Friday, December 22, 2017

Friday, December 22, 2017

Tonight's picture was taken in December of 2005. Mattie was sitting outside of Tower Oaks, which was one of his favorite restaurants in Rockville, MD. You can't tell, but behind Mattie was a man made pond. In the spring and summer, Mattie loved the pond's inhabitants. To me the pond and its vegetation made the perfect backdrop for Mattie's photo. A photo which was featured on the front of our 2005 Christmas card. 


Quote of the day: Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love. ~ Hamilton Wright Mabie

The Viking Sky docked in Progreso, Mexico today. We then took a two hour bus trip through Merida, to Mayan ruins located in Chichen Itza. Our guides were a brother and sister duo, Ricardo and Alesjandra. Both were fantastic, passionate about their culture, and love their job. They imparted a great deal of knowledge on us today, as they literally talked for two hours on our way to Chichen Itza. Our guides told us that Chichen Itza is NOT the name of the ruins, but the name of the town where the ruins are located. 

The ruins are classified as one of the seven wonders of the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. We toured the ruins with our guides for 90 minutes. There were a ton of people, as you can see the line up trying get in to park. But what is also noteworthy is the heat. I like heat, but as we were outside, I was getting light headed and thought I was going to pass out. This has never happened to me before. Typically to Peter, but not me. Whereas Peter was fine today!

These ruins are in the Mexican state of the Yucatán. It was one of the largest Mayan cities and was often referred to in later literature as a mythical city.  It displays a great variety of architectural styles with researchers believe are because of the diverse population from different cultures that inhabited this ancient city. It is one of the most visited ancient sites in Mexico with over a million tourists traveling to the Yucatan to see the wonders this ancient Mayan city.

The temple has 365 steps—one for each day of the year. Each of the temple's four sides has 91 steps (you can see the first 91 here, they are the center stairs going straight up), and the top platform makes the 365th. Devising a 365-day calendar was just one feat of Maya science. Incredibly, twice a year on the spring and autumn equinoxes, a shadow falls on the pyramid in the shape of a serpent.

The Mayans were very concerned about water and sun, two vital forces to farming. Therefore during the spring equinox, when the shadow on the temple revealed the serpent, it signified to the Mayans that it was time to plant crops. When the shadow was revealed during the fall equinox it meant it was time to pick the crops. 

Chichen Itza thrived between the 9th and 13th centuries A.D. Archaeologists are still trying to figure out how this ancient urban center, more than 740 acres in size, came to be.

You may not be able to see this, but there is a metal door at the base of the temple (on the left). This of course is not part of the ancient structure. But was designed at one time for tourists to enter the pyramid, to see that there were actually two other pyramids beneath this structure. Why? Each pyramid was built and dedicated to the leader/priest at the time. So literally this structure reveals the leadership or reign of three different priests. 

It is thought that the above temple was built over a cenote or sink hole. Archaeologists have found inside other local sink holes human remains and artifacts. It is thought that these sink holes served as both cemeteries and places to make sacrifices to the gods. 

Though the color has faded off the Temple of Kukulkan (above), it at one time was thought to be colorfully painted like this! 

Even though Chichen Itza had collapsed by the time the Spanish Conquistadores arrived, it was not completely abandoned. Yet when the Spanish saw Chichen Itza, they only saw the pyramids covered in jungle like vegetation (the photo our guide was illustrating here). The Spanish interpreted this mess of vegetation as an abandoned and unimportant area to the Mayans. So they moved along, leaving these ruins preserved. Which was actually a major blessing for this area and for the Mayan culture. 










Sculptures of plumed serpents run down the sides of the northern balustrade of El castillo or the temple of Kukulkan.  

During the Spring and autumn equinoxes sun strikes off the northwest corner of the monument casting a series of triangular shadows against the northwest balustrade; thus creating the illusion of a feathered serpent “crawling” down the pyramid. Millions of tourists gather to watch this phenomena.




This stone is the representative head of Kukulkan (this is the Mayan name for this god, but the Toltec name for this same god was Quetzalcoatl), the Feathered Serpent. He is the god of intelligence and self-reflection, a patron of priests. 

This platform was dedicated to the planet Venus located north of the Temple of Kukulkan. It was said that the Temple was aligned with the planet Venus. It is a rather amazing concept that the Mayans understood astrology without having any instrumentation. 







This detailed carving, reveals a jaguar in the center and it was bordered by eagles. The jaguar was the symbol of power and strength for the Mayans. Typically the jaguar was pictured with the priests and governors of the community. Whereas the eagle was the symbol of power and strength for the Toltecs. What this carving illustrates was a blending of the two groups (Mayans and Toltecs) that once lived in this Chichen Itza community. 


The temple of the warriors is another amazing construction. The Temple of the Warriors complex includes a large stepped pyramid fronted and flanked by rows of carved columns that depict the Maya warriors. It is however, thought that this structure was created by the Toltecs and not the Mayans, since it is not ornament, meaning it contains no carvings. Which was typical of Mayan structures. In addition, the temple celebrates force, fighting, and warriors. Something more noted with Toltecs than Mayans. 

This was the Wall of Heads. It was found that there were 300 skulls buried here. These were the heads from the winners of the ball games, which were played on site. I describe these games below. Do note that the heads were buried here, but the bodies were placed in a cenote!

My mom and me in front of the Temple of Kukulkan. You can't really tell how high off the ground this pyramid is, and what is even more incredible was there were no tools or technology used to build this structure. 

Peter and me!























The Ball court located to the north-west of the Pyramid “El Castillo” It is the largest and best preserved ball court in ancient Mesoamerica.

This game involved two teams, comprised of 7 players. The players used a ball, and could only touch the ball with their elbows, hips, and knees. A little bit like soccer. However, do you want to know the reward the leader of the team who WON the game received? He got beheaded! It was a human sacrifice to the gods! Why? Because the Mayans wanted to sacrifice their BEST specimen/player to the gods. To die in this ball game was considered an HONOR! 

This is the stone hoop that one had to get the ball through to win the game! If you look at the above photo, you will notice how high off the ground this hoop actually was, and therefore what a feat it was to win. 

The wall where the hoop was located, there were intricate carvings that depict the story I just shared with you. This was a carving of the actual game ball. 

This was a carving of the decapitated head of the winner.

This was the leader of the losing team who was responsible for the decapitation of the winner. 

Coming back to the ship after 7 hours of touring! This gives worn out new meaning!