Playa del Carmen, Mexico - Day 2

Today, as I mentioned before, started pretty early to get ready for the tour of the ancient Mayan Temple in nearby Chichen Itza and the Cenote closeby. So, we got up and went to the front desk to meet our guide Ricardo, we then went for a 2 hour drive to the ancient temple (Stopping for hot chocolates and coffees of course.) When we got there we soon realized that, uh oh, we didn’t bring our togs to swim in the cenote (A cenote is a big hole in the ground 100s of feet deep that is like a very deep pool. I’ll explain how they’re formed later.). We did end up swimming in the cenote by the way, just in our shorts.

Anyway, when we got there we met our Mayan guide Remmy (Ricardo is training to get his Archeological Tour Guide license), we entered the park and after walking for about a minute we saw it. The Mayan Temple of Chichen Itza.

It was not a tomb or a place where the elders slept like most believe, it was actually just used as the Mayan’s calendar. Our guide showed us that if you stand in front of the temple and clap your hands in a specific way a certain sound rings away, that sound is the sound of a bird the Maya believed were sacred and because of this belief the Maya constructed the stairs to sound exactly like the chirping of that bird, absolutely incredible.

It was very hot out there, (35 degrees) there was no shade and I though it would be stupid to wear sunglasses but all the pathways there were made of white rock and dust so I’m thankful I brought both my hat and sunglasses.

We moved around the temple and Remmy explained to us how when the temple was built it was designed (or made through trial and error) so that during the two equinoxes of the year, light would only shine on two of the sides of the temple (One in the morning, the other in the evening.) and when it rises or sets it lights up small triangular shapes made by the steps on the remaining two sides and the sculpted snake heads at the bottom of those steps. All of this combines to give the illusion of a serpent like creature, again, very sacred to the Maya, slithering down the steps of the temple and on to the ground below.

From the temple we moved on to the ancient market place, now only pillars which used to hold up the thatch roofing, and Remmy told us how people from all over the state would converge here after weeks of walking to sell their goods.

From the market place we walked over to the ball court, this is where a very complicated game, a mixture of volleyball, basketball and baseball, was played. The aim of the game was to pass a rubber ball (Weighed 6 ounces) through a stone circle (Like a sideways hoop), the thing was that they couldn’t use their hands or their feet but only their elbows, hips and knees and they only needed to score one point to win.

If you were to win the game (which could have gone on for a week) and you were the captain of the winning team of 7, then as your prize you would be decapitated! This was a highly sought after privilege as you would be reincarnated.  Not only that but you would be taken to a sacred cenote  where you would be decapitated as a tribute to the gods, they would dress you up and cover you in gold and heavy jewelry to weigh you down.

Another very interesting fact about the ball court is the acoustics. The layout of the ball court saw the leader/King at one end and the 6 next top leaders sitting at the opposite end with the public standing atop the tall walls either side of the I (I as in the I which looks like a T but with a base.) shaped court.

 The court looking down to the King's seat at the end.

 The King's end.

The 6 regional leaders end of the court.

The way that the King communicated with the other leaders was that they just talked/shouted to one another but…. The public sitting above the wall couldn’t hear a word they were saying, HOW I hear you ask??!!? The Maya were soooo smart that they built the walls on either side of the ball courts to a 87(ish) degree angle, that’s a tiny angle, this makes the wall look as if it’s on a small lean and it also causes all the audio to be funneled from one end of the court to the other. Incredible I know. This could be tested by people calling out to one another from either end.

The fun doesn’t stop there!! When we were being shown the art on the walls making our way down to one end Remmy showed us that when you clap there is an echo which repeats itself 7 times (As in: Clap! Echo, echo, echo, echo, echo,echo,echo) I know, mind blown.

After the ball court we walked around the corner to a wall, this wasn’t just any wall oh no, this wall was (in ancient times) topped with skulls to warn traders and the game’s audience from foreign townships that it was fine that they come here and trade etc. but if they wage war on them this is what will happen.

Iguana on skull wall.

From the wall Remmy showed us the path that lead down to the sacred cenote used for the human sacrifices, we then got some “free time” to wander down the short track/trail past all the stalls selling souvenirs to the cenote.

When we reached the cenote we found a little alter type setup out of stone on top of the cliff face fencing the cenote in, we could only assume that’s where the honourable were killed and then launched off in to the cenote (Gruesome? Very) .

When we got back to Remmy our tour was then finished by a walk in the sun back to the entrance where we were met by Ricardo. From the temple it was off to the cenote for a dip. It was a 20 minute drive there and once there we headed to the changing rooms and had a shower to rinse off all of the chemicals in the lotion to protect the water in the cenote.

We headed down the slippery steps to the cenote where I then walked up the empty line to the top of the rock path used as a sort of diving boards and jumped off the top one after a few scared moments at the top (as you can imagine.).

This was nothing compared to what Ricardo had done, he went to military school in the U.S and while there they wrapped him up in a type of cling film and threw him into the same sort of wet situation in order to train him to be calm. Anyway, it was great fun and after getting some footage of me jumping into the water it was time to head up for some lunch in the form of an all-you-can-eat buffet, despite the masses of food on offer there I got stuffed with food fast which, I guess, you are looking for in a place like this.

Once lunch had finished I hobbled across the hot paths, got some last photos of the cenote from above and raced to the van to rest my feet. From the cenote we drove to a very quiet and hot town to taste some authentic Mexican chocolate which mum appreciated a lot.

From there it was about another 2 hour drive back to our resort, along the way back I recognized these rope ladder type structures hanging across the road up in the air, after asking Ricaldo my suspicions were confirmed, they are there so that the monkeys in the neighbouring forests don’t have to cross the road. When we got back it was time to relax, I got comfortable in a hammock relaxed for a couple of hours before it was time for dinner.