14/7/14 - Chitchen Itza and Cenote

Today we visited Chitchen Itza which is an archaeological site of Mayan ruins ( http://www.chichenitza.com/). Our trip started at 7am when we were picked up from our hostel.....wasn't a great start to the day as I'd only had about an hour's sleep but I pushed through and was on time for our pick up. We arrived to pay the remainder of the fee after having already paid the deposit and I realised that in my sleepy daze I had left my purse safety locked in my locker back at the hostel (note to self - always take purse with you!)
Luckily the girl I'd made friends with the night before - and convinced to come on the trip with us - offered to pay for me and I could pay her back. Lucky save!
We got on our second bus and I was fortunate enough to have the only seat on the bus with no one sat next to me, so I assumed a horizontal position and when I opened my eyes we'd arrived. Unfortunately where we had actually arrived was a giant souvenir warehouse and not the ruins.....my idea of hell after almost zilch sleep and with no money.....it was insane the amount of people turning up at the place.....coach after coach of tourist all being piled into this one Aladins cave of crap! 

I decided to take myself out of the equation and found a nice spot outside to sit and hide from the crowds. After about an hour we were called for our dinner which was a buffet of all kinds of weird and wonderful concoctions, so I opted for mashed potatoes butty's.

Back on the bus again for around a further two hours and we arrived at the ruins.....once again we were greeted by thousands of tourists all piling either on or off buses.....not at all the vision I'd had in my head of how it would be. Very naively I'd expected to trek through the jungle and for the ruins to appear out of the mist! Very disappointing as the reality was something quite different. The entrance was a huge brand new building selling even more crap and I'm pretty sure that although the Mayans were very accomplished they didn't have turn styles! Anyhow when we reached the ruins they were very impressive and it was amazing to hear our guide give details as to how the Mayans lived and how much they knew, particularly about astrology, with so little technology. This is the main building on the site and was built in honour of a bid that the Mayans worshipped.....most incredibly if you stand directly facing any of the four sides of the building and clap the echo which returns is the same sound that the bird makes.....truly magical. Another part of the site there was the games stadium where a Mayan version of football was played, the guide explained how every (I think) 52 years the captain of the winning team would have his head chopped off which was actually a privilege as it was in honour of the Mayan God whose head was chopped off in order to save the human race.....something like that anyway.....it was hot so was quite difficult to take in all the info!

After the ruins we were back on the bus to make or way to a Cenote (water hole). Another nap later and I opened my eyes and looked at the  window and all I could see was a sheet off water.....I thought we'd driven into the Cenote! The heavens had opened and within minutes the most epic thunder and lightening started.....thunder so loud and so close it shuck the bus.... not exactly the ideal weather for outdoor swimming but I figured I was going to get wet anyway and so decided to don my bikini and get involved and off we went for a dip in the rain. The water was had a strange green tinge toon it which I'm sure in the sunshine would of looked stunning but in the dull thundery light it just looked kinda swampy..... Although I was completely sh**ting myself, there was something quite exhilarating about swimming in this cave in the rain, and looking up to see lighting in the small circle of sky above. I just completely blocked out of my mind the fact that I had no idea what else was taking a dip with me and that there was a whole 40 metres of murky water below me for them to dwell in!! We took a few pics and bobbed about before the jumping platform was opened. From below I couldn't for the life of me ascertain if it was a long drop so I decided to head up for a look from the top. Still couldn't get me head round it.....I asked the guide how far it was and he said maybe 7-8 metres and I thought "that's not far" (Genius!) - It took me at least 15 mins of walking up to the edge and then  changing my mind before I actually took the plunge.... I counted to 2 and BOOM, I was free falling (I only got to 2 as I knew I had to trick myself....if I'd of got to 3 I'd of chickened out) - I fell for a lot longer than I expected and in the shock of how long it took to hit the water I forgot all about staying straight and subsequently hit the water at a slight angle, which meant that a lot of the impact was taken on the base of my spine - painful does not come close. I was absolutely ecstatic that I'd done it though and even more that my idiocy had been caught on camera by Ceri (who had sensibly declined from even swimming in that crazy weather). In all the excitement and adrenaline it took about an hour to realise that there was something seriously amiss with the base of my spine and 3 hours on a bus later I realised that my 30 yr old bones were not cut of for 7 metre high water bombs!
That night I was in bed for 10pm with my fingers crossed that the pain would subside by the morning as we would be making our first leg of the journey south to the border.

Animal update: Ceri got stung today by an unknown creature who left a big black stinger in her arm.....she managed to get it out but she said it was excruciatingly painful and her arm has all swelled red : (

Posted via Blogaway