Chichén Itzá

Yesterday we had the opportunity to see Chichen Itza. From the coast of Mexico in the Cancun resort zone, it takes about 2.5 hrs driving by car to get there. The road is very reasonable and easy to drive. Almost no traffic whatsoever. The scenery though is a bit boring, just trees, more trees and then some more. It's cutting straight through the jungle, if you could call it that. This is one of the trees that you see frequently with red blossoms / flowers:

There's a great ballcourt on this site as well. Ths is the largest in ancient mesoamerica:


And of course the most famous and visible monuments of them all, the temple of the feathered serpent:


I think it was really worth the drive over there, but since it's in the middle of the jungle, you need to bring lots of water and be able to walk a few meters in the heat and enormous humidity. Sweat keeps pouring down your forehead in general. Getting closer to the more remote areas like the market, things become a bit quieter what tourists and merchants is concerned. Sitting down in that area listening to the birds is a bit of a spiritual experience.

The other thing is getting back to the coast :). There are two roads that both have the same number 180 and it's not always clear which is which. The old 180 road goes through all little towns and takes you into the center of Cancun. I don't think you want to go there. When you exit the site, don't take the 180 road directly to Cancun, but go exactly the way you came through that little village, then take the road from there. You'll be saving yourself 2-3 hours of travel :).

So, yesterday after we got back late, we sat down for dinner and then joined into a large mojito party with the entire family, with dancing, music and talking. Great fun! Today I don't notice any of the drinking of yesterday and am just about to head off to the beach for some relaxation and possibly some more pictures.