A day long visit to Chichen Itza's El Castillo on a hot and sultry day reminds us a hot scorching summer day back home in India.
Mexicans of this Mayan area proudly call it one of the NEW SEVEN WONDERS of the World as per worldwide Vote. It is 200 KM from our Moon Palace Resort, Cancun.
Chichen Itza, (chi means mouth and Chen means Well of Itza people) is the most important archaeological zone in Yucatan, the ancient capital of the Mayan Empire. Being designated one of the modern wonders of the world, its extraordinary architectural beauty and geographical location leave us in Awe!
Chichén Itzá is a world-famous complex of Mayan ruins on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. A massive step pyramid known as El Castillo dominates the 6.5-sq.-km. ancient city, which thrived from around 600 A.D. to the 1200s. Graphic stone carvings survive at structures like the ball court, Temple of the Warriors and the Wall of the Skulls.
We could not stay for Nightly sound-and-light show.
A copy of the Madrid Codices was provided by the learned tour Guide
The Maya writing system consists of about 1000 distinct characters or hieroglyphs ('glyphs'), and like many ancient writing systems is a mixture of syllabic signs and logograms. This script was in use from the 3rd century BCE until shortly after the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. As of now (2015), a considerable proportion of the characters has a reading, but their meaning and configuration as a text is not always understood.
The books were folded and consisted of bark paper or leather leaves with an adhesive stucco layer on which to write; they were protected by jaguar skin covers or, perhaps, wooden boards. Since every diviner probably needed a book, there must have existed large numbers of them. Today, three codices.,
They are largely of a divinatory and priestly nature, containing almanacs, astrological tables, and ritual programs; the Paris Codex also includes katun-prophecies. Great attention was paid to a harmonious balance of texts and (partly coloured) illustrations.
Fellow travelers in the Luxary Bus
Possibly the best known construction on the site is El Castillo or Kukulkan's Pyramid. El Castillo (Kukulkan-Quetzalcoatl), a square-based, stepped pyramid that is approximately 75 feet tall. This pyramid was built for astronomical purposes and during the vernal equinox (March 20) and the autumnal equinox (September 21) at about 3pm the sunlight bathes the western balustrade of the pyramid's main stairway. This causes seven isosceles triangles to form imitating the body of a serpent 37 yards long that creeps downwards until it joins the huge serpent's head carved in stone at the bottom of the stairway.
The "El Caracol" observatory temple.
Archaeologists have identified thirteen ballcourts for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame in Chichen Itza, but the Great Ball Court about 150 metres (490 ft) to the north-west of the Castillo is by far the most impressive. It is the largest and best preserved ball court in ancient Mesoamerica. It measures 168 by 70 metres
Relaxing and ordering a cold drink after scorching hot walk. I took advantage of free WiFi offered by the restaurant to post newest historical pictures to family and friends.
Chichen Itza is also the largest and most impressive of the Mayan ruins, is an spectacular and mystical place to visit, if you only want to do one day trip during your vacation in Cancun, this should be this one.
It was really a worth to come here even on a hot day on June 2, 2016.
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