Chichen Itza

Next up, with the few remaining daylights hours we drove to Chichen Itza and stayed in “Hotel Chichen Itza” (I know, really creative). Fortunately they had internet access, but only in the large lobby…so checking email and catching up on business meant I stayed up late and sat out in the open where the mosquitoes found me!

In the morning we drove out of the tiny town of Chichen Itza and went to find the pyramids. On the way, I couldn’t help but check at the baby blue sign below:

We arrived, and discovered that Chichen Itza entry cost us about $342 pesos, our heftiest pyramid entry fee so far (most totaled about $74 pesos each). They actually charged for kids here, which was kind of unusual. Still, considering the exchange rate, we still thought $28 was a decent deal for our family!

Chichen Itza was purely Maya, and was abandoned in the 9th century for unknown reasons. It was then resettled in the 10th century, and shortly after they believe it was invaded by the Toltecs (a group who had migrated from the highlands north of Mexico City). Therefore, these ruins show an interesting merge of both Maya and Toltec images.

While the big Pyramid of Kukulcan (El Castillo) was quite large and impressive in the perfectly flat field, we were disappointed that all of the ruins were roped off to climbers. I can understand perfectly why it is in their best interest to rope off the pyramids in such a high-trafficked area, however! This place was teaming with tour buses, etc.

We were also admittedly turned off by the large number of guides who tried to pressure us into tours. Several just wouldn’t give up!  I would have loved to know more details about the grounds, but the truth is we weren’t willing to spend the high price to have our day dragged out with a 2 hour tour, with 3 kids in tow.

Maiya made it longer than usual before crashing, and refusing to walk more. 4 year olds!

Nevertheless, she was forced to continue. We rushed through the property not looking at many details, and not being nearly as impressed as we were with the previous ruins we had seen. We were getting pyramid-spoiled. I admit it’s difficult…trying to see everything through new eyes…and appreciating each and every new adventure.

Unlike the other pyramids thus far, vendors were frequent and allowed on the property. They were pushier than most Mexican vendors, and very persistent, as well.

We admired the hand-crafted wood masks and carvings. Some vendors were working on their crafts right then and there!

I’m a sucker for bright pottery.

We really loved this craftsmanship, and instead of paying the $100 USD that he asked, we got a photo and have put it on our “virtual wall” to remember our trip by!

Wood was definitely the theme, and you may or may not know that we are a bit wood-obsessed!

Every vendor shared the same pitch…likely the only words of English they knew. “I make good price. Almost free!”

Here are some daggers made of obsidian…

Hammocks sounded like a great place to relax in this heat!

Finally, a decent shot of a Maya house…very similar to what we had seen in the small Maya villages in the area.

Oddly, we arrived at the same time as a group of about 100 women who came and lined up along the side of the large pyramid, and chanted, danced, and played a bit of music for some type of ritual.

It seemed more of a show than an authentic experience.

Here’s a super short video of them doing their thing:

All in all, we felt that Chichen Itza was overrated. Not only was it overcrowded with tourists, guides, and vendors…it lacked the special “magic” of the others we had seen thus far (Comalcalco, Edzna, Kabah,  and Uxmal).

However, if I hadn’t seen the others first, I’m sure we would have been floored!  I can see now the challenge is keeping things fresh, new, and appreciating every little (or big) thing!