A Wonder

I had an interesting reaction to my first sight of Chichen Itza--I was distinctly underwhelmed. I blame the posters. For days I've been looking at pictures of this place, hearing about how it’s just been named a wonder of the world, and we got to the site and paid our fee, made our way through the turnstiles and crowds of tourists and vendors, and then suddenly there it was. Just like in the pictures, and we hadn't even had to walk uphill to get there.

However, our guide started telling us about its history, and about Mayan sacrifices, and the mysterious ball game that was tied to it all. He showed us carved symbols, and the cenote where sacrifices where thrown, and how the sun lights up the main pyramid at the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, and we walked around the site and explored a little. And I fell in love a little bit with Chichen Itza and its veiled past. I wanted to gaze at it more as we left than when we arrived.

We're of course lucky to have so much access to information about our world. But it does mean that the impact of certain things is lessened. Not that I'm saying we should avoid books and pictures for fear of losing the novelty factor of things--it’s just that, when people tell you you're going to be stunned by something, and you see it in pics, or read about it online, or watch TV programs on it.. It makes it a little harder to be stunned than perhaps it was for Spanish colonialists who may have happened upon it a little more unawares.

On our way back, we stopped at Kikil (sp?), where there's a swimming cenote. Now, I'd heard of these, but not really understood what the big deal was. We swam in it, and honestly, it was completely amazing. You descend down dimly lit stone steps, down, down, down to the limestone pool. It was beautiful, green, shaded with light breaking through, hung with vines, little waterfalls and sprays falling from the sides, and moss decorating the edges. It was like a tropical fantasy. We had less than an hour to spend there, and loved every second.