Chichén Itzá and Merida - Third Day in Margaritaville

I got our rental car because I did not want to be "trapped" in a resort hotel with beautiful pools and beaches, margaritas prepared for you when and how you like them, and great restaurants.  Hmmm.. that did not come out quite how I was feeling.  Well I have the freedom and I'm taking it!  We got in our Nissan again (that, by the way, cost me an arm and a leg and part of my reproductive components) and headed west toward Merida with a stop in Chichen Itza', our first Mayan archeological sites of this trip.  The Maya were the top dogs in this area for over 1000 years and left their cities almost intact to be consumed by the jungle.  

Historians like to talk about the Pre-Classic, and Post Classic and whatever.  The point is the Maya knew their mathematics, knew construction, and had great stories that are only recently being translated from Mayan Glyph writing.  There was just as much intrigue, battles of conquest, backstabbing and romance as there was in ancient ancient Egypt, Rome, Greece or any European court before the Renaissance.  They built places to would last forever - better and longer lasting than the new housing construction going on in Michigan.  I bet future archeologists will not see any of those half million dollar homes being built in our subdivisions a thousand years from now.

We did not get to see a paper codex but here is an example

During the Central Phase of the Classic Period, 625 -800 A.D., Chichén Itzá shifted from a farming to arts, sciences and religious practices.  The Maya were great mathematicians and astronomers, had the concept of zero before the Europeans, and calculated calendars in much more detail than in Europe.  The Julian Calendar was off by 10 days when it was fixed in 1582 by 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII.  The Maya on the other hand had the perfect calendar calculated, probably a 1000 years before the Europeans.  These guys would write everywhere they had a surface.  I'm glad they liked to write on stone otherwise we would not have too much of their writing to read - If only I could read Mayan!  I would have spent days reading all the stuff on these walls and pillars.

The Kukulkan’s Pyramid, is an example of the mathematics and astronomical exactness of the Maya, it is filled with cosmological symbolism.  The four sides of the Kukulkan pyramid contain 365 steps in total, 91 steps per side and the final 365th step on top representing the solar year, 52 panels (for each year in the Mayan century as well as each week in the solar year) and 18 terraces (for the 18 months in the religious year). The height of the pyramid is 75 feet and is a monumental representation of the Mayan calendar.  During the fall and spring equinoxes, Kukulkan pyramid forms an enormous snake’s body moving down the steps using the shadows from the sunrise on the stoned walls and lines up with the carved stone snake head at the bottom of the pyramid. 

 The Astronomical Observatory (?)

The Sacred Cenote is a natural fresh water well 60 meters in diameter with sheer, escape-proof walls plunging 22 meters.  Archeologists found fortunes of jade, gold and copper in the sacred cenote as residents tossed these valuable items as offerings to the Mayan Rain God Chacc.

In Of course, the 25,000+ Maya population of Chichen Itza did not all live in stately housing represented by these structures.  Most people probably liven in the Mayan "Hood" in houses that looked something like this.

The city was gradually abandoned after about 1200 AD and found by the Spanish in the early 1500′s where they found crumbling buildings surrounded by dense jungle.  A New York lawyer rediscovered the city in 1842.

After a tour of Chichen Itza we got back on the freeway to Merida.  What can I say about Merida - I want to come and live here!  Great food, great people, great music.  We were entertained during dinner by the Trio "Los Zafiros,"  that were walking around singing around the Central Plaza and outside restaurants.  They sang as good or better than any recording I have heard.  I have uploaded one of their songs to You Tube (see link http://youtu.be/Lx2zL5EFIpU )

The plaza, The central square, was filled with people in the evening walking and meeting each other, listening to music from troubadours playing music in all kinds of music styles.  But the interesting thing was the young people (teens through 30) socializing in the square.  More than half of the hundreds of people were from this age group!  What would make young people come to the plaza when they had TV, video games, and homework(?) at home?  And the answer is:  Free WIFI.  The city of Merida has installed free WIFI in the Plazas and everyone comes out with their cell phones and their tablets to connect.  Now that is a creative city government!  It keeps the restaurants and shops busy, brings the people out to meet each other and with such clean air and pleasant weather, it was a great idea.