After a full day in the heat of Chichen Itza (93F, 65% humidity) we headed to take a dip in the cenotes. The Mayans built their cities in close proximity to these sinkholes. Turns out, Mayan culture is centered around water & rain. Kind of a no-brainer. They danced for it, sacrificed to the gods to get more of it, built cities near it, fought other cities for control of it. The cenote is a natural well, massive clean water. We were allowed to swim in one - after a small fee(which we didnt pay) and a shower to wash off who knows what (which we didnt take). And once down there, you must absolutely never touch the dangling roots (which I did). Im predicting that we will be captured Apacolypto-style from our hotel room and be scarificed. Water was clean and cool, really incredible thing to see. You can see the roots from the plants above, they grow down all the way to the water (150ft?). They build bungalos and restaurants at the top of these things. We were actualy guests at this particular resort. Kelly is there jumping with full faith into the "bath of Mayan gods".
Sidenote: the busride over there were about 13 of us. A family of 7 chinese (grandad, grandma, grandkids, you get it). The kids were annoying from the start, we were stuck in the back with the brats. well, at the first chance we got on a stop, we took seats near the front and left our bag to hold the seats. On the next stopover after that, the chinese mother jumps into the van ahead of us, grabs all our stuff,and throws it across the van onto the floor. Im not fluffing the story here, she THREW our stuff across the bus. Well, Kel was all over her "why you throwing my bag bee-otch?". OK, thats fluffing. There was an all-out, name-calling, shouting match between Kel and this chinese lady. It ended with the chinese lady calling Kel a piece-of-sh*&$! Well, actually it didnt end there. Grandma starts in on Kel and Kelly is pulling the universal "zip it" hand sign. You know the one, the hand clasp one. I thought Kel was going to knock out a old chinese lady - bad PR for the tour company Im sure. Anyway, good times.
Kelly...I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall in the fight between you and the Chinese Grandma! Too bad Ken didn't get any "action shots" of you two at it! Were they all accompanying you inside the pyramids? THAT must have been interesting!
ReplyDeleteKen, liked all the details and pics about the structure of the pyramids...reminds me of the egyptian versions, where they speak about the precision that they took in building them, the significance of certain times of the day and year when the sun hits them at certain angles, etc. Can you find out what the scoop is about 2012?? LOL! There must be some native medicine man who knows what the real story is on that!
P.S. Mel Gibson just called. Wants you two to star in his Apocalypto sequel...Ken will play a scientist, and Kelly his devoted wife who b*#ch- slaps anyone who touches their gear!!!
ReplyDeleteAll this happened when we were done with the pyramid. After we dropped them off at their hotel and we arrived at our hotel. The tour guide got off of the bus and said, "señorita, thank you for teaching her some manners". I really think he just wanted to see me hit her. haha
ReplyDelete2012 according to the Mayans. The world is not goiong to end. It just means the Mayan calendar 'resets', and it all begins anew.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, though is the Mayan 'pyramid'(its really an observatory of sorts) in the picture from the day before. There is actually another pyramide inside that one. The Mayans built a new observatory every 52 years on top of the existing one. The Mayans would have continued bulding another larger pyramid over the one you see. there is evidence of this now, we didnt include the pic. Below the current ground surface appears to be another very large structure. We have other pics. Only 7 months ago, archeologists discovered this. But the (corrupt?) Mexican government doesnt care. There is MUCH more beneath the ground at Chichen Itza