Ok, so this weekend, was another archeological trip, this time to the site of Chichen-Itza
Chichen-Itza is an incredible Mayan Site, near Merida in Yucatan. It's big and really amazing. Chichen Itza was a main Mayan city, big in religious, commercial and war-power(Or so I was told at school).
Was quite a walk around, this time not going up the pyramids, It is no longer allowed, I understand it too many people (according to the guide its over 2 million visitors per year) climbing the pyramids can be bad to keep them nice, but is sad since it must be an incredible look from the top. The only problem, was that too much walking under the mid-day sun got me some skin burn (even with sun-blocker)
Now to explain the photos in the pic, there are lot more buildings, but can't put that many here.
Top Left, is a Detail of the decoration on one of the buildings named Nunnery (Zona de las monjas), the details here are from Chaac the god of rain.
Top right is another detail from a snake decoration near then Tzompantli or Wall of the Skulls, this is supposed to be in representation of the one fallen in battle. The snakes head appear in lots of buildings in Chichen-Itza.
Bottom Left is the main building in Chichen-Itza, The Kukulkan Castle, Kukulcan is the mayan version of Quetzatcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, the main God. The stairs start at the base with snake heads. This building has some interesting facts, has a total of 365 steps, the number of days in the solar calendar of the Mayans, on the Autumn and Spring Day equinox, as the sun raises, the shadows makes it look like if a snake was coming down the pyramid. If you stand in front of the stair area and Clap your hands, the echo replies with a bird-like sound.
Bottom Right is the Caracol observatory. the little windows in it allowed the Mayans to track the movement of the sun and stars.
There are a few more things like one really big ball-game area, the wariors temple, and also a cenote which I talk about other day.
Ok, so here ends for today, the long mumblings of
Jessica, the silly Archeologist
for the full size image here http://static.flickr.com/91/240523441_27b325769c_o.jpg
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