Mexico day 3: Learning about the Mayans (9/30/18)

Wake up early and meet a few other people at breakfast going to Chithen Itza that day so we go to the collectivo spot together and get over to the ruins early in the morning to try and beat the crowds. Get in and its relatively cheap (5-10$pp) for a guide since our group was big enough so we get a guide and begin a guided tour of the grounds which was probably a good idea. The amount of information that was given to us was interesting and gave a deeper appreciation of the Mayans.

Forgot to take note as to why the guide told us to take a picture of this type of tree but it had significance hahah.

One of many pictures of a symmetrical pyramid taken from many different sides. Sorry for all the pictures but its pretty so deal with it. 

Really enjoyed the plants in the foreground. Looked interesting and had some little pretty flours.

Are you ready for some football?!!?!?!?!

Exploring the game field.

Some of the field ruins

Engravings on the stone of the field.

Announcer pulpit

Field of play with the goal hoops along the sides.

Slight inward arc of the wall allowed for the speaking at one end to be carried throughout the field even tough it is completely open.

Outer wall of the field.

Plants infiltrating the stone of the field wall.

More of these flowering stalks.

Warned you there were many pyramid pics.

Listening to the bird noises from the claps. It was funny hearing all the guides/people at the different sides clapping.

Such an impressive structure.

This side had some of the ruins from below ground excavated.

More pyramid. You are welcome.

Believe this was the observatory

Some pretty cool ruins around the grounds.

More engraving on some of the ruins on the perimeter. 

Field from the outskirts

Another view of the field from in the middle.

Little panoramic shot of the playing field.

View of the moon from the field.

They had these strange looking monkeys climbing all over the rocks.

Cool pick of the pyramid.

Some engravings. Makes you feel at ease no?

Dragon heads?

Some cloud pics of our pyramid.

Alter with pillars all around it.

Some good aisle pics through the pillars.

So disgusting looking especially compared to the cenote visited yesterday and ones visited after this.

There were many interesting tidbits, most of which revolved around their ability to understand and exploit acoustics; their open sport field allowed for voices from the "announcer" pulpit to reach to the other end and back without much need for yelling, the main pyramid will produce a bird sound when you clap on the ground in front of the opening on top (not from the sides. With the good come the bad. The grounds had vendors all essentially selling the same cheap shit, all for 1$ apparently (I doubt this but its what they would post and tell you as you walked by - I didnt take the time to talk to them about it and find out how much everything was). Some of these vendors also had these little wooden toys that when you blow or something into them, they make these loud jaguar sounds. In theory this is cool, but when you hear these sounds coming from all over the grounds as you walk around with a frequency that rivals the number of steps you take exploring the 740 acre site. Lastly, they have a cenote on site that might be some of the most disgusting water I have ever seen; even though access is not permitted (wouldnt want to go regardless) I at least expected it to be pretty as the one I saw the day before (and future ones) was gorgeous. We wrap up and most of the group decides to head back while me and these 2 others decide to get a taxi to nearby Cenote Ikkil. It is an incredibly beautiful cenote but also was a giant tourist trap. They have lockers to store your stuff (gotta pay, cant just use your own lock), large bathrooms to change, shops, restaurants, etc. scattered on the grounds.

Such a beautiful view from above of Ikkil.

This cenote looks promising.

View out of the Cenote from the water level. 

Cenote was crowded but beautiful and had tiers on the side to jump from different heights. We go down and put out stuff in the corner and jump in and swim around and enjoy the chilly water and the sights of being in such a beautiful place. We eventually are done with our dip and go to the road to wave down a collectivo which was harder than we thought; not many drove by and the ones that did were full from people coming from CI or Piste (the town closest to CI). After a good 30 mins or so, we were starting to think about trying to wave down a taxi when a collectivo drove by that had space for 3. Get back to town, and go grab a bite at the Bazar which is a little food court place in the main square that has a bunch of stall serving decently priced food. After the meal, I go check out the San Roque Museum around the corner which has a bit of history of the area/town and is free (just gotta sign in). After chilling in the park out back of the museum for a tiny bit, decide to go across the street to a cantina that I walked by yesterday that looked cool and get a drink (La Joyita Cantina). Walk past the wood entrance protector that cantinas have (I guess so people who walk by cant see who is inside) and realize I am the probably the only person not from Valladolid in this little bar. People staring at me and conversing with each other about this, that, and the other. I sit at the bar and order a drink, the bartender asks if I want some of the food snacks he has behind the bar (come to find out cantinas offer this as you drink to hopefully have you drink more as the food is spicy and salty). I decline and have a few sips from my beer when this gentlemen next to me leans over and asks if I speak spanish (in spanish) and I respond. From there we spend the better part of an hour having a conversation about the history of the town and cantinas, how things have been changing over the year, etc. and I have a few beers in the process. Come to learn that cantinas used to be male only (some still are), most, if not all, cantinas are owned by one of the 2 big beer groups (this one didnt have modelo so I asked and was given directions to the modelo cantina he frequents when he isnt at this place), a little about his life, etc. Was great to A) being able to mostly carry on a conversation (no matter how broken it was and how much of a struggle it was at time to get our points across) and B) learn a bit about the history from someone there instead of a book. After a few beers, I say adios and thank the guy for the conversation and directions and I walk in the rain over to the modelo cantina he told me about (Tenampa on the other side of town (small town so only take 10 mins or so).

Finally found some Modelo Negra on the trip. Happy place :)

Roads draining and rush hour happening in Valladolid.

This one had women inside and seemed more modern both in its appearance and in its rules based on what I picked up from the last place. The rain that was off and on while I was walking, picked up while inside and streets were somewhat flooded but stopped in time for the flooding to start going down a little for my walk back to the hostel. Meet a group who were getting ready to go out to dinner so get ready and we eventually head out to grab dinner at a decent place in the main square, Las Campanas. Good music being played inside, but the music was so so; nothing too good or bad to really mention. As we are eating, there is this party double decker bus driving by every now again blasting music. We leave restaurant and see the bus so we go see whats up and its like 10 pesos pp to take a ride and it goes around town which was a decent time. On the tour we see a bar worth checking out so once we park back in the city center, we walk over to it (Condesa). On the way I run into the people I went to CI in the morning and they join for the drinks. Order drinks and apparently it was happy hour so some people got 2 for 1s which they didnt mention when we were ordering. After our drinks, everyone is exhausted from their respective days so we all head back to call it a night.

Town's cathedral at night.

Party bus crew. Had to watch out for and avoid being decapitated by low branches from trees and power lines as we drove through town.