16: Apocalypse?

21.10.2012 – 21.10.2012 semi-overcast 33 °C

Day 1 of our Mexico trip and it was spent out at Chichin Itsa, the very famous Mayan ruins. It took us about 2hrs to drive out to the ruins from the hotel in Cancun. The drive was fairly boring, this part of Mexico is largely cleared for farming, dotted here and there with scrubby jungle. Not nice and lush jungle like CR. One thing I do have to comment on though, is the highways here in Mexico.. they put AU to shame—dual carriageway the whole way with no-one using it… I have to say that I have been surprised in many second world countries about how good their road systems are.. The Aussie govt could really learn something from these type of countries.

We got to Chichin Itsa before the crowds descended so we actually got to take a look around without feeling cramped. I’m also glad we got there early because it is HOT. The sun here is really strong (like home in the middle of Summer) so spending a couple of hours wandering outside in the heat isn’t my favourite thing to do. I was prepared though, so I had on my UV long sleeved t-shirt, my hat and a lot of sunblock, so although I sweated like a little piggy I didn’t end up lobster coloured!

The ruins themselves are pretty impressive. The main temple of Chichin Itsa is the a-typical Mayan step pyramid. I’m sure the stereotype actually originates with this temple. All of the ruins here in CI are lined up with stars in the sky. In fact, this is why the 21st Dec this year is so important. It is the day when all of the planets in our solar system will line up. Apparently it only happens every 5125 years, and this year in Dec is the time predicted that this event will occur. Modern day astronomers agree that it will occur this year just as the Mayan astronomers concluded over a thousand years ago. Our guide tells us that when the alignment occurs it will line up perfectly with the alignment points in the ruins of CI. From what he told us, all accommodation on the Yucatan peninsular is booked out, and they are going to keep the ruins open for 72hrs straight to try and accommodate the expected hundreds of thousands of tourists who are going to descend on the site. In fact, they are worried that the site won’t be able to accommodate the number of people who are going to come…. Will be well worth watching on tv this xmas!

Is the world going to come to an end??? Our guide (who is an archaeologist) didn’t seem to think so but we’re just going to have to wait and see……. The Mayan calendar (which is located in the ruins of Tulum near Cozumel in Mexico) does end on this day and it is the day when all of the planets will be in perfect alignment so who knows what will happen? I guess I sit in the category of “the planets have aligned however many times over the billions of years that our Earth has gone around the sun so it is highly unlikely that this year is going to be any different….” Just like everyone else though, I’m going to have to wait and see!

There are a couple of other pretty cool things about Chichin Itsa. It not only has a step pyramid but it also has a ball court, where the Mayans used to play a ritualistic game. The game is thought to be a fusion of La-Crosse, Soccer, Hockey, Wrestling and pretty much any other sort of sport you can name! The idea was that each team had to try and get a 8pound ball thru a hoop that was about 3m high in the air. They had to do this without using their hands! They could use any other part of their body and they also carried a baseball bat type thing… Either way, probably wasn’t easy! It was an honour to win the game, and the honour ended up being that the captain of the winning team would be sacrificed to the Gods! Great honour huh???

Some other interesting facts about Chichin Itsa, all surround the solstices and the equinoxes. If you stand in the right place at the right time on the solstices and the equinoxes the sun will shine directly thru many windows and openings in the ruins. From a certain angle, the shadows will also create a great snake pattern down the side of the main pyramid. The pattern ends at the point of the big snake’s heads that adorn the bases of the pyramid! Slightly spooky….

Even more spooky, is when you stand on the Eastern side of the great pyramid and clap your hands. If you are standing directly in the centre at the base of the Eastern side of the pyramid you will hear this strange echo. Clap your hands a metre either side and you hear no echo…. The echo is supposed to exactly mimic the sound waves that the sacred Quetzal bird makes! Apparently it has been tested using modern sound wave equipment and the echo is a perfect replica of the sound of the bird! WEIRD….. (I’m not so secretly, starting to support the alien theory surrounding ancient cultures…. J)

We spent quite some time on the plateau but after being out in the blazing sun for over two hours the heat was starting to take its toll and I spent my free time largely sitting in the shade! We left Chichin Itsa behind (still with plenty of unanswered Mayan calendar questions) for a swim in a local Cenote (sacred Mayan water hole). The sacred water hole has been turned into one big tourist attraction so we weren’t the only people to plunge into its depths! It is a pretty good setup though, there are change rooms, restaurants, stairs down into the pool etc so nice and safe for everyone to have a swim. The cenote is aqua blue fresh water about 100m below the surface of the ground. From the ground you can see a big hole, fringed by moss and small waterfalls that all descend down to the aqua coloured water. Very beautiful! I did hop in for a swim, but I didn’t hang around in the water for too long as it was freezing! Nice to be able to refresh after traipsing around Chichin Itsa but just a bit too refreshing for this QLD-er!! J

We had lunch at a local touristy restaurant (not quite what I was looking for but the food was quick!). Yummy lime flavoured soup, tortillas (for those who aren’t familiar, it is pronounced Tortee-a… you never pronounce the double L in Spanish), pork casserole-y thing, rice and veges. Not too bad but a bit touristy for my liking.. What I mean by that is that all of the staff were dressed in traditional costume and were doing traditional dances for us.. A bit cheesy!!! 🙂

Our afternoon was spent back in the bus continuing our drive to our night’s accommodation in Merida. Merida is one of the colonial Spanish cities and the main square is something to behold. We arrived in Merida just before dinner time, so after we had all refreshed we headed downtown to check out the town and grab a bite to eat. It is a Sunday today, so the town had turned out en masse for the weekly party in the main square. Apparently every Sunday many of the townsfolk come into the main square to eat, drink and dance! Yep, there were couples everywhere dancing up a storm. Older couples were holding each other and slowly moving in time to the music (one couple were so cute, the wife was holding onto her husband’s walking stick for him!), younger couples were salsa-ing at a break neck pace.. Just awesome to see everyone enjoying themselves in such a public way. It’s a shame we don’t have something similar in our culture!

We enjoyed watching everyone dance, we wandered around the square snapping photos and then headed out for some more tasty Mexican food. With dinner over, we decided to hang around downtown and look for a bar. Our leader (who is Javier- pronounced Have-ee-air) decided to take us north of the main square to find a bar on one of this street filled with old Spanish mansions. Well we walked, and we walked, and we walked, and we walked. All of this got us no-where! Well it allowed us to see some beautiful French Chateau style mansions, but we didn’t find a bar! Eventually, I got totally sick of walking and called a halt to our wanderings.. Flip Flops and kilometres of walking just do not go hand in hand (I just realised that I typed flip flops and not thongs… just shows you how long I’ve been away from Aus… I’ve stopped using our slang for these shoes as everyone looks at you strangely and thinks you are referring to underwear).

So instead, of continuing our never ending trek across Merida we all agreed to head back to the main square and find some fun in town. We found this fun at an outdoor bar that also had music playing. This meant that the locals were dancing up a storm so we could just sit and watch the action. One guy, wearing a beer stained orange shirt, was trying very hard to pick up anything, wearing a skirt and walking on two legs! Too funny!!!!

My night ended with me walking up the wrong street to my hotel and then spending an extra fifteen minutes walking in the wrong direction! I know some reading this will be surprised but just goes to show that you shouldn’t walk around and talk when you should be concentrating on landmarks and directions!

3 thoughts on “16: Apocalypse?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *