On Tuesday, March 17th, while everyone in Canada and the U.S.A. was celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, we rented a car and began a three-day tour of the south and west of the Yucatan. Our first stop was at a Mayan ruin called Dzibilchaltun. Why another Mayan ruin? Well, this one has the main Mayan museum as well as a swimmer friendly cenote all within the site.
As we walked past the pyramid with the idea that we would stop there near the end of our tour of the site, we walked up a long elevated road until we came to the sundial which had steps on four sides facing the cardinal directions. The design of this sundial was based on noon of the summer solstice, a time when there would be absolutely NO shadow. Incredible!
This is called the “Seven Doll’s Temple”. Why? Because when it was uncovered they discovered seven small stone carvings which got called the seven dolls. This temple was actually buried within a small pyramid in the later centuries. Archeologists didn’t bother trying to save or reconstruct the pyramid when they discovered this temple within the pyramid.
On the right is a house that was one of many as this used to be a city of 40,000 people. The outline of the city government buildings, the temples, the homes and the schools of this ancient Mayan city are all there. More and more is yet to be uncovered by the archeologists working the site.
In the western part of the ruins is a cenote where we went swimming. In the deep end, the water is more than 130 feet deep and it proceeds to go into a tunnel that connects to the main underground rivers that feed all of the cenotes in the Yucatan.
Near the cenote we saw a few of these beautiful birds called Mot-mots. This is the second time we have seen them in Mexico and the first time that I have been able to get a decent photo.
Now, it looks as though Maureen has found a new pet. No, she isn’t allowed to bring him home. This iguana was huge, a baby dinosaur. The critter wasn’t the least bit skittish in comparison with most iguanas that we have seen so far.
We then toured the museum which was worth the time it took as it showed not only Mayan historical things, but also stuff from the conquest by Spain, the sisal plantations, the influence of the Catholic church and the Cast Wars. Once we finished touring inside the museum we got to check out two homes built using traditional methods and equipped as though they were ready for Mayans of centuries ago.
It was a day well spent and it would be well worth any visitor to Mexico to stop in and check out this interesting place just north of Merida and south of where we live in Chuburna.
Next blog will take you through a few caves found in the south.
Wow,this place is really fantastic,very nice!