This morning we got up bright and early and headed out for Chichen Itza, a huge ruins site near Valladolid. We got there and there was almost no one there yet because it was so early. It was kind of nice! Instead of getting a guide for our huge group of 41, we divided into groups, one fluent Spanish speaker each and we got a book that told all about Chichen Itza and we got to go tour the ruins site in our own little grouPs. Chichen is the biggest site we've been to so far, and its the biggest we will go to. I think it might be my favorite because it was in a few different styles because different peoples lived here at different times.. it was cool to explore and I got some good pics!
I bought one more item on the way to the sacred denote at Chichen. Everything was so overpriced.. usually you can barter and get them down but here, their starring price was so high its impossible (almost) to get them down. They had some great stuff though, but they were charging at least 3x more than anywhere else we had seen similar items.
The sacred cenote is essentially a huge sinkhole with water at the bottom. They used to make offerings to the Gods by throwing in it gold handcrafts, food, and babies or virgins.. crazy stuff.
After Chichen we got go go swimming in a cenote, but this one wasn't used for sacrifice ;) it was inside a cave like at Loltun. Its called X'Keken or something, it was so beautiful. Almost completely natural. The only things that men did to this was make steps down into the cave, add lights, and put some ropes in the water.. you can stand on them so you're not treading water the whole time. There was fish and manta rays/sting rays swimming around in the water, haha! After a sweltering 4 hours in the heat of the day at Chichen Itza it was really nice to swim for a few hours in the cool water at the caves.
One thing I noticed at the cenote and as we walked around in Valladolid is that there are a lot of stray dogs around here. They're all so cute but so sad looking.. many of them show that they have had multiple litters of puppies, maybe used by the people here to make money. Many of them have scars and are mangey from disease. And so skinny! Tonight we were walking around in the zocalo and this puppy followed us around everywhere! I don't think they have ant sort of humane rescue service or anything here.. its so sad because they're just trying to survive and no one takes care of them. But they're all so nice!
Our hotel is good! We went to dinner and I had a Hawaiian hamburger haha with fries and a coke. The American is coming out. :) I had a good time looking around at shops, there was a really good one right down the street from our hotel but at 730 our teacher pulled us out for class, and when we got out an hour later they were closed! Everything shuts down so early in Mexico, its so weird! I guess I would have thought they would be big partners but maybe they just don't care about work lol.
Tomorrow we head to TULUM!! SO EXCITED. This is the day I think the majority of us have been most excited for, for the whole trip!
I bought one more item on the way to the sacred denote at Chichen. Everything was so overpriced.. usually you can barter and get them down but here, their starring price was so high its impossible (almost) to get them down. They had some great stuff though, but they were charging at least 3x more than anywhere else we had seen similar items.
The sacred cenote is essentially a huge sinkhole with water at the bottom. They used to make offerings to the Gods by throwing in it gold handcrafts, food, and babies or virgins.. crazy stuff.
After Chichen we got go go swimming in a cenote, but this one wasn't used for sacrifice ;) it was inside a cave like at Loltun. Its called X'Keken or something, it was so beautiful. Almost completely natural. The only things that men did to this was make steps down into the cave, add lights, and put some ropes in the water.. you can stand on them so you're not treading water the whole time. There was fish and manta rays/sting rays swimming around in the water, haha! After a sweltering 4 hours in the heat of the day at Chichen Itza it was really nice to swim for a few hours in the cool water at the caves.
One thing I noticed at the cenote and as we walked around in Valladolid is that there are a lot of stray dogs around here. They're all so cute but so sad looking.. many of them show that they have had multiple litters of puppies, maybe used by the people here to make money. Many of them have scars and are mangey from disease. And so skinny! Tonight we were walking around in the zocalo and this puppy followed us around everywhere! I don't think they have ant sort of humane rescue service or anything here.. its so sad because they're just trying to survive and no one takes care of them. But they're all so nice!
Our hotel is good! We went to dinner and I had a Hawaiian hamburger haha with fries and a coke. The American is coming out. :) I had a good time looking around at shops, there was a really good one right down the street from our hotel but at 730 our teacher pulled us out for class, and when we got out an hour later they were closed! Everything shuts down so early in Mexico, its so weird! I guess I would have thought they would be big partners but maybe they just don't care about work lol.
Tomorrow we head to TULUM!! SO EXCITED. This is the day I think the majority of us have been most excited for, for the whole trip!
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