The Honeymoon, pt 2

One of the days we were in Mexico, there was one thing I really wanted to do - a guided tour of Chichen Itza.  Aside from the couple hour bus ride each way that just dragged on forever it felt like, and several very loud and very hungover college kids in our group (luckily, despite their vocal concerns, none of them puked on the bus), the day trip was really enjoyable.  I'm so glad we got to go and see some of the largest and most famous of the Mayan ruins.  Especially from my (nerdy) architectural history student standpoint, it was so fascinating to see all these structures.  And even from a religious standpoint, while nothing specific was said, there was so much evidence that pointed to all these neat connections to the scriptures, Danny and I kept looking at each other during the tour and knew we were thinking the same thing about how cool it was historically.  And though nonchallant about it at first, Danny, being a history major, found it enjoyable too.

Temple of Kukulkan

... one disappointment of the trip, due to an accident several years ago where a woman fell off the top of the temple, people aren't allowed to climb the buildings anymore.  and due to some stupid vandalists who were caught graffiting on the ruins, people aren't allowed to be within five feet of the ruins.  *sigh* I was looking forward to climbing the temple, but oh well.  at least I got to see it.

The Great Ball Court

... our tour guide, this little guy named Turtle ... he'd say his name is this funny accent every time is what time to move on, hard to forget. ... oh and if you can't tell, it's raining in this picture.  The sky was pretty gray when we got there, then we had this cloud burst, lasted a few minutes and yes, we got wet but it cooled us off from the August heat.  And then, just a few minutes after that, the clouds were all gone and it was bright and sunny.  ... weather here was like that the entire time... very strange.

... details of the stone carvings in the ball court.

Venus Platform in the Great Plaza

Temple of the Warriors

part of an excavation site

El Caracol - the Observatory

The Osario Platform - the High Priest's Temple

La Iglesia in Las Monjas complex of buildings

Serpent's Head sculptures

... baptismal font(?)

Akab Dzib - The House of Obscure Writing

... always glad to see other tourist couples willing to help take a group photo in exchange for taking theirs.  it is so hard to get pictures as a couple when you're the only ones there.