Chichen Itza, Cenotes, Casa Venados, Villagers, and Tequila

At Chichen today (Monday), we learned something interesting about all this rain.

It seems the rain god's name is Chac. That's him on the left. His profile actually. See his hooked nose? Below is his mouth (and pretty menacing set of dientes) above, his eyes & eyebrows. He's pretty popular at Chichen Itza (Chicken Pizza for those of us who are having a hard time with the c's, h's, z's, etc...not naming any names like rick).

Maybe bc we’re here during the rainy season, or maybe bc this whole peninsula is so lush, green, and WET, but I find it hard to believe the Maya could ever have prayed for more water to fall from the sky. If anything, I’d think they’d be praying, “ENOUGH already!”

Well, turns out that’s actually true. We learned from our Chichen Itza guide, Willie, that Chac, who is shown in drawings and carvings with a hooked nose, (and tears coming from his eyes – for rain) is depicted with either his nose curving up, or down. Up would mean – “We need rain” and down would mean, “No more rain.”  Here is a photo from Chichen Itza showing Chac with both noses.

I sure hope the Maya are praying to the right one. Or maybe the prayers were delayed and he’s just now getting the requests from the last dry season. Whatever, we've just accepted it - Come 3pm, Come Rain.

Chichen is famous for a unique phenomenon that occurs twice a year, during the summer and winter solstices.  When the Maya built El Castillo, for the Maya feathered serpent god Kulkukan, they did it in such a way that when the sun sets during the equinoxes, (March & Sept 21) the shadows slither down the stairs, creating the apparent body of the serpent - that lines up with the stone head at the base! It also has axes that orient with the sun at the summer solstice & winter solstice, so the shadows appear to split the pyramid in half diagonally.

It was one big calendar.

Total steps on all sides total 365, the number of days in a year. There's 18 terraces on each side, representing the 18 months of the Mayan calendar. Nothing in the place is by chance.

The photo above is what I took yesterday.  This one, from the internet, shows the phenomenon on March/Sept 21. Pretty amazing. Our guide called them the Ancient Greeks of the Yucatan.

We were there early, fortunately, so there were no crowds. Here is the Maya ball court, where to object was to get a 9 lb. softball-sized ball made of solid rubber through the rings up on the top (above Erikka's head).





Only problem...no hands. Only other problem, if you win, you die. According to Willie anyway. There are various other versions of who is sacrificed...losers, team captains, a pre-determined prisoner, etc. Not a game I'm interested in playing...







Closer view of the goal - the ring mounted on the right wall.

Here Willie is explaining to us, but for some reason, mostly to Erikka, the meaning of the carvings along the ball court.

So...here goes. The guy shown sitting in the middle, a side view with his feet flat on the ground, has seven snakes coming from his head. Seven is important but I can't remember why. The center snakes continue on and wrap around the drawing, showing fertility I think. There's some human hearts in here somewhere and they're significant somehow, like everything here, I just can't remember why or how.  Basically, everything here means something.

Like I said, nothing is by chance.

Those sacrificed ball players? At least they got their image preserved in stone..












and they were in good company - you can see how many heads were carved in the wall.

Chichen gets a lot of negative feedback about the vendors that peddle their wares throughout the grounds of the complex...right in with the ruins. Supposedly, they will shout, "Lady, only one dollar!!" and such as you pass.  We heard none of that. Many were just setting up, but a lot were already finished and just silently sat at their tables as we passed. Most were preoccupied with other things and didn't really seem to know we were there - but then again we did have a guide which would probably cause them to leave us alone a bit more. However, we just didn't hear any calling out from any of them. Willie told us the gov't has come down hard on them and they were told if they didn't keep quiet - they'd make them all leave.

Still, many people feel the grounds with the ruins should be free from peddlers, period. I agree.

The vendors setting up their mobile store on the grounds of Chichen Itza.

Erikka's new best friend, our guide Willie.

Ever read the book, Caps for Sale??



Could not resist this photo!











After Chichen, we swam at the Ik-kil cenote. A bit more commercialized than others, but beautiful. Cost about $6 per person.

You can see the guys trying to help me with the lens cap...

Interesting little side note:  As I looked down into the cenote from above, to take this photo, I dropped my lens cap. Ugh! It fell about 6 feet down onto a jungly ledge. A couple park guides tried to help me retrieve it, but they brought this gicantic, 6 foot long metal pole with a hook on the end. Ummm...unless you stick some chewing gum on the end, that plan just wasn't gonna work. After a few minutes, they just said, "Es impossible".

*sigh* We're using a sock.

Showers required before entering and no sunscreen other than biodegradable allowed. Don't ask me how they know if your sunscreen is biodegradable...honor system I guess.

The view looking up from the water  >

Below:
There were several jumping off spots. Of course Erikka had to jump from the top, which is actually much farther than it looks in this photo. And since she did, of course, Trevor had to also. Didn't my mother used to say, "Well...just because your brother did it, it doesn't make it right. If he jumped off a building, would YOU?" Um...Trevor? Guess the answer is yes.

Had a nice buffet lunch at the Best Western in Piste.
Price of meal comes with entertainment...and tip :)

Food was good - about $9US per person. Lots to choose from. We were full way too early.

Trevor is an "adult" sometimes (like for this buffet) and a "child" other times. We found the magical age is either 11 or 12, but either way, he's on his last year of childhood as far as travel and cost goes I guess.

His can of Sprite from the restaurant came with this funny looking guy on the side.


