Mexico-Yucatan Peninsula(Merida, Ichkabal Ruins, Izamal, Chichen-Itza, Valladolid)
Keeping on with my road trip of the Yucatan Peninsula. After leaving Merida, I headed to Xtampak where there was a huge palace, living quarters for important people and shops as well as government offices. True you have to use your imagination, but I can't say enough about how advanced this society was. And they are over a thousand years old! All of the villages are set up the same. Pyramid/Temple/Palace and governing offices. Chichen-Itza was the main town, then Tekal in Guatemala. The hole in the ground below is a well. Even with my flash, the water was too far down to show up. Enjoy the pictures starting in Merida with a ffod tour!
Of course I start every city with a food tour. Mainly street food on this tour-so, you guessed it-mainly taco's. But also a few other things. My favorite was Relleno negro(blue plate) which is turkey and black(negro) seasoning and half of a hard boiled egg. So delicious-I liked it so much I bought the seasoning and made the sandwich myself-yummy!!! Starting up top, Empanada de Chicharra, Torta de lechon al horno, Taco de poc chuc, Torta de pastor, Achiote, Taco de chochinita, Taco de lomitos, Mazapan de pepita(candy-all the different color pieces in the middle), and Naranja agria conchamoy. All that to say, we had pork taco's made a lot of different ways. A couple sandwiches thrown in too. They all tasted different too. The next day, the city tour.
The sparkly things above in a bowl are live insects that they decorated.
If you look closely above you can see Mayan symbols. When the Spaniards colonized Mexico, they made them tear down their temples and government buildings and use the material to build churches and buildings for them. Walking around the city, you can find a lot of Mayan bricks on the exterior of the buildings.
I stopped in an art gallery and there was a exhibit dedicated to peanuts...then pictures around town. More below, plus another church.
Next Xtampak.
The big building is a palace and probably government buildings and wealthy people surrounding it. The hole is a well. It still had water in it. I couldn't get a clear shot-sorry!
Izamal or the yellow city. Not much going on there...
Next- Chichen-Itza! This was a culture that did human sacrifice. This pond is where the remains were dumped. Below that is the bones that were recovered after the site was discovered. There were human and animal bones discovered. The pictures towards the bottom are a recreation of what the town square is to have looked like.
Look at the detail. This is where they played a game where you couldn't use your hands or feet and you had to get a rubber ball through the little whole on the wall.(below)
Now every culture decides what they feel is beautiful. This one felt that being cross eyed with oblong heads was beauty-bottom right is the final skull after wearing boards on both sides of the head as an infant. See below...yes, those are teeth shaved down and stones placed in them. The rubber ball that took them a year to make and the leaf that when consumed was a drug. So they believe that they were high when they were sacrificed and also while having this dental work done.
Now the main building from different sides and then the video of how sound carries.
The final stop was Valledolid. Here I went to the Mayan museum showing the different clothes from various parts of the country. That was pretty interesting...
I thoroughly enjoyed my road trip and loved learning all about the area as well as Mayan culture. I enjoyed the people and I really enjoyed the food! Some of the best I've had to date- regardless of what country I was in. Very tasty, and I now understand it is so different to what I knew to be Mexican food because at one time, it was a seperate country that cooks their food differently than any other state in the country. I'm sure I will return there one day...next up. Central MX.
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