungle. There are vendors lining most of the walkways between structures, but they didn't detract from the experience for me.
The first thing you see when you emerge from the jungle is the Temple of Kukulcan, known as "El Castillo". It's really what everyone thinks of as Chichen Itza, but it's just part of the overall site - albeit a big part.
Joel was very passionate and informed about the site, and did a great job educating us on its history and cultural significance to the region and locals. I should mention that this was really the only place in Mexico, other than the airport, that required masks. It wasn't really being enforced by anyone, but they had signs.
There are a lot of other interesting structures at the site. It's sort of like a spider, with legs that lead out away from El Castillo in the middle. You walk out to each and then back, and there are vendors set up along the way.
At the end of one of the "spider legs" is a cenote. It's really cool looking, but unfortunately not one that you can swim in today. Although, to be honest, after hearing Joel tell us some of the things they've found in there, you wouldn't want to.
For some reason, I decided I wanted to take something from my company with me and get a picture. I 'smuggled' this NanoLab in using my wife as a.....Satellite Mule, I guess? Actually, getting it into the site wasn't difficult, but I did witness my bag being searched on the tarmac at IAH prior to being loaded on to my flight. They pulled it out and let a dog check it out before deciding it was OK and slipping it back in my bag. I'm not sure what you would smuggle IN to Mexico, but they were on it.
Of the non-El Castillo structures at Chichen Itza, my favorite was the Great Ball Court. Archeologists have identified 13 different ball courts at Chichen Itza, but this is by far the largest at nearly 170 meters long. The belief is that the captain of the winning team would get the honor of being sacrificed. I'm a competitive person, but I think even I would throw that one.
It's a little out of the way from where most visitors to the Yucatan Peninsula typically stay, but as a day trip it's worth the drive. We also visited a cenote and another site called Coba. It was a long but enjoyable day and I recommend it. Having a private car and guide was ideal, and going in November with COVID limiting travelers meant we basically had the place to ourselves. Check it out if you get the chance.
