CENOTE AND XICHEN ITZA

Ta Da! It's Xichen Itza

Today, we took our full day tour to Xichen Itza and the cenote. We were up by 6:30, which was quite difficult since we haven't had to wake up to an alarm since last week, the day we left on our trip! We each took a very full backpack (remember the part about us over packing - it happens even for a day trip), with a bathing suit, towel, change of clothes, and any cameras or other electronics we could possibly need. We thought the plan of the tour was to go to Xichen Itza (pronounced Che-chin eet-za) then to the cenote (pronounced se-note-eh), so we woke up early to look somewhat cute for pictures to be taken during the Xichen Itza part of the tour. We stopped by the buffet for another chocolate filled breakfast - I am really going to miss these buffet style meals! Then, we went to wait in the lobby for the tour bus to arrive. It was right on time - 7:35am, and it was picking up about 10 people from our hotel. The way the tour groups are organized is that a large group of people are picked up from all the different hotels, then driven about 20 minutes down the road to Xel-Ha (shell-ha) where everyone switches around tour buses depending on what tour you are going on. Some people were going on a half day tour of Xel-Ha or half day tour of Tulum, but we had chosen the full day option and the three hour drive to Xichen Itza - well worth the drive. Much to our surprise, when we arrived in Xel-Ha for a quick bathroom break and swapping to another bus, we saw a sign that put a huge smile on our faces - "FREE WI- FI". I know, I know, this shouldn't make us this happy. I will admit that it has been kind of nice not having Internet and phone service being so expensive that I will only use it in case of emergency, but for just five minutes to do a quick Facebook check and be able to wish my good friend Keani a Happy Birthday via iMessage is always nice. We of course did everything we could possibly do on our phones for those 5 minutes, then it was on the road again.

Streets of Volladoid

Chucrch on Town Square

The streets of Volladoid

We were surprised and slightly disappointed when our tour guide told us we would be stopping the cenote before heading to Xichen Itza, partially because we knew we would be swimming at the cenote and then looking horrible in hats and no make up for all of our pictures at the Xichen Itza site. Before either of these stops, the bus took a detour through the town of Valladolid, a small town near the other sites we were visiting. We could have chosen a tour which would stop in this town, but instead opted for the drive through with pictures from the bus, which would give us more time to include swimming at the cenote. After a couple trips around the Valladolid town square and some great pictures, the bus started towards the cenote. 




A cenote is an underground cave / lake, and they are all over the Mayan country of Mexico. We stopped at one of about 8,000 in the country (the tour guide compared it to Swiss cheese). We had two hours to take pictures, swim if desired,and eat the provided lunch at the cenote restaurant. Of course we were going to swim, so this didn't give us much time. We were first able to take pictures from ground level - up above the cenote - then went down to another level, still above to cenote, for more pictures. Now time to swim. We rented a locker for our things and changed into our swimsuits. You had to take a freezing shower before they would let you head down to the swimming area, so we did that and started down the long stairway. Once to the bottom of the stairs, the chilly water washed over our feet, but the view was amazing. The swimming hole was 150 feet deep so although the water was crystal clear, you couldn't see to the bottom. Looking up, you could see straight through to the sky, surrounded by a circle of trees and some water falls streaming into the cenote itself. There was a cliff on the side which would could climb and jump off from, maybe ~20 feet high. Kelly and I both took the plunge, and of course 'Go-Pro'ed the whole thing. About half way down to the water during my jump, I saw just how many fish were swimming in this water. I thought for sure my toes would be nibbled at, but I didn't feel a thing. After each taking our turn jumping off the cliff, we swam around the cenote for a few minutes, taking more video and swimming up under the waterfalls while watching more people take the plunge we just had. Now, time to get changed back into our clothes and take even more pictures of this beautiful place. This time, we took our cameras all the way down to cenote level for better views and waddled through the water for the best shots we could get. With only about 30 minutes left for this tour stop, we needed to get our lunch from the cenote restaurant. Lunch was served buffet style and was delicious. We had chips and bread with a spicy salsa along with each having about 4 servings of Mexican style rice and beef, chicken, and fish. Everything was great, and it was topped off with a dessert of fresh fruit and flan. 

Now for the main event, a five minute drive and we would be at Xichen Itza! We met up with another tour group by the same company coming from Cancun, and we split the English and Spanish speakers between the two tour guides. This was a great way to do it because it avoided everything needing to be repeated in multiple languages and questions only being answered to some people. When first entering The Xichen Itza parking lot, I knew it would be tourist central, not that I expected anything less. Tour buses filled the lot and streets surrounding. After a quick five minute wait to get our tickets, we walked into the park. The path was lined with Mexican vendors trying to sell all sorts of items - from the classic tourist shirts and shot glasses to hand carved wooden Mayan symbols and hand painted pottery. As we walked past, people shouted "Princess, buy for boyfriend" or "This is cheapest spot, almost free". Once past the lines of vendors, we made it to the example of an old Mayan house.

The house was very small and made of clay with a grass roof. Just one room made up the entire house and inside were some stools on one side and a religious cross on the other. The fire pit - aka the kitchen was outside since it could set the roof on fire at any time, especially during the dry season. You can see the pictures below of the house. 

We then moved on to explore the ruins. The tour guide shared lots of very interesting fun facts with us. The ruins were built around the year 980 AD, and any build up of rocks was considered a temple, even the (what looked like) pile of rocks in the wooded areas. All of the temples were built by slaves and were there to honor different kings. The slaves would walk from 10 miles away with the stones, usually one stone at a time, and then walk the 10 miles back for another. And this was all done with only man power, no horses or elephants or anything. That's crazy! 

Some of the temples had symbols on them. One of those was an elephant - an elephant with a trunk curving upwards means they were praying for rain and a trunk curving downwards meant they were thankful for the rain. Another was a snake, which was one many different temples. A snake represents a god, very different from our culture where a snake is associated with evil. There were also lots of symmetrical columns in the temples, which connect back to how mathematical everything was for the building of the temples. 

After seeing most of the secondary temples, it was time for the main attraction - the largest tower at Xichen Itza, which represents the Mayan calendar. Each of the four sides have 91 steps (91 x 4 = 364), plus the common platform at the top equals the 365 days in a year. The temple was supposed to face each side in exactly the north-east-south-west directions, but it actually faces northeast. Because of this, each September 21 and March 21 - the first days of Fall and Spring - the sun hits the corners of the temple perfectly to create 9 triangles on the 9 levels of the temples. All of the temples are built on top of other temples - every 52 years they were built over. As we walked up to get a closer look at the largest temple, part of the ground we were walking on was carved out and we could see down into the temples and ruins that were all under us. The entire area had been filled in, but we were literally walking on ruins everywhere we went! Throughout the years, the temples have been weathered and ruined by people wanting to take a piece home with them. You can see from the pictures that three of the four sides of the large temple have been restored - work that happens each summer (the off season) - but one side remains ruined and you can see what a difference the restoration makes. The other temples surrounding this one are all at perfect angles, and when standing between two of the temples you can clap and hear the clap echo 6 times. Our entire tour group stood and clapped for a couple minutes, listening to the echo over and over. 

We then walked over to the playing field area - the arena. This was the largest of seven playing fields, and was huge! The field was surrounded by walls on which the audience would sit, but not many spectators would fit since there was only one row on top of the wall. At the ends of the field are places for the king on one side and the priest on the other side. They could talk back and forth if speaking loud enough - just like the  brickyard at NC State. The tour guide described the game they would play to us, which sounded very interesting. The field was set up with something similar to sidewalks going down each side. A captain would stand on the side, elevated about 5 feet above the rest of the players. The players would hit the ball using their hips and other body parts - they couldn't use hands or feet - and try to pass the ball up the captain. About 10 feet above the captain was a hoop about the size of the ball. The captain - using the same rules of no hands or feet - would try to get the ball through the hoop. Our tour guide said the games would take months and sometimes years to finish. Talk about a slow game to watch! (And I thought golf on TV was bad.)

The hoop to get the ball through

Artwork depicting the sacrifice

Represents all sacrifices made

The winning captain of the game would then take his prize - being sacrificed. That's right - you win and you end your life as an honor. No wonder the games took years - I wouldn't want to win! The sacrifice would happen at a smaller temple that was between the largest temple and the Cenote Sagrado. After the sacrifice, they would take the 5 minute walk to the cenote and dump the body - filling the water with sacrificed bodies over the years. Supposedly jewelry and other findings would float to the top of the water throughout the years. 

We were standing where sacrifices were made while we were finishing up the guided part of the tour at the playing field, the rain started to come down. We hid under a tree for about 20 minutes trying to keep any of our tech gear dry for the time being. With only about 30 minute left to explore, and knowing my camera would easily stay dry under my shirt, I took the five minute walk down to the Cenote Sagrado to get some great pictures, avoiding more "sales people" all the way down there.



After a couple more photo ops, it was time to head back to the bus and finish our day out. A four hour drive back to the hotel was a good time for a nap, and we got another 5 minute Internet binge when we stopped to swap buses again. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were starved! (I mean, we have been eating every 3 hours or so for a solid week now!) We went straight to the shopping mall diner for burger and fries. Even though we hadn't been in Mexico for long, we both through some American grub sounded delicious - and it was! On our way back through the shopping mall, we heard some loud drums from across the breezeway. Mayan dancers were putting on a performance. We stayed to watch for about 30 minutes and saw many dances by women and men, including some fire dances. We also got to see a version of the game I described earlier - the performers were using a ball the same size and hitting it back and forth using their hips, trying to score in hoops behind them. 

         

We then headed back to room to get ready and try to go to Coco Bongo. We thought we might be able to get on the provided transportation from the hotel. I called the club from our hotel room, and when we realized we only had 30 minutes to shower and get ready, we decided Wednesday night would be better since we wouldn't be ready in time. So, we got ready to go to the nightly show at the hotel. Tonight was Mexican themed, with different dances and costumes from around the country, all different states. The show was really cool to watch - and perfectly finished out our day full of Mexican culture. After the show, there was karaoke in another one of the hotel bars. We had scoped this out when we arrived at the resort, so we were definitely going! It was a fun show to watch but Kelly and I weren't getting up there after these three girls with great voices were all trying to show each other up, and honestly were all amazing singers. We would have been laughed out of the place. Now, I'm in bed blogging but needing to get to sleep. Tomorrow is our last day in Mexico, and we have lots planned - snorkeling in the morning, pool time and hopefully games with the star friends, heading back into Playa del Carmen for some shopping on 5th avenue, back for dinner at the Mediterranean restaurant, and finally out to Coco Bongo to experience the playa nightlife! I am so excited, but going home on Thursday sure is approaching too quickly.