Day 6-Chichen Itza

We were to be picked up at the lobby of our hotel at 8:30.  Vans are constantly pulling up to the lobby, and then the driver hops out and calls names of people he is expecting to pick up.  I was terrified that we would miss the pick up, so at 8:40 we asked a bell boy about it.  He said, "8:30 pick up?  This is Mexico time, sit back and relax!"  Apparently they don't believe in punctuality.  In some ways I like that.  Not in all ways.

We were picked up by a greyhound type bus around 8:50.  We were told lots of things about the modern Mayan people on the bus ride, which I found interesting.  Our first stop was a cenote for a brief swim.  The water was cold, but was so refreshing.  The whole experience of it was just cool.  You walk down into a deep cave to a pond (of sorts) with clear beautiful water.

The sad part is that it is impossible to get a good picture in that place. 

 From the top looking down.  To my left are stairs to take your down to the cenote.

After the cenote we drove to the Mayan co-op.  I guess a bunch of Mayans get together with their crafts and essentially have a bigger store of their goods.  We bought an obsidian massage stone there (after bartering as much as I could) and still realized we paid way too much when we bought a bigger stone for less money inside Chichen Itza.  We also bought a paper with Mayan symbols to that represents our marriage date on the mayan calendar.  Normally we wouldn't be into doing that kind of thing, but we were there on our exact anniversary date, so we figured it was a fun way to keep the day in memory. 

Next we drove until we were close to Chichen Itza and then ate lunch at a restaurant close by.  Another authentic lunch, and even better than the first...two ladies were making tortillas so you got them hot off the grill!

And finally we went to Chichen Itza.  In one word:  HUGE.  It dwarfed the size of the other structures we had seen at other ruins sites.  The ball court was massive. 

 I still chopped off one end of the court in this picture.  It was just so big!

 We met a nice girl from Britain (Catherine) who was gracious to take pictures for us.  Brave soul went to Riviera Maya on holiday ALONE!

 Temple of the warriors

 The south side of the pyramid

 The west side of Kukulkan's pyramid

 Each column had a warrior engraved on it, and they were all different.

 The north size of the pyramid.  They didn't restore this side.

 I broke down and bought the girls little dresses from a vendor as we were leaving Chichen Itza.  I had been looking for the perfect ones our entire trip.  I found them just after I purchased two dresses. :(  Then I didn't have enough cash left to buy the ones I loved!  Oh well, the ones I got are cute too.

We stopped in Valladolid on the way back.  The town was settled by the conquistadors, and very much looks like it is from that time era to this day.  We stopped at this park for a short break.

 A church built by the settlers several hundred years ago.

We didn't get back until 9 pm and we went straight to the buffet without showering.  Happy 8 years to us!