SUMMER 2019, PART 1-I: MAYAPÁN & KANKIRIXCHE

Our adventures in Yucatan, Mexico ended with a visit to one more archeological site and one more cenote: Mayapan and Cenote Kankirixche.

Mayapán is known for being the "Bandera de los Mayas" (Flag of the Maya) and it is considered the last main Maya Capital. This city hosted "La Liga de Mayapán" (The league of Mayapán) where the powerful political leaders of both Uxmal area and Chichén-Itza area came together for peace talks. And every year, the league would come together to celebrate their alliance in Mayapán.

Mayapán's main attraction is a pyramid similar to El Castillo in Chichén-Itzá, except much smaller. It is also known as "El Castillo." And unlike the one in Chichén-Itzá, we were allowed to climb it.

Mayapán covers 42 km2, which is about 10, 378 acres. In this area, one can find about 4,000 different structures. It has civic, administrative, and religious buildings.

Many residences, including government official houses, which have long corridors, altars, and several rooms and columns.

There are also buildings with small altars for "lesser deities."

One can also find observatories, and sanctuaries.

After we visited Mayapán, it was time to take a swim in a cenote. There are so many cenotes around Mayapán, some who have been turned into tourist attractions, others who are just happened to be visited by people who dare to find it.

We are such people and it took us about 30 minutes, getting lost, and driving in a very narrow mud road to find what was promised by a local Maya as breathtaking cenote called Kankirixche, known to mostly local people. AND IT WAS!

 At first sight you wouldn't know there is a cenote here. See, the tree, well, it marks the spot where the water whole is located.

 Once you reach the tree you can see a huge whole in the ground.

From the inside it looks like this:

The water is cool, very blue and very clear. The deeper you go, the darker the water gets. The image above was taking from the deeper side of the cenote. To my immediate right it gets deeper and if one dares, one can swim down and go under a cave. BUT what would anyone want to swim deeper and go under a dark underwater cave?

Here's a video, which I took while swimming so once in a while the camera is turned the wrong way:

Next: OAXACA during its biggest festival: LA GUELAGUETZA!

SUMMER 2019, PART 1-G: DZIBILCHALTUN

Once we were back from Playa del Carmen, we had just three more days to enjoy Merida and Yucatan in general.

About 30 minutes from our rental house, which is the best house we have ever rented, there is a small, but very important archeological site, DZIBILCHALTUN. The name means "place where writing is found on flat rocks."

The site is beautiful, very green, with lots of trees and it even has its own cenote or rather ojo de agua (water whole).

The main attraction seems to be cenote, for everyone can go swimming in it, and we did. To me, however, the main attraction is the "House of the Seven Dolls," name because when excavated, they found seven small female figurines.

But the whole site is just breathtaking. Looking around you hear the birds sing (lots of them by the way), you see iguanas, you see strange trees with strange flowers, and of course MOSQUITOS.

And because humidity is at 1000%, you look like this in front of one of the most beautiful "ojos de agua" I've seen.

From afar, the water looks so crystal clear blue, and once in it, it turns green... what sort of magic is at work here?

 Fresh refreshing water that calms the day heat.

The most spectacular event about this site happens in March and December, where the sun comes up and shines through the house.... I mean, the house was built in a way that is perfectly aligned with the sunrise.

The Maya people did not do things by chance. Everything was calculated!

NEXT: IZAMAL!