bajo el cielo de kukulcan (cancún, day 3)
There's not a whole lot to do in Cancún proper, especially if you're not staying in a resort, so on day 3 my brother and I went on a tour to Chichikan, Chichén Itzá, and Valladolid.
Chichikan
A Mayan shaman welcomed us to Chichikan by burning tree resin and sprinkling cenote water on our bodies while chanting in Maya. Supposedly that's how you ask permission from the guardian spirits to visit their land. Did you know the Mayan language family is still spoken by millions of speakers in Mexico?
The only thing to see at Chichikan outside of Mayan souvenirs (obsidian carvings, trinkets, textiles woven on looms) is the cenote.
At the right time of day the sun illuminates the entire cenote and a rainbow appears in the mist of the waterfall. Along with the leaves floating down on the wind, it feels like every season is happening at once.
I was surprised to see tons of fish in the water of the cenote. They're pale catfish (Rhamdia guatemalensis), I think. It was easy to reach out and touch them. Perhaps they've grown lazy from the centuries of having no natural predators.
Chichén Itzá
The ruins of Chichén Itzá lie in the heart of the Yucatan peninsula, a few hours inland from Cancún. Cancún is warm enough as is, but without the ocean breeze the heat at Chichén Itzá was almost unbearable, even for me. It felt like sitting under a broiler, and my skin glowed under the harsh midday sun.
I spent the majority of my three hours in Chichén Itzá listening to the tour guide under the shade of a tree. We were only a few minutes in when I turned around to find one of the Dutch girls in our tour group laying down on the floor, faint from the heat. (They got her to a paramedic, fortunately.)
What our tour guide told us about the ruins blew me away. I don't know if it's faux pas to share what I learned (isn't it sort of like spoiling the fun?), so I'll hide them in this dropdown. Our guide was great. He had me marveling at the pyramid. If only I could climb up the steps and go explore inside!
Chichén Itzá Fun Facts
- This one FLOORED me: if you clap in front of the steps, the echo that the pyramid makes sounds like a bird cawing. My tour guide said this is how the pyramid got its name: the pyramid of Kukulcan (the echoes sound like kul-kul-can). video
- On the days of the spring/fall equinoxes, the sunlight falls in such a way that forms the body of the serpent on the side of the pyramid. video
- The location of Chichén Itzá is within 10 km of the midpoint between Anchorage, Alaska and Patagonia, Argentina. The Mayans built it there because they thought they were at the center of the Americas. (And they were damn close!)
- The Pyramid of Kukulcan is perfectly aligned with magnetic north. (Allegedly.) Our guide told us that the base of the pyramid is aligned with true north and the top with magnetic north. You can see that the pyramid twists going up if you look from the back.
- The pyramid has 4 sides with 91 steps on each side, for a total of 364 days in a calendar year. Each side represents a season and each step a day.
- The pyramid is built on top of a cenote (a sinkhole) and WITHIN the pyramid there are also other smaller pyramids.
Valladolid
We only stopped here for about half an hour in the town square. It's a cute little city with pastel colored buildings that apparently date back hundreds of years. Learning that many of the buildings were built over the razed remains of an ancient Mayan city not unlike Chichén Itzá put a damper on my admiration.
