From Merida, we took a 2 hour bus ride to Chichen Itza, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
What you see in Chichen Itza is only 8 to 10% of the whole of the site. When you stand and look around, it's actually mind blowing to know how much has yet to be discovered and they find new things everyday!
The famous Mayan pyramid that you see in every photo is actually a Mayan Calendar itself. There are 91 steps on each side, there are a total of 4 sides plus the top platform equals 365, like the 365 in the calendar!
Also, the pyramid has 9 layers, there are 2 sides (left and right of the middle stairs) which equals 18, and there are 18 months of 20 days in one of the Mayan calendars!
Isn't that incredible?
The Mayan calendar started in 3114 B.C., thats 5,000 years ago! Some say they stopped at 2012 because it's the end of the world, the locals said it ends in 2012 because that's when the Spanish invaded the Mayans and they were working on year 2012 of the calendar.
Lastly, many books say the Mayans disappeared, it's not true!!! The Mayans are still there, it's just that when the Spanish took over, the Mayans adopted the new culture, regulations and ideology. The guides we had were all Mayans!
I have always been interested in the Mayans calendar, history and mysterious. This trip to Mexico is by far the best history lesson I have ever taken!
By the way, I can now put a "check" on one of the To Do Things on my Bucket List.
