Chichen itza is a wonder!

On Monday, my family and I went to Chichen Itza, located in the Yucatán Peninsula. We followed an audio tour that told us about Chichen Itza as we walked through the grounds.

Chichen Itza is an ancient Mayan ruin, consisting of many well built pyramids and structures. The main pyramid is called El Castillo. When most people think about Chichen Itza, they think of El Castillo. But the other ruins in Chichen Itza include the Land of 1,000 Columns, the Jaguar Platform, the Venus Platform, the Great Ball Court, and the Observatory, as well as many others. 

In 1988, Chichen Itza was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2007, it was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The admission price almost doubled and the amount of tourists increased exponentially. After it was named a Wonder of the World, books were published, documentaries were filmed, and mysteries were discovered.

One of those mysteries involved El Castillo. The Mayans were very skilled mathematicians. Every thing was on point, perfectly aligned. Every column evenly spaced. Some stones were even placed so deliberately that when the moon shines on a certain day of the year it makes a shadow of a snake. 

When archeologists started to explore Chichen Itza they noticed something odd. If you imagine a compass, there is north, west, south, and east. At each of those points, there is a cenote. Since the Mayans are very skilled mathematicians, archeologists assumed that El Castillo would be exactly in the center. Instead, it’s fifteen meters off center. There has to be a reason why El Castillo is off center. But why? 

After years of searching for an answer, they found one. The reason it was off center was because El Castillo was built on top of an cenote. Cenotes were very sacred places to the Mayans. It was a way to connect and offer objects such as jade, people, and food to the gods. They thought that they would have more luck and be a pleasing to the gods this way. 

Another interesting fact about Chichen Itza and the Mayans is that every single Mayan ruins has A Great Ball Court. The court was a place where they played a game that could’ve lasted for days. They were only allowed to use their head, hips, and legs to pass a 6 pound rubber ball - no hands or feet! They had to shoot the ball through a stone ring 10 feet above ground. The team that scores the first point wins. The loser team gets killed. Only VIPs were allowed to watch. The Chichen Itza team always played against another team. It could never be Team A vs Team B, only Team Chichen Itza vs Team A or B. I thought that was very interesting. 

Chichen Itza is magnificently beautiful. It is spectacular that they made these buildings without the wheel, without all the construction tools, only with their bare hands and their strength. I would absolutely visit it again, but until then I would rewatch a documentary on Disney+ that I have watched before. It was very informative and I learned a ton.