I'm pretty sure he's the Mayan god of sugar.







Back at Casa Hamaca to chill, then dinner at a great place up the block.  Cunatos. Mexican, Italian, Chinese, you name it. All on one menu. Amazing thing is, they do it all pretty well!

``````````````````````  Tuesday  ``````````````````````

Tues am, we went to the market, since Trev and Erikka hadn't gone when Denis took us, then stopped by Casa de los Venados in Valladolid for a tour. It is owned by the ex-CEO of a computer company in Chicago. He rec'd a massive 1.7 million (controversial) executive bonus in 2006 and bought an 18,000 sq ft home in Valladolid. It's not the home that's impressive though - it's the collection of folk art inside. He commissioned most of the work by Mexican and Spanish artists and designed some of the pieces himself. They offer tours of the home once a day for a donation of $5US per person. It lasted about an hour.

This mural is 12 feet tall, hand carved in clay, depicting typical life in the Yucatan.


Below, a close up of one scene.

Very...interesting...clock designed by the owner.

Pool is amazing. The palm trees to the far right (close up below) are made of metal.

Each chair in the dining room is a famous Mexican. Front and back of chair has carvings.

Had to photograph this:  That's Moreno against the wall, and Diego de Landa wearing the cross.

The beer-bellied policia pinata!

We stopped by the square in Valladolid to buy some authentic Maya organic chewing gum. It was...different. Not quite as "different" as the green apple-looking sucker thingy Trev had to have. After buying (2 pesos) and opening it, he saw it was covered in a red powder. Chili powder isn't exactly the first thing we would think of to dip a sucker into, but here, well, they like it. 

It's all an education.

 We walked through the park on the way back to the hotel. These conversation chairs Trev and Erikka are sitting in are all through the square.

Back at Casa Hamaca, summer school is going on under the palapa for the local kids.

Next, we made a trip to a local Maya village that we'd arranged yesterday. One of Denis' employees, Gabina, lives in this village about 20 min away. We gave Denis money to buy food for one of the families there who needed it more than most. When we got there to deliver it, we found it was "El Dia de la Paga" and all the residents were gathered at the town hall to receive their monthly stipend. Social Security in Mexico I guess. Well, the elderly woman we had intended to visit was at the square, so Willie took us to another man who was home (can't walk well enough to go to the square).

His hut reminded me of those teepees you go in at Knotts Berry Farm, or the Jamestown fort in Virginia. But in those places, they're empty and you have to visualize how it was when it was being occupied. Here, it was like having it come to life. This was actually the way he lived, today. 

Wow. 

Look at Trevor...taking it all in. One of my favorite photos of this trip.

Typical Mayan stove on the right - 3 stones. His dining room table has the groceries on it. Entire kitchen is the shelf on the left. Most bowls are made from jirara, which looks and grows similar to a coconut.

That's Gabby, behind the man. The man spoke only Mayan, Gabby spoke Mayan and Spanish, Denis spoke Spanish and English. We got by. No trouble communicating here; much was communicated without words.

Various forms of insulation for the cooler months of January-March.

Not sure what kind of tree this is, but we've never seen anything like it - huge HUGE spikes growing from the trunk.

After the food delivery, we went to prison. To buy a hammock. The prisoners make the best hammocks in the area and receive a portion of the sale. It takes about a week for them to make one. E & T each picked out one for their room. It was a hard choice - sooooo many to choose from. They were $50US each.

The photo above was from Case de los Venados. I included it here to show how the Maya use hammocks. They are born in them, they sleep in them, they sit in them. They are a very important part of their life. All the hotels/b&b's have them.

Next stop was ANOTHER cenote called Dzitnup. This one was underground, so it was quite different than the other two we've been to. Hanging from the cieling were huge stalactites. Trevor had to have a picture of the sign we passed on the way in. Gotta love Mexico.

 

Last stop for the day (busy day) was the Tequila distillery...only they can't call it "tequila" because that's a named owned by the liquor that comes from Jalisco, Mexico. But, really...it's tequila.




 
 The agave species native to the Yucatan is Agave henequén or sisal, used for twine string. Agave azul or blue agave was imported from Jalisco to the Yucatan in 2003. This species is used to produce tequila, the national drink of Mexico. They have perfected the process of tequila making here and offer free tours - which include free samples, Ha!! They are smart, because after you've tasted the three kinds (they vary depending on the length of time it takes to distill them) you HAVE to buy the best kind - and most expensive.  So, the "free" tours can be pretty expensive after all :) But worth it! We left with three large bottles of Agave Azul!!
Not meant for a shooter - you enjoy the taste instead of gulping it.

Under those blue leaves are huge pineapples that are the heart of the tequila. They are cooked in an over for four days, then pulled apart and the lucky horse below gets to drag a 2000 lb stone around and around and around, smashing the pulp before it ferments in a barrel for six days. Then it is distilled for a few days and when that is finished, you have tequila BLANCO - but that's not the good stuff. The good stuff ages for a year.

That's what we bought...:) Anyone up for a tequila, ooops, I mean "agave azul" party when we get back?

Tomorrow, it's off to the coast. We need an ocean. We'll get our room in Half Moon Bay where we can hopefully see turtles nest on the beach in front of our hotel. Then we'll try to get some snorkel time in before taking Rick to Cancun airport - so he can fly back.

To work.

Lest anyone think my husband is on a vacation from work while here on vacation.

 Another update soon!