Merida, Mexico - Day 4

We checked out early in the morning from Fiesta Americana and left our luggage there. We had to check out cos we were changing to another hotel. Then, we took a taxi to CAME bus terminal to catch the 6:30am bus to Chichen Itza. This is the bus terminal...

Us on board the ADO bus, it is comfortable enough for the 2hr ride...

Yeah we reached Chichen Itza!! It is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization. The name means "At the mouth of the well of the Itza". Besides being a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is also one of the New Seven Wonders of the World! =)

We went on a guided tour and here's YH with our guide, Felipe, who we think was really great!! We enjoyed our tour with him and he told us lots of stuff about the place and the Mayans. Plus he spoke really good English. =)

Our 1st stop was at the most famous landmark of Chichen Itza - El Castillo (The Castle) or The Pyramid of Kukulcan. It is temple-pyramid dedicated to the god, Kukulcan. The pyramid looks really magnificient and is really amazing how the Mayans managed to build such a structure many many years ago...

The pyramid taking at different angles and different times of the day...

Us with the pyramid at various angles!!

The steps on this side of the pyramid are not restored...

The Great Ballcourt... It is one the largest and most impressive ball court for playing the Mesoamerican ballgame...

On the walls were carvings that showed how the game was played...

This is how they will looked in the past with colours...

Tzompantli (Platform of the Skulls). It is a low, flat platform, surrounded with carved depictions of human skulls. It is actually a Toltec structure, where the heads of sacrificial victims were placed.

The platform of Venus.

Chac Mool statue - it is a human figure in a position of reclining with the head up and turned to one side, holding a tray over the stomach.

Cenote Segrado. The Yucatan Peninsula is a limestone plain with no surface rivers, however there are many sinkholes (called cenotes) that exposed the water table to the surface. This cenote was a place of pilgrimage for ancient Maya people, and they would conduct sacrifices here during times of drought. Archaeological investigations support this as thousands of objects have been removed from the bottom of the Sacred Cenote, including skeletons of men and children.

Temple of the Warriors.

A close view of the columns that has carvings showing warriors...

Vendors setting up their stalls... They were quite alot of them around, selling all kinds of handicrafts...

El Caracol. The tower is an observatory with many windows which allowed for observing the equinoxes and summer solstice and it seems to be carefully aligned with the motions of Venus.

This building is named the Nunnery by the Spanish who were reminded of convent buildings back home.

This is located at the east of the Nunnery, it is a small temple (nicknamed La Iglesia, "The Church") decorated with elaborate masks of the rain god Chaac.

Other structures at the Nunnery complex...

Temple of the Jaguars..

Vendors with their various handicrafts that included wood ornaments, carved stone ornaments and painted ornaments...

Group of a Thousand Columns. These columns supported an extensive roof system previously but what was left now were the columns...

This is part of a corner which was once located at the top of the Ossuary. It shows 4 Chaac masks, one on top of the other...

The crowd at the entrance as we left Chichen Itza...

We were glad we reached Chichen Itza early, before the crowd arrived. It started to get really crowded from 11am onwards where bus loads of people arrived. However I was really tired as we walked non stop for about 6 hours till my feet hurt... After the 2 hours guided tour we continued exploring the area on our own till it was time to catch the 2+ bus back to Merida...

The first thing we did when we got back to Merida was to check into Hotel Presidente Intercontinental Villa Mercedes. This is our hotel room...

Viewing of the swimming pool in hotel...

After resting a while in the hotel, we went to Los Almendros, another restaurant serving Yucatan cuisine for dinner...

We ordered a jug of Horchata since we loved the drink! =p

Us in the restaurant...

We each ordered a soup. YH had Sopa de Queso (Cheese soup - made by grating pieces of cheese into a steaming-hot chicken soup containing chopped potatoes, carrots and peas), a creation by this restaurant. I had Sopa de Lima (Lime soup - soup seasoned with sour lime, onion, tomato, shredded chicken and tortilla chips), which is a must try for Yucatan cuisine as it is served in all restaurants! I loved my soup!! It is a little sourish but not too much, nice! Hehe =)

Then YH ordered the Combinado Yucateco (Yucatecan combination plate - combination of 4 traditional dishes: Cochinita Pibil, Broiled Longaniza, Valladolid Escabeche and Poc Chuc). I got the Cochinita Pibil (Made with suckling piglet marinated in recado rojo (a regional condiment), wrapped in plantain leaves before baking). We did not read the items for the combination plate carefully and did not realize there is already Cochinita Pibil in it. Nevertheless, it tasted great! =)

After dinner we went back to the hotel as it was raining and there was no point going to the Centro area... We did went to Walmart to buy more drinks and snacks... =p We saw these different flavoured drinks and bought them all to try... We loved the Watermelon flavoured one best! Never seen it in the USA...

Plus we bought Hershey's chocolate milk to try and the Cookies n Cream one tasted great!! =)