One of the main reasons we wanted to travel to Mexico was to continue our quest to visit all of the 7 Wonders of the modern World. After visiting Chichen Itza, we were able to cross number 6 off the list! We learned so much at this amazing site, and we can definitely understand why it is a wonder of the world.
Many people assume that Chichen Itza is one very large structure, however, it is actually a very large area with many different temples and other buildings that the Mayans built out of limestone. The name Chichen Itza means “at the mouth of the well of the Itza”. The Itza were a group of Mayans who had risen to power and built everything close to a cenote, which is small water hole full of freshwater. The main structure of Chichen Itza is called the Temple of Kukulcan. Kukulcan was the Mayan serpent god of rain and fertility. The Mayans dedicated Chichen Itza to the god of rain because the area needed rainwater for their crops. The Temple of Kukulcan has 365 steps on each side to represent each day in a year, and there are 52 sunken in spots that represent the weeks in a year.
The Mayans carved the limestone using harder materials such as flint, leveraging the stone’s softness. The temple also once had paint, but little colour remains today.
I think the best part of the temple was learning about how it was built in a specific location and angle so that as the sun rises on the equinoxes, the light forms the body of a snake, connected to a carved stone head. Watch the video below to see a time lapse of this phenomenon!
Although mostly restored, the temple lacks many stones. This is because in the 1500’s, Spaniards arrived at Chichen Itza and claimed it. The Mayans didn’t fight back because they thought that the Spaniards were gods who had returned. The Spaniards took stones from the staircase to build their own houses, which is why so many of them are missing.
Since this was a temple for a very important god, sacrifices had to be made. Mayans chose who to sacrifice through a specific sport. The sport had 7 people on each team and was similar to a mixture of basketball, tennis, and soccer. They had a stadium for this sport at Chichen Itza and we were able to see where all of the spectators sat. The referees sat in towers looking overtop the whole game, the regular spectators sat around the referee towers, and the priest/king sat at one end in a special room. You would think that the loser of the game would be sacrificed, however, we learned that since it was an honour to be sacrificed, the winner’s head would be chopped off in the middle of the field and they would be placed in a separate room for the snake god.
Before each game, the warriors residing at Chichen Itza would dance until they felt connected with the gods. This could take days but the game would not start until the warriors believed that the gods arrived and were paying attention. The warriors lived at Chichen Itza mainly to protect it. They lived inside the Temple of the Warriors, which was located right next to the Thousand Columns. Interestingly, there are only around 200 columns!
On the other side of the protective wall, we were able to go into a Mayan house. Its walls were made out of wood, palms and red clay, and it had a thatched roof. The inside had wooden supports where three or four hammocks would have hung. The walls on the inside were white and we learned that the Mayans painted them with lime.
Outside the wall, there were many other buildings that the Mayans had built before the Temple of Kukulcan and the stadium. We were able to see a timeline of how Mayan architecture evolved. Some of these older structures included the astronomy tower (this was an important structure as the Mayans were very interested in studying astronomy), the Platform of Venus used for ceremonial purposes, the Round Platform (where my parents tried to sacrifice us), and the intricately carved Nunnery complex.
We were so lucky to have the chance to visit our 6th wonder of the world! Out of all the wonders we have visited so far, this reminded us of Petra in Jordan as both places have unique and beautiful carvings. Six wonders down, one more to go!!
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