The bus ride from Merida to Playa del Carmen was rather painful but it also included one of the highlights of the trip, including the part that I was looking forward to most in my entire Mexican/Central American adventure – Chichen Itza.
We had a private van from Merida to Playa del Carmen, so that was pretty cool. At least comfort-wise, the trip wasn’t so terrible. On the way to Playa del Carmen, about an hour-and-a-half out of Merida is Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza recently was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and is the largest archaeological city of the Mayan civilization in the Yucatan Peninsula. It was a pilgrimage site for the Mayans for over 1,000 years and is one of the most visited places in all of Mexico.
The most famous icon of Chichen Itza is the Pyramid of Kukulcan or El Castillo. This is the pyramid/temple near the center of the facility that was built for the feathered, serpent god Kukulcan. It is busiest during the spring and winter solstice when the sunlight plays optical tricks with the pyramid and gives the appearance of a large serpent coming down the pyramid. With the exception of only the Great Pyramid in Egypt, it is the most iconic pyramid in the world.
Another famous icon at Chichen Itza is the Great Ballcourt. I’m still not sure what the game was, but it involved putting a ball through a hoop – a little like the Charlotte Bobcats but presumably with better accuracy. With respect to the game that was played on the court, this is the largest and impressive court of its kind in the entire Mayan archaeological world. I seem to recall hearing/reading that the game was played to the death at Chichen Itza but there currently are other schools of thought on the matter, such as the “death” being metaphorical rather than literal. I guess there is hope for the Bobcats yet.
There are lots of other structures at Chichen Itza such as the Temple of the Jaguars, the Platform of the Skulls, the Platform of Venus and the Sacred Cenote, which isn’t so much a structure as a gigantic sinkhole in which people were sacrificed after being doped up with liquor made from peyote, among other things. Listing these things isn’t so much important as it is a way for me to elongate the paragraph in order to provide enough space to include another photo. I have so many photos from Chichen Itza that it seems wasteful not to include at least three in this entry, so hopefully this paragraph is long enough now.
Leaving Chichen Itza, the rest of the trip to Playa del Carmen was a three-hour painful ride. I won’t go into why because it’s not important. I just write this so I’ll remember it when I look back at this entry. I’ll know what I’m talking about.
I’m not going to waste an entry on Playa del Carmen. I didn’t even bother to take many pictures. It’s got a nice beach, which I strolled for a while, but the town as far as I could tell is just a tacky resort town full of tourists and bars and restaurants and is most useful as a spring break hangout.
There is one thing worth mentioning from here, though. At a restaurant around the corner from my hotel, I stopped for some tacos and beer. I ordered Tacos de Mexicano. I received a bowl filled with a stew of chorizo, beef, onions and other tasty treats and six corn tortillas. It also came with guacamole, hot sauce, pico de gallo with jalapenos and other goodies. Once assembled, they were the best tacos I have ever eaten in my life and I was a big taco fan to begin with. The one pleasure that I’ll leave with from Playa del Carmen will be my memories of those tacos. God bless you tacos!!!
Tomorrow morning, we are off from Playa del Carmen to Tulum for a little more Mayan history and a little more adventure. See you there.
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