Chichen Itza
More pyramids-- plus lizards, sinkholes, ritualized murder and portals to the underworld.
After Mexico City (and all the adventures contained therein) my wife, two boys and I took the hour-long plane ride over to the Yucatán Peninsula, home of Cancun— and the alcohol-related shame of many a springbreaking American. We were not there for (only) the cocktails. Other, more high-minded goals concerned our family: Primarily, it was experiencing the jungle-ensconced Mayan Temples and cenotes of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Chichen Itza. In the face of such historic treasures and checking off yet another bucket list item on our global travels, what could a cocktail offer in comparison?1
Chichen Itza (or Chichʼen Itza) is a Mayan city/complex that started around 600 CE or so and reached its zenith around 900 CE. Even after its peak and while mostly abandoned, the people of the area were still able to muster enough resistance to kick the crap out of the initial wave of Spanish Conquistadors in 1535… But,(spoiler alert!) the prevalence of Spanish in the region (and Mexico in General) shows that that particular victory was short-lived. A crying shame, that- because though a fairly ruthless, bloodthirsty, and religious zealot lot of people, they are more fascinating than the Spanish (hot take).
Chichen Itza is a complex of around 5 square kilometers (2 miles) dominated by the 100-foot-tall Kukulcan temple and also includes the famous “Great Ball Court” (“Road to El Dorado” fans should recognize) as well as two different jaguar temples, a warrior temple, several smaller temples/platforms, and the sacred cenote (Cenote Sagrado)— a holy sacrificial sinkhole/pool vital to the Mayan religious customs as a purported “portal” to Xibalba.
The Temple of Kukulcan (Spanish: El Castillo- “the castle”) is dedicated to the Mayan god of the same name- he looked familiar to us, recently having traveled to Teotihuacan, as he/she/it/they is a plumed/feathered serpent remarkably similar to Quetzalcoatl. The temple is gorgeous- dramatically rising out of the jungle depths like an alien structure, and its limestone design leads to one of the coolest architectural touches I have seen (or heard) in a long time- when you stand in front of the temple and clap, even with 1,000’s of visitors, you can hear a “chirping” sound as your clap reverberates throughout the temple steps and is supposed to closely resemble the sound of a quetzal- a colorful bird, vitally important to Mayan and Aztec cultures that featured prominently in their headdress.
This whole compound- especially the temple of Kukulcan itself, was built around the Mayan understanding of astronomy and the design is most evident during the equinoxes, when you can view the “Descent of Kukulcan”— where it appears as though the snake god himself is descending the stairs, the shadow on the temple merging with the snake head at the base (seen in the video, though you may need a little imagination)— a remarkable feat of architecture.
The Chichen Itza complex has only been renovated for the last hundred years- the restoration began in 1927 by the Carnegie Institute and quickly became a tourist haven for adventurous Americans and Europeans- the enthusiasm has seemingly only grown in intensity- in 2017, the Heritage site received over 2 million visitors. By midday, you could see how this was true.
After an 80-minute drive from Playa del Carmen (we conveniently rented a day driver and van through our accommodation), we arrived before 9 am at the complex entrance. Though early, Chichen was already a buzz of activity as we entered one line to get tickets, then another to pay tax on our ticket (!?), and then joined a third line to have bags searched and enter the park proper. In the annex to the park there are many opportunities to purchase Mayan-inspired tchotchkes, drink a Starbucks (tm) branded coffee, and or sit around to eat/drink/be merry- but no food, drink, or drones/professional camera equipment in the park sans permit (I was able to skate by, thankfully, because I am no professional). I did accidentally have a Bluetooth speaker in my camera bag— and so after a kerfuffle resembling the intensity of a major drug bust, I had to return it to the van before we were allowed to enter the park.
Much like in the Mexico City pyramids, Chichen Itza, while busy early in the day, only became more so as the morning progressed- there were easily 5 times more people in the park two hours after we arrived, so getting an early jump on your morning is not only more comfortable temperature-wise— but also allows you more unfettered views of the ruins.
And what an experience! Lush green everywhere, we found ourselves thankful for the day’s brilliant blue skies, the colors only accented just how intricate and impressive the stone buildings and carvings are. Jaguar heads carved out of limestone, walls of skulls, and a massive ball court- the whole tableau conspired to leave an indelible experience on my family and me as we wandered, mouths agape and soaked in the full feeling of the weight of history.
Away from the main ball courtyards and Kukulcan plaza, many merchants were hawking their wares in the same way as we saw in Teotihuacan (some of the same items being sold, as well- so much for regional authenticity)- stone calendars, jaguar whistles, and masks were most common here, with lots of jade, obsidian and wood carvings stained deep turquoise, as well.
In the 9th century, when Chichen was at its prime, it commanded a huge trade organization that allowed it to receive many non-local materials. Obsidian, jade, and many other imported precious materials were fashioned by artisans in workshops in and around the city. Trade was done by sea, and thinking about the treacherous canoe (or rafting) route over the sea that obsidian or copper took from places like Teotihuacan to get to the limestone peninsula is amazing. What is an hour-long flight from Mexico City would have been a harrowing journey through the Caribbean to become a 9th-century tool here.
In regards to obsidian, there was no shortage of it found in near-infinite configurations, hawked by the many merchants, shouting us down with slogans such as “cheaper here! Other shops will cheat you!” or “Buy from me, I need the money!” (I appreciated the candor and directness of these pitches). I can see how some tourists would take offense at the brazen hawking of goods- but as mentioned in my previous posts, I see these commercial exploits as a continuation of a long tradition of bartering and selling- one of the reasons these sites held so much power was in their economic might- if the buying and selling of goods were not centered here, then it would have been elsewhere- in fact, the whole reason Chichen Itza became the formidable locale it did was because its rise coincided with the decline of two other city-states in the area- because they declined, the economic equilibrium swung in favor of this place. Now, if two million + tourists didn’t visit (and buy), there would be no demand for jade trinkets and Coca-Cola.
Among the jaguar temples and lizards (lizards, lizards everywhere!), several walls of engraved skulls created a striking view, and as a lover of all things Halloween, I found them and their history deeply cool. Tzompantli, the skull platforms, are as macabre in reality as they are made out to be here- twelve hundred years ago these skull-engraved platforms would be adorned with racks and racks of decapitated skulls- many of whom were losers from the ball games. In other parts of Mexico, these skulls would be impaled horizontally- but here, the Mayans impaled them vertically. Perhaps a conjecture on my part, but I imagine that the verticality was connected to the heavens above and Xibalba (underworld) below- that seems to be a common theme here, along with feathered serpents and jaguars…
Speaking of the ball game- the courts in Chichen are massive (thus signifying the economic power and influence of the city at its prime), the rings where the balls were kicked/thrown/hit through were 30 feet up the side of the stone wall. One of the most amazing parts of this is that we still have no real idea how the game was played, or what the rules are- there are some pictographs remaining, a description in the popol vu, and “action figures” of famous ballplayers being excavated throughout Mexico— the best that can be done is to look at more recent Mesoamerican ball-based games and sort of backward-engineer what it MAY have looked like. The balls may have weighed up to 6 pounds, and may have been hit with sticks- or maybe only by using the right knee, elbow, and hip. We don’t know- like the original recipe for Absinthe, this is yet another mystery swept away in the sands of time. In all likelihood, it was brutal, violent, full-contact- and perhaps ended in the death of the loser (or perhaps a captive destined for execution anyway). High stakes indeed. The ball court has been described as a “transitional, liminal stage between life and death” where the age-old battle between light and dark played out, usually in tournaments lasting multiple weeks. Perhaps outside of a modern football (American or otherwise) stadium, there has never been a more powerful convergence of religion and athleticism.
Walking from the ballcourt to the sacred cenote, we experienced yet another artifact fascinating on numerous levels. Historically, religiously/culturally, and geographically- the entire Yucatan peninsula is a limestone plain- no rivers, streams, lakes, or ponds exist naturally aboveground- instead, there are approximately 10,000 cenotes (sinkholes, originated by the Mayans as “tsʼonoʼot”) where bathing, drinking, socializing and ritualistic sacrifices occurred23. We followed a thousand-foot path lined with vendors from the ball courts to the sacred cenote where we were greeted by a circular sinkhole formation, a brilliantly Chicago River on St. Patrick’s Day level of vivid green water.
One hundred years ago archaeologists, using Greek divers, started to explore and dredge the bottom of this cenote- finding gold, jade, turquoise, engravings, statues, and human skeletons. Many wooden objects were found, for the cenote preserved the wood instead of degrading it. The quality and rarity of the materials that the divers found in the cenote, coupled with the ritualistic sacrifices found therein, made it very clear that this was a central (maybe THE central) feature of Chichen Itza. With no water above ground, finding potable, easily accessible water makes all the difference and lead to the rise (and fall) of many a city.
Not all cenotes were believed to lead to the Underworld, so this cenote holds particular religious significance as a portal—but try as we might my boys were not able to see Xibalba, but they weathered the disappointment quite well. We unfortunately ran out of time (and didn’t want to battle the crowds) of other cenotes in the area- so that will have to be another trip. Can’t wait.
So this (mostly) ends my documentation of our Mexico journey. It was a whirlwind trip that scratched some of the itch to experience some non-US Bordertown Mexico- but there is so much more to see and experience. At least this was an excellent beginning.
(honestly, depends on the cocktail).
Interestingly, the creation of the cenote system was aided by the Chicxulub impactor- the 66 million-year-old asteroid impact that eradicated the dinosaurs. Neato.
Also, many of the cenotes are connected underground- often, many sacrifices would be found far downstream from where the victims were originally sacrificed.
Awesome article and photos as per usual. I loved this line: “now the holiest union comes from consummating a business transaction.”
Brilliant